Harvest Moon 64
Reviewed by Transmute
Harvest Moon made it's debut in 1997 on the Super Nintendo. Here
it is again, with more features, more people, more locations and no
charm. I'm not going to explain the plot or anything like that, because
it's pretty simple. Its a farming game. You get pictures in your album,
animals, additions to your house, and a wife.
Graphics: 4 out of 10
It could be a Super Nintendo game. I'm debating to myself whether or
not it could be a Game Boy game. I guess that what you get from the
Master of Fishing games (no pun intended), Natsume. Too many skipped
frames, it's like the same guy who worked this moonlighted as an
animator for Pokemon. This game looses a lot of charm in this department,
which is almost all that kept me going in the Super NES version.
Music and Sound: 3 out of 10
This is another place where HM64 looses that mojo. The seasons get
incredibly annoying. The sound effects are watered down versions of
the originals. The music just sounds like it's there. Especially the spring.
Game Challenge: 11 out of 10
Whoooooooo, big improvement here. Chances are you won't do everything
right until your third try. You have to plan everything out just right, or
you've lost the chance. To get all the pictures, make friends with everyone
in town (which you need to do for one of the pictures) fill your farm with
grass, and get a good rating form your father, you need to get married
at the right time and not waste a minute of your day.
Game Play-Fun: 10 out of 10
You always have something to look forward to getting until you get that
infamous party picture. And thats what keeps you going for all the years
after your father evaluates you. The original didn't have those, but it
didn't matter since the game ended when he came anyway.
Frustration
You can lose everything you have overnight. Your animals and greenhouse
could get blown away in a hurricane, and you could just delete the game
there and all your work is gone just like that. It's happened to me, and it
can happened to you!
Replayability: 10 out of 10
As I said before, you will take at least three tries before you get a perfect
gaming, plus there's five different girls to marry.
Overall: 9 out of 10
Once you play this, you will most likely not go back to the Super NES version,
because it will seem way too repetitive. Which is a bad thing. I kind of
wish I hadn't bought it because I like the other one better!