Patrick Elliot
Shaun InguanzoHarvest Moon: Magical Melody Review
May 6th 2008 00:20
A rewarding, if time consuming, gaming experience
DON'T think of Harvest Moon: Magical Melody as a farming simulator - instead, see it as a chance to live out your rural dreams, in what is a peaceful, sometimes laborious, but rewarding and enriching game experience.
First and foremost, this won't appeal to your shooting, driving, running, gunning, or flying urges, so perhaps fire up GTA 4 before you sit down and unwind with Harvest Moon: Magical Melody.
In a nutshell, the Harvest Moon series began on the Super Nintendo in the late 1990s and has evolved into 3D incarnations with Magical Melody being the latest to hit home consoles.
It's a farming RPG that sees you, the new kid on the block, begin with a tiny patch of land that you must toil and transform into a profitable vegetable patch.
From there on you can expand, transform your patch of land ito a proper farm, buy animals for fresh produce, and sell it all to make a living.
The goal of the game is to become the best farmer in an economic sense and restore the power of the Harvest Goddess - a mythical fairy who blesses the land and makes the soil incredibly fertile, but for some reason has disappeared.
But along the way, you must also live the life of a farmer - early to bed, early to rise, and always keeping an open eye out for a potential bride.
American readers may be wondering, 'hey, I have seen that for the Nintendo Gamecube, why are you reviewing it?'
Put simply, the game has been re-released by Nintendo in PAL territories (Europe and Australia) as a new game for the Wii. We never had Magical Melody on Gamecube.
Therefore, with little changed (there are no Wiimote controls that really stand out) the game looks, feels and plays like a farming version of Animal Crossing on the Gamecube.
But whatever you do, don't allow the look of the game to turn you away from experiencing what it has to offer.
It's such a deep game that you really do have to spend time with it. After a few hours of toiling land, selecting which crops to grow, or looking after animals, you'll find yourself becoming addicted to the experience, especially as the bank balance grows.
As you progress, the challenge increases. Each day your farmer has an energy bar that allows him to perform only so many actions before he passes out, or must go to bed.
You'll have to learn to take breaks and cook healthy food - using crops you grow or food you produce - to regain your energy and perform a solid day's work.
And just when you get your routine down pat, a seasonal change comes along and you have to entirely change your crops and wait for them to become harvestable.
When you achieve something significant for the first time, the game unlocks a musical note. You must collect all of the musical notes to reawaken the Harvest Goddess.
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody looks ugly, but plays well, and is perhaps one of the most profound and rewarding experiences I've had in a game.
You can fish, enter festivals, race horses, and the Wii version has a set of mini games to play with friends.
Although slow, the game, like the crops you grow, and the animals you keep, will reward you over time - not instantaneously.
Therefore, you should be warned that all of this gaming goodness comes at a price - your own time. Hours, often in a row, are needed to really enjoy the game.
If this appeals to you, pick up Harvest Moon: Magical Melody - it's great fun and you won't be disappointed.
Sooner than later, you'll have to stop horseing around and tend to the crops.
DON'T think of Harvest Moon: Magical Melody as a farming simulator - instead, see it as a chance to live out your rural dreams, in what is a peaceful, sometimes laborious, but rewarding and enriching game experience.
First and foremost, this won't appeal to your shooting, driving, running, gunning, or flying urges, so perhaps fire up GTA 4 before you sit down and unwind with Harvest Moon: Magical Melody.
In a nutshell, the Harvest Moon series began on the Super Nintendo in the late 1990s and has evolved into 3D incarnations with Magical Melody being the latest to hit home consoles.
It's a farming RPG that sees you, the new kid on the block, begin with a tiny patch of land that you must toil and transform into a profitable vegetable patch.
Yep, you got a musical note. Whoop de do.
From there on you can expand, transform your patch of land ito a proper farm, buy animals for fresh produce, and sell it all to make a living.
The goal of the game is to become the best farmer in an economic sense and restore the power of the Harvest Goddess - a mythical fairy who blesses the land and makes the soil incredibly fertile, but for some reason has disappeared.
But along the way, you must also live the life of a farmer - early to bed, early to rise, and always keeping an open eye out for a potential bride.
American readers may be wondering, 'hey, I have seen that for the Nintendo Gamecube, why are you reviewing it?'
"It's a boy - and WHAT a boy!"
Put simply, the game has been re-released by Nintendo in PAL territories (Europe and Australia) as a new game for the Wii. We never had Magical Melody on Gamecube.
Therefore, with little changed (there are no Wiimote controls that really stand out) the game looks, feels and plays like a farming version of Animal Crossing on the Gamecube.
But whatever you do, don't allow the look of the game to turn you away from experiencing what it has to offer.
It's such a deep game that you really do have to spend time with it. After a few hours of toiling land, selecting which crops to grow, or looking after animals, you'll find yourself becoming addicted to the experience, especially as the bank balance grows.
As you progress, the challenge increases. Each day your farmer has an energy bar that allows him to perform only so many actions before he passes out, or must go to bed.
You'll have to learn to take breaks and cook healthy food - using crops you grow or food you produce - to regain your energy and perform a solid day's work.
And just when you get your routine down pat, a seasonal change comes along and you have to entirely change your crops and wait for them to become harvestable.
When you achieve something significant for the first time, the game unlocks a musical note. You must collect all of the musical notes to reawaken the Harvest Goddess.
Harvest Moon: Magical Melody looks ugly, but plays well, and is perhaps one of the most profound and rewarding experiences I've had in a game.
You can fish, enter festivals, race horses, and the Wii version has a set of mini games to play with friends.
Although slow, the game, like the crops you grow, and the animals you keep, will reward you over time - not instantaneously.
Therefore, you should be warned that all of this gaming goodness comes at a price - your own time. Hours, often in a row, are needed to really enjoy the game.
If this appeals to you, pick up Harvest Moon: Magical Melody - it's great fun and you won't be disappointed.
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Comment by Glen Atwell
Computer Game
It just goes to show that a game can have dazzling graphics, but the bottom line is always how it plays.
HM is a great example. What are some other games that looked poor but played well?
Command & Conquer?
Minesweeper (hehe)?
A heap of N64 games...?