Video Game My Way #2: Harvest Moon : A Wonderful Life (2003, GameCube, PS2)

I have been a big fan of Harvest Moon: Back to Nature in Playstation One and when I got a PS2, I quickly bought Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life skipping the Save the homeland spin-off of Harvest Moon in PS2. Harvest Moon : A Wonderful life  was released in Japan on September 12, 2003 for the Nintendo GameCube, and on November 11, 2004 for the Playstation 2. It was developed by Marvelous Interactive Inc. and released by Natsume, and is part of the long-running Harvest Moon series of video games. I quickly returned home just to check, play and reminisce the days of Harvest Moon: BTN. I am very excited and entertained even though I am just in the start game screen. As usual in every harvest moon you start by inputting your name and farm name then after that, off you go to the world of Harvest Moon! After long talks with, I am very excited to see the gameplay. I was amazed by the great graphics and when the real game begins, my expectations were not met. I have many reasons why I don’t like this game.

Graphics: 6/10

I can say that the graphics really changed and I was amazed by the details they’ve put in every characters. The characters look small but this contributed greatly to the eye candy factor of this game. The game was redesigned to 3D instead of the usual 2D of Harvest Moon’s titles. I am a big fan of 2D games but I also like 3D games. One thing that is prominent and the factor that made me grade this game’s graphics 6 were because of the lag. You can feel the lag every time you move or every time you converse with the villagers. At first, being a fan of Harvest Moon, I didn’t mind it but as time passes by it became an annoying factor. Thus, leads me to quitting this game.

Story: 7/10

To be honest, I didn’t really like the story of all Harvest Moon. They are all the same. You were left in the farm by someone, in this case your father and you were there to take care of it. You get a dog and then that’s all. What makes this game perform poorly from others is that you can’t get the main story of it. It seems like this season has passed then another season will soon pass and another season and another season. There’s nothing new about the story. However, the game has introduced different chapters of your life but it is the same. You age and another season again and age and another season again. Nothing new.

Gameplay: 9/10

This would be the weapon of this game. I was well attached to the concept of farming even though it is quite repetitive. Some would say it boring but for me it is very fun and entertaining. Sure there are times wherein you get bored from farming but you can fish and do other stuffs like interact with villagers. This game is a simulation-farming game and Simulation is one of my favourite genres and that greatly helped me appreciate this game more. Another thing that I like in this game is because you can have kids! Your kid can help you do farm  works and that makes farming more easily. The only thing that I don’t really like and that is also the reason why I graded this 9 is because there are no festivals. Festivals are like the fruit of Harvest Moon. Festivals are fun and addicting. Sometimes I repeat the day of the festival in other Harvest Moon and that’s why I was frustrated that the game lacks festival.

Replayability: 4/10

Yeah, sure that Harvest Moon games are replayable but due to its lag, it clearly defeats it replayability. Playing with lag is very very very annoying. The farm work is ok, the courting is ok, the selling of goods is ok, the feeding of your barn animals are ok but the lag, NO WAY! This is the main factor that lets you quit this game.

Music/Sound : 8/10

Go back to your barn!

As usual, Harvest Moon’s soundtrack is filled with serenity, peacefulness and nature. I really like the soundtrack of Harvest Moon because it eases my mind and my body every time I play Harvest Moon. I also like the sounds of the animals. Very accurate. It seems like you have a dog in your house or you have a cow in your room. It is very realistic. The tools are also accurate but it is repetitive. All in all, Harvest Moon teleports you to serenity every time you hear the music and sound of it.

Overall: 6/10

I love harvest moon but the fact that it was poorly developed in PS2 is maybe because they focused too much on graphics that they overdid it and lost the essence of Harvest Moon which is fun, enticing, smooth-paced game and entertaining. They lost to the lag and they lost to the fun part.