There's something about simulation games that just hooks us. We spend our days in the "grind" of daily life, then come home to build the world's greatest zoo, or roller coaster or...get married and run a farm?
"Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life" (AWL) is just that - a simulation of life. You begin as the son of a farmer, recently deceased, and brought home by your father's partner to help the farm grow and prosper. You're a young and ignorant man - a poor man with only a few thousand gold and a cow - and thus begins your journey to build "a wonderful life".
You'll spend your days milking your cow, growing seasonal crops, training your dog and doing your best to woo a wife. Managing a farm is hard work and without a wife you'll not get far.
The town is full of colorful characters - a metallurgist, scientist, town vagrant, hippie and many others. Speaking to them is an important part of your development. Though their dialogue may seem repetitive, over time you'll find a subtle change as you learn the history and relationships of the townspeople.
Relationships in AWL are terribly important. Only friends give some items you'll need to successfully manage your farm. And, when your son is born - yes, you'll have a son - his development will be decided by a number of factors including: your choice of a wife (genetics are key); the toys you give your child to play with; the tasks he helps you perform around the farm; and, the friends you've made in town. Becoming friends with the town scientist just may help your child become a braniac while the town jock may help him to excel in sports (and leave home).
Characters will die, others will move into the valley and you'll change as time passes. The tools you use determine your physique - heavy tools make your stronger and have more stamina; riding a horse everywhere you go rather than walking will not. The gifts you give your friends determine the direction of your life. The genetics of your crossbreeding your fortune.
AWL is divided into 30 chapters or years - each comprising of 12 months - each comprising of 10 days - each of those comprising of 17 minutes if you sleep each night. All told, there is more than 1000 hours of gameplay available and each time you play your actions will produce a different story.
The controls for AWL are very easy to use and it's rare that you make a mistake by pressing the wrong button. The characters in the game teach you most of what you need to know to get by day-to-day but this is a game where reading the manual is rather important.
Graphically, AWL is beautiful. The character avatars are a little cartoonish but as you watch shadows move with the sun or see the clouds roll across the sky you feel the attention to detail in the world. There is little sound beyond sound effects, but I spent nearly 30 minutes running across various surfaces to hear all the differences in my footsteps.
Your world is also not limited to the valley. Like many Gamecube games today, you can expand your world by hooking up to compatible Game Boy games. "Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town" will give you additional options to explore.
The game also has moments where it suffers from absolutely far too much to accomplish in a day to far too little. (I spent these days fishing and fishing is made as tedious and boring in game as in real life).
Defining an age group for this game is difficult. It requires a significant amount of reading and the ability to complete simple math for sales transactions. You'll also need to name yourself, your farm and all of the animals within. Due to the reading/math requirement, this game is beyond younger children (who do enjoy watching it immensely). And, because of the tediousness of "real life" this may be a game the teen crowd will skip.
However, there is no doubt that it is a well designed and utterly addicting game. More than once I found myself waiting for the next day to see if that tomato ripened or that chicken hatched. For those looking to build "a wonderful life" this is the game for you.
I'm a mother of two boys, ages 7 and 10 and live in the chaos that ensues. I've a permanent disability that keeps me homebound, so books, kids, games and books are my constant companions. Oh, and books, too. *grins*
My children both play games so I often play them first, getting to know exactly how something may effect my sensitive and easily stimulated older child vs. my stoic and imperturbable younger.
I like games for games; for the pure enjoyment of them and believe that no game is wholly bad, though some are real stinkers.
I also have the dexterity of a camel in mittens so find playing FPSs difficult (and I also don't like the gore) and RTSs at times can stump me. I just can't seem to move quickly enough to keep up with them. Some of my favorite games are arcade games and I'll spend 3-5 years on the same 5-6 levels because I just never get any better. But, I have fun.
