Natsume’s E3 lineup featured eleventy billion new Harvest Moon games, all due out this year for just about any Nintendo platform you can think of. Here is Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming, but check out for my reviews of Harvest Moon: Animal Parade, Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands and Harvest Moon: My Little Shop.
Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming (Nintendo DS, July 2009)
Unlike most of the Harvest Moon games, this one is all about logic puzzles and is based on the Island of Happiness world. The gist of it: There’s a puzzle grid with a variety of different produce squares. You need to harvest the produce by rearranging veggies on the grid into chains to beat the puzzle and progress in the game. There are 12 characters to unlock, each with unique abilities to help you complete the puzzles. There are also several gameplay modes (survival, mission, crop quota and more).
If this sounds a little daunting, don’t worry: There are a ton of tutorials to help you navigate the game. Thirteen, to be exact.
There’s a story to go along with all of the logic puzzles, but you have the option of skipping it if you’d rather focus on problem solving. The story itself has amusing dialogue and character interactions, and there is a different ending for each character. There are about 20 hours of gameplay if you go through the storyline, but almost endless replayability with the puzzles (my friendly Natsume guide claimed to have spent 70 hours (!!!) on the game). You can even link up to your friends to battle locally using the DS’ wireless feature.
Cat's passion for writing began at the tender age of 10 when she convinced her 5th grade teacher to let her use “sustained silent reading time” for scribbling frantically in a notebook. It took her awhile to work up the testicular fortitude to share her work with anyone, but now she freelances as both a writer and graphic designer. She cites her diverse background as her biggest influence: her artist mom is half-Chinese, half-Greek, and from Hawai'i; her film-loving, world-music DJ dad is from Montana; and she lived in both San Francisco, California and Great Falls, Montana while growing up. She loves at least a little bit about virtually everything and aims to be a Jane of all trades.
