hey corey heres the review I promised.


General Information

Category: RPG Simulation
Players: Up to 4 players
Publisher: Natsume


intro

Some of you may have Heard about the Harvest Moon Series, some of you have even played them and others have never even touched a Harvest Moon game! The Harvest Moon Series is a farming simulation which some people have become addicts of. Others have just hated it. Maybe because the game didn't give you enough freedom, or it was just boring! Harvest Moon Magical Melody is a lot more different than the Harvest Moon games released before. You can do whatever you want, with no one telling you what to do. Start a pasture or plant crops first? It's all up to you! The game also requires a little bit of planning as you start off with a stamina bar and can only do so much without food! Wait I am getting ahead of myself let's get done to the basics!



Story

This of course is a simulation, which means you make your own story! You begin your experience when you meet the mayor and he has a special program for farming. Then he gives you 3 choices for land. Each has it's pros and cons so choose carefully! You get to have your own furniture, your own house, your own land, your own crops, your own animals and even your own bride! Harvest Moon Magical Melody gives players a wide range of variety to suit their personality with furniture and characters that you can become friends with and even maybe marry someday! You will eventually meet the Harvest Sprites. Little guys who tell you that the harvest Goddess has been turned to stone! And the only way to turn her back is too collect enough Musical Notes! You then meet your rival, Jamie. Jaime is also trying to restore the Harvest goddess back to normal form! Jaime just thinks your nothing and walks away. Can you beat Jaime? Can you get enough Musical notes? Do you have the strength courage and love?

Story Score: You decide your own fate!


Gameplay

Harvest Moon Magical melody's gameplay is the core of the game, and it comes up strong! When you first start off the game you won't have much money and will start off with virtually nothing but the land you picked and of course a house! Their are many ways to get money to improve the land you have and your daily profit. First of all you have to ship all the products you want to sell which can be found right outside your house! Just take the product and drop it in the Box. You will get your profit the next day. To make money you can Fish, Go in the mines for ore, grow crops and sell them and and take the products your animal make to get profit! All are great ways to make money. But, this game goes by seasons and time. It isn't real time like in real life. In Harvest Moon Magical Melody 1 minute in life is about 10 minutes into the game! And their are seasons. Be warned, the seasons aren't their for pleasure you will have to adapt to the seasons in Harvest Moon Magical Melody. Buy this I mean, the places where you can get ore, the fish you can get and of course the specific type of crops you can grow during that season! This of course, requires planning and strategy and can add to the realism of the game. You can also raise animals in Harvest Moon Magical Melody. But at first, it isn't that easy. You have to get the money for a barn or a chicken coup. On top of that, you need feed for your animals to live, and a little bit of love would help. In the game you can get 4 types of Livestock: Cows, Horses, Sheep and chickens. Horses aren't used for making products they can be a lifesaver and get you to places real quick once they love you enough. A cow on the other hand, will give you products. They can give you milk, cheese and butter. For the Cheese and butter though you need a cheese machine and a butter machine. You need to love your cow and raise it's affection points if you do, your cow will make better and better products the more it loves you! To raise affection points simply feed it by hand, brush it and check on it everyday. Day by day if you do this your cow will get more affection and love you even more! This goes for other Livestock as well. Just remember not to neglect them! You can also befriend people to befriend a person simply talk to them to raise affection and give them gifts one per day. Maybe one day you will get married! To get married you can choose to befriend one of the opposite genders and once you get enough affection points, you will have a chance of marrying that person! Growing crops is easy just plant them in some soil the more fertile the better. And water them everyday. Some take longer than others choose your crops wisely! And also just go fishing! Go into a river or stream and get out your fishing rod! Though, this hard work doesn't come without a price. Overtime you do something like brush an animal or go mining you will lose stamina. Once you run out of stamina you will faint! When you first start the game your stamina is so little and so small you can barely do anything! Don't fear you have the option of cooking! To get cooking you need a kitchen and of course cooking utensils! The more Cooking tools you have the better for a variety of food you get! Though, cooking utensils cost money and depending on the size of your kitchen you can only fit so many, but be you should be aware the farther you progress into the game the better kitchens you can get. Anyways their are tons of foods you can cook. But you also need some recipes. To get recipes just buy cooking utensils and you should get some recipes, also befriending people will lead to recipes as well as gifts. Anyways just cook and eat! You can also get a fridge to store ingredients and cooked food. Again as you progress more into the game the better and larger fridge you will get! You can even get a bigger house to store furniture and things! And you can also put things on your property that you can make money with depending on the size of your land! Their are of course festivals but most of them are very simple, and aren't that fun others you can get items in and play fun mini games! You of course can increase your stamina anytime in the game if you find a power berry. Power berry's are very hard to find though! You can even go hiking and search for herbs to sell or use in your foods! Their is so many things to do and so many things to collect though, it can become a chore sometimes.

Gameplay Score: 9/10



Graphics

Gameplay over graphics you say? Well, Harvest Moon Magical Melody is just that. The graphics look very colorful and bright. A sell shaded style I should say. But they are pretty poor. For example when your brushing your animal the brush isn't even on the animal! The graphics are very simple and have done enough just to get buy. The tomatoes are just huge but at least they look like tomatoes! The characters almost have no facial expression what so ever! Though again, The cows look like cows and the crops look like crops. Their isn't anything amazing about these graphics. They were not the core aspect in the game and were probably made like that so you can focus on the gameplay and just have fun and get through with things looking normal and okay. They aren't to special and have some problems in terms of realism.

Graphics Score: 6/10



Sound/Music

Again, This really wasn't a big aspect in the game so the music and sound are barely passable. The sounds like animals sound a bit like animals. Below average stuff I should say. The sounds are very repetitive and you will know them all in a flash. The music is also simple and repetitive. Their are only 4 major music types you will hear: each taking place a different season. And their a only 4 seasons. The fall music sounds "Fallsih" and the winter music sounds "Winterish" Though they are very simple and repetitive you may get bored of them that is if you get bored of the gameplay which you won't be doing anytime soon.

Sound/Music Score:6/10








Simulations should all be addicting, Harvest Moon Magical Melody is easily an addicting game especially the first few weeks. I found myself totally lifeless during the first week and only needed Harvest Moon Magical Melody to live! It is really addicting if you like to just keep on getting better and better resources and living a better life. You will be addicted to this game easily since their are tons of things you can get and tons of recipes and also maybe you want your livestock to love you even more. The game is easy to pick up and hard to let down. Though when you do get done with it, you might not play it again.

Tilt Score: 9/10

Pros: + Very Addicting
+ Will last you a long time.
+ No need to play everyday
+ Many things to do

Cons: - Simple Graphics
- Most festivals aren't that exciting
- Simple Music
- can become a chore

The Game is addicting and those who liked animal crossing will just adore this. Their are a lot of upgrades and they take time and work to get. That time and work can become a chore. All in all, Harvest Moon Magical Melody is a great game especially if your looking something that will last you a long time. It will for sure last you at least 2 to 6 months. Harvest Moon Magical Melody deserves to get your attention.

pic to be edited right now.