bit-tech Shopping: Natsume Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (GBA)

Rating: 8

Time with product: 3 Months

Strengths: Wide variety of gameplay types that can be enjoyed by all ages

Weaknesses: Farming can be tedious

Summary: Similar to all other incarnations of Harvest Moon, you play a farmer who harvests crops, interacts with other villagers, and eventually gets married. Time passes in "virtual" real-time (1 second of our time is one minute), which can seem daunting given the variety of things you can do in the game. There's almost too much to keep track of, but that feeling of always having something to do in the game is what makes it such a great value and provides ample replay opportunities. Harvest Moon was made to be played on the go, and now it has found its home on the Gameboy Advance.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 20 Days

Strengths: Tons to do, Gamecube Connectivity, Clean Fun

Weaknesses: May get tedious

Summary: I had never played a previous Harvest Moon title so I was anxious to try this Gameboy Advance iteration. I was shocked by the sheer amount of tasks contained on the cartridge, and the game was much more engrossing than I thought it would be. The graphics suffice and are very cute, as is the music. The only problem is the game can become tedious, but that wasn't really an issue for me. As an added extra, it offers connectivity with its Nintendo Gamecube sibling. Recommended for fans of Animal Crossing on Gamecube.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2

Strengths: Solid graphics, decent storyline, addicting gameplay, link support with GCN

Weaknesses: Farming simulation can bore some players, requires extended periods of play, not much to do once you've married and made some money

Summary: The Harvest Moon series of family farm simulator games has been around for several years now on full-size home consoles. However, Friends of Mineral Town allows you to take your farming fun on the road. All of the gameplay from the console games is here. You can tend to your crops and animals and even work toward getting married and having a child. Such Sims-type gameplay is often either loved or hated by different players, so you should have a good idea of what you're getting yourself into before making a purchase here. If you've enjoyed the console games over the years, you'll probably enjoy what this GBA game has to offer. It's the same game you loved before shrunken down to handheld size. The only downside is that there's nothing new here that you haven't see before.

Rating: 10

Time with product: 2 Weeks

Strengths: Fun with farming! Lots of gameplay value. Great for on the Go.

Weaknesses: None.

Summary: Friends of Mineral Town is more of a life sim where you farm. You goal is basically to be a sucessful farmer. and you get to meet people, do things, and even get married. Because it's a simulation you can play it over again and things may be slightly different. Also, if you have Harvest Moon for the GC you cna link the two for extras.It plays great on the GBA. However, one problem is that it's hard to put down. So it's better to play for an hour or two at a time for long trips. You cna play for a few short minutes but it can be really engaging.But this is a great game for the GBA.

Rating: 8

Time with product:

Strengths: Gameplay, Story line

Weaknesses: None

Summary: This game is actually really good. It's another great asset to the Harvest Moon series. The story line to this game is awesome, just like the other Harvest Moon games, and the gameplay is good. I'd buy this one again.