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REVIEWS - Harvest Moon: Back to Nature ::
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| ...to warm the frosty night. |
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| Game Info. |
Genre
Adventure |
Publisher/Developer
Natsume/Natsume |
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Peripherals
(none) |
Release
11/30/00 |
Harvest Moon: Back to Nature
Get to your roots in your new squeaky boots.
Reviewed by Sam - March 5th, 2002
If you're a little tired of feverish action, insane plot twists, and bipedal reptiles with back-mounted guns, then this might be the game for you. The Harvest Moon series has always been a great alternative to the norm, and so far, this is the best one in the saga. Loads of different crops and animals, highly interactive characters, and a more lively, realistic script make this game more than enough to hold you over until Animal Forest comes to America (**shudder**, a long long time from now). It's the sort of game that you don't have to stow away when your kid cousins come to visit, but one that your older brother will still love to see you beat. My friends, it's Harvest Moon time.
To most fans of the Harvest Moon series, this game is just a remake of Harvest Moon 64, and it is. But if HM64 didn't quench your thirst for farming fun, Back to Nature might just be your ticket to happiness, and I'll show you why...
Gameplay
It really makes Harvest Moon 64 seem like a programmer's practice run. With a much deeper and interesting storyline, and characters that actually seem to live lives, Natsume really went all-out on the Playstation edition, finally bridging the gap between farming sim and adventure/RPG. The ammount of "stuff" to do remains pretty much the same, but because the world is larger and more drawn out, the feeling that you're a part of an actual community really comes out at you.
It's hard to really interact with anyone in HM64, and at times it seems like you're using your imagination more than your actual experience of the game. That's probably the top thing that I'm glad to see fixed in HMBTN. One big element of this is the script. Certain clips of dialog in HM64 were just confusing and out of place, while in Back to Nature, it seems more like you're talking to someone real. Sure, it's still corny, but it's a little more of what you'd expect in an RPG.
An extra series of menus is available in this edition that gives you a real glimpse of just how well you're doing 'round the farm. Everything from your expenses and income, your livestock health, your exporting stock, and much more is monitored, making it just that much easier to handle all the workload you have. It's great, awesome.
Time goes by more slowly in this game. That can either be a very good thing or a very bad thing. It's good when you have 20+ crops to package in a certain ammount of time, but it's bad when you're waiting to meet someone somewhere at a specific place in time; waiting and waiting and waiting seems to be what this game is all about. That is, unless you occupy yourself with lots of farming stuff to do. So in making the game slower, Harvest Moon BTN allows you to focuss more on what you need to get done and less on worrying about making it to places in time. I guess you could take it either way, but I prefer it this way much more.
9/10
Control
One odd thing with the control scheme is that you can only move in 4 directions. This might not seem so bad if you disregard the fact that this game is set in an isometric perspective, where moving straight HAS to be done at times. Aside from it not working right, it also doesn't feel right, especially when you need to move around something in your way.
The item-swapping system makes a little more sense; you have to go back and forth to your tool bin to pick up tools, instead of just rummaging through your backpack for everything you need. It IS a little more tiring at times, but it works well and makes the concept of having to commute around the area a bit more defined than in the 64 edition. Also, pulling out items is quicker and more easy to do; just scroll through what you've got with the R triggers. It's actually quite nice.
8/10
Graphics
The technical differences are pretty much limited to the differences between platforms. The graphics are a bit choppier, true, but the world is rendered with such meticulous detail, it almost cuts off any ties to the cartoony look of HM64. Very intense visuals with a realistic touch.
The character models remain the same between the two games, which helps if you've played HM64. Instead of the tiny faces in the text boxes, HMBTN features large, anime-style portraits that mime out what the characters are saying. This, paired with the awesome new script, are arguably the dual factor that makes Back to Nature a better game than Harvest Moon 64. They change the experience in very dramatic ways.
9/10
Sound
The music, like in Harvest Moon 64, only changes between seasons, and only in certain parts of the land. This can get annoying, so I usually find myself playing a Smashing Pumpkins CD instead. ^_^ Sound quality is up, though, as many more different instruments are usually heard playing at once.
As far as sound effects go, not much has changed. The only real noticeable addition would be the scattered voice clips, such as the children humming a tune in the opening cutscene, but these are so rare that they're hardly a treat to hear.
8/10
Replay Value
As with all Harvest Moons, Back to Nature is as replayable as a puzzle game. Sure, there's a bit of tedium in the repetitious daily activities, but you can always find more weird things to do. In any case, it seems highly unlikely that I will not come back to this game in the future, as I have so many a time with Harvest Moon 64.
One big noticeable flaw only occurs because of the hardware change; load times. While the screen-to-screen load times are no big fuss (no more than a couple of seconds), saving or loading a save file can take what seems like forever (but is probably only a minute or so). This really only becomes a problem, though, when you've been playing for 3 hours and haven't saved because of avoidance behaviour. Any system that makes you feel like that is doing an awful, awful thing.
8/10
Overall
It's definately hard to have been an HM64 fan for so long and come into this game expecting something new. While it's not the "carbon copy (plus a little bit extra)" game I thought it would be, it still isn't a completely brand new game. And although this one has its advantages, they're sometimes weighed down by its flaws. The games are twin brothers, really. HM64 is the small one with the goofy-looking face, while HMBTN is the tall one with an attitude problem. ^_^ I'd have to recommend this edition, but if you don't own a Playstation, HM64 will suffice. I don't want you to take my words too heavilly, though, so I'll leave you with the impression that this and HM64 are both some of the greatest games ever made. While I rant on and on about all their flaws, it's only because I have to.
This game is great, and really a pick for those of you still waiting for anything good to come out for GameCube this year. Hey, maybe Harvest Moon GC will be out soon...
FINAL SCORE: 9/10
=Amazing=
Send feedback to: sam@ngeb.net
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