I picked up the new Harvest Moon game (Tree of Tranquility) for the Wii recently. I thought it was an older release, as it was available at Costco, but apparently it was released September 30.
I wasn't sure how Harvest Moon would go over with the kids - basically it's a farming simulation. You clear and till fields, you plant crops, you mine while you're waiting for your crops to grow, you rocks and timber to build a barn or chicken coop, you buy animals to put in your new buildings, you collect milk and eggs and sell that along with your crops. You can also court and marry. And there are wild animals that you can pet and feed, and if you feed them enough they follow you home and become your pets (monkey, turtle, wild boar, dog, cat, don't know what else yet).
Now, does a farming simulation sound like fun? I didn't think my 11-year-old-son-who-wants-to-play-first-person-shooters would be into it, I actually bought it for the girls. Turns out they're all
hooked!
Time passes quickly in the game (something like 10 minutes game time is 30 seconds real time, or something). Your character has a Stamina bar that determines how much work they can do in a day. Spend some time chopping down trees, and your stamina goes away quick and you need to go rest. Spend your time walking around town, and your stamina bar barely moves.
There's a lot of common sense in this game - crops grow better in summer (you start the game in spring), some shops are closed on Sundays or Mondays, if you work in a thunderstorm you might get sick, if you want to know the weather buy a TV and turn on the weather news, if you collect produce like eggs you can sell it directly or turn it into something better (eggs become mayonnaise with the right machinery), if you want to build a barn you have to buy or gather wood and pay the carpenter to help you, etc.
The plot of the game is that you went to Waffle Island to start a farming life, but that people are slowly leaving Waffle Island because the Harvest Goddess seems to have abandoned the islanders. Your job, ultimately, is to convince people to move back to the island. You can do this by building a really big farm and showing lots of success, or by finding the seed for the Tree of Tranquility and then nurturing it into a big tree. The Harvest Goddess can then return.
I looked up the reviews, and Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility scored 6 to 7 mostly because the graphics aren't high-end (480i instead of 480p, 4:3 instead of 16:9), and because some reviewers thought older Harvest Moon titles were better. I have to tell you, though, the game was an instant hit in my house, and the kids don't care one bit about the graphic specs or the older titles.
From my perspective, the only downside is that there are only three save slots in the game. That means that my three older kids each got a save slot, and I didn't (and thus can't play
) Given that the save data is stored on the Wii and not on some cartridge, I don't understand why game developers don't just make limitless save slots...
Anyway, if you haven't gotten your fill of Harvest Moon/Animal Crossing type games, Tree of Tranquility certainly is fun to play. If you have kids that you don't want playing first-person shooters all the time, they'll most likely enjoy the game. If graphical specs really matter to you, well, I'm not sure what I'd say beyond, "
Have you checked out the new-but-almost-out-of-date-already super-high-definition 2160p 82" Samsung?"
