Story: After naming your character, your father dies. You move to a farm he and a friend bought but never started. Once there the friend, Totakeke, gives you tools and a cow, and soon after you get a dog. You get to work living as your father dreamed.

Graphics: **** 1/2

The graphics for the characters are a bit off, but the effects and scenary  are great. Late in the game, once you no longer need to work as hard, you should take time to look at all of the beauty of Forget Me Not Valley. When characters hold something, however, the animation is very odd and brings down this rating.

Sound: *** 1/2

The sounds in the game are great. Some of the songs in the game can be quite annoying at times, but just listening to things like the infamous Blue Bar theme (which is, unfortunately, impossible to have in your home) are true masterpieces, and sounds such as the flow of water or animals are very realisistic.

Characters: ***

The characters in the game are quite a large pack, and some are more interesting than others. Your son is probably the most developed of the characters, though quite a few are interesting or humorous. Murry, a caveman-like guy who wants to see his family again after many years away, and Daryl, a mad scientist who often-time is seen on your farm and at one points stalks your son, are two of the best of those characters.

Difficulty: ** 1/2

The game can be very difficult on the first few days, and some things (especially the milking room) are incredibly difficult to acquire (without knowing how to make huge money off trees). However, after you've gotten the hang of things, the game become more simple and less confusing.

Gameplay: ***

The gameplay is mostly as follows: you water your plants (if it isn't raining), talk to your animals and, in fall and winter as well as rainy days, feed them, then you go to town, give a gift to the girl you like, collect things to sell to Van, go home, water the plant if it isn't raining, sell stuff to Van, and feed the animals again. That could get boring, right? Well, if you have the time there's a lot more to do (especially on rainy days after you get the horse).

Replayibility: ***

The game has a total of 18 different routes to take to the end of the story (each of the six endings with all three wives). This means there'll be lots to engage in, plus you can always thrive on the hillarious cut scenes about Van's many dieting plans.

Fun Factor: *** 1/2

The fun is quite frequent, especially with all of the interesting characters and cutscenes, as well as special events. These include Mukumuku, who's in three cutscenes and winter in the forest digging with the archealogist, Van's cutscenes, the Harvest Festival, noticing references to other games, wondering what's in the four locked doors in the game, etc. And of course, the 'parking your horse in front of Van and him being able to push it out of the way with his stomach' thing. (Seriously, this happens...)

Overall: ****

This game is definitely worth buying, and also the best game in the Harvest Moon series, despite being so different from the others. Your wallet's not going to like this... by the way, don't make the artist mad. Ever. Just look at him and you'll see why...

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