Harvest Moon: Back to Nature was a Playstation game that, at the time of its release, was being constantly compared to Harvest Moon 64, though neither seemed to be more popular than the other. It led to the port of it on the GBA entitled Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town (which turned out to be highly advanced with better graphics, sound, and characters and with more mini-games and no deadline to do stuff besides the shooting star extra that occurs every five years), and was ultimately a saving point for the franchise's chances on any system other than Nintendo consoles, which up to that point had been all that it was on.

This game will be rated on a scale of 1 to 5, as per usual.

Graphics: *** 1/2

For the time period this game came out, the graphics were considered pretty good. The only real flaws were shared by other Playstation games of the 96 to 98 era: characters looked blocky and lacked mouths. The reason this isn't a 4 is because, since a Gameboy Advance port of this looked better, one has to wonder why they couldn't have made these better. Even the N64 Harvest Moon game looks better, which is sad since the N64 wasn't as capable as the PS1 and HM64 came out first.

Sound: **** 1/2

There are many great tunes, some of which were dropped from the port (for instance, the excellent fall theme was taken out in favor of another autumn-based background), giving it some leverage. Numerous sounds were realistic and the animals sounded real for the time period. The only complaint is that the spring theme is rather boring and you spend a little less than one quarter of the game listening to it so...

Characters: * 1/2

Wait wait wait, hold up. The characters are the exact same one as from Harvest Moon 64 except... not. The characters look the same and have the same names (except Maria, who's name was changed to Mary) and have similar personalities but they're still not the same people. Also, a lot of characters were dropped from the game. There are only two all-new characters, and those are Wen (who wasn't even named or given a real personality until Friends of Mineral Town anyway) and Carter.

Difficulty: *****

This game is hard! You tend to collapse after doing so much in a day and will often find yourself in the hospital during the winter and spring from using the hoe too much. In addition to this, you only have three years to grow one of every vegetable, have every upgrade on your house, and get married, a feat which is nearly impossible on your first time through. If you fail to do this, the game ends and you won't be able to continue playing so you'll have to start again from scratch. This means that you will have to find a way to fit in all of your farm work along with digging in the mines, fishing, making friends, wooing somebody, and cutting stumps for wood in a single day.

Legendary Fish: ** 1/2

This game contains fish that you can only catch on certain days or in certain places that can help raise your pull around the town as well as make you feel good about the fact that you're practically a fishing god for catching them all. Some are very easy to get with the right equipment but others are extremely hard to get ahold of, such as the Legendary Fish at the bottom of the Winter Mine. The fish take too much time and money to put any real time into, so it is best to wait on catching them until after you've completed the three years.

Secrets: *****

This game contains many a hidden thing and it shows. There are hidden areas you can reach, there is a rumored sixth wife though this has not yet been confirmed (though it is possible, I presume, since she's able to be married in Friends of Mineral Town), there are the Legendary Fish, there are tons of festivals you can enter, there are the Power Berries which are practically a neccessity for the third year, a secret pond that will cause the watering can to never run out (it's the same pond as the one the Winter Mine's Legendary Fish is, strangely enough), and much more.

Gameplay: ****

The gameplay is pretty good compared to other Harvest Moons of the time. As you can jump over plants now it is easier than ever to water your fields. The animals all are easy to care for with the exception of any chickens you may leave out in the field (there are wild dogs around at night) and the controls are easy to learn. The problem here is that it is hard to walk around as, since you're using the D-Pad, you'll often have to take so many steps forward and so many right to get to somewhere that otherwise be easily reached.

Replayability: ****

With tons of secrets and such, this game is highly replayable. The problem is that you'll always be in a rush to get things done and the like, which can get repetitive after so long. In addition to this, none of the mini-games are all that interesting with the exception of the Tomato Festival and Chicken Festival.

Crops: *****

This game has more crops than all of the other games of the series (except for Friends of Mineral Town, which has the same amount), and it shows. This game was the introduction of the pineapple, which is likely the biggest money-making crop in the history of the series (they sell for five-hundred a piece and the seeds cost just one thousand, meaning a profit of $3000 a pack). In the end, the crops are extensive with no real complaints to be made.

Fun Factor!: *** 1/2

This game is enjoyable fun and would likely be ranked higher if it weren't so hard. There's something different about this game from the rest of the series for the most part, and it is fun and rather extensive. Not much else can be said.

Overall: *** 1/2

This is a good game, and was even great for the time of its release. However, there are complaints to be made, such as the difficulty. In the end, should you buy it? That depeds. If you find it somewhere on eBay or in Gamestop, get it if it's less than twenty dollars, but don't go looking around for it or paying more than that.

Now for the verdict: Is it better than Harvest Moon 64? No, it is not, but it is close. I recommend this game if you don't have Friends of Mineral Town. If you do, don't get it.

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