Harvest Moon a New Beginning

If you are a fan of the series then you are going to love Harvest Moon: A New Beginning by Marvelous AQL. Released in 2012, this title is an absolute banger and a welcome addition to the franchise, offering a barn load of new features and interesting mechanics that help make this a title worthy of its lineage. Grab those apples and get over here as we jump into this classic game.

Gameplay

If you have ever played a Harvest Moon game before then you will have a pretty good idea of what the gameplay is like, the same could be said if you’ve ever played Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Stardew Valley or one of the newer Pokémon games like Pokémon Sun and Moon. Everything handles brilliantly in this game, something you might not expect tot have a grea3t amount of importance but I believe its crucial. You move fast and harvest fast and these are important for not dragging you down and causing you to get frustrated quickly.

Much like the other titles in the franchise, there is a considerable amount to do in this game. You grow crops, you meet people, you landscape but thanks to some recent developments there is now so much more. Ni longer stuck to harvesting simple fruits and vegetables, you can now harvest things like honey from your own Apiaries (Apiaries are those big white box beehives, I learned that from the game.) There is also mining opportunities available for the player to engage in at their own pace.

OF course, this is the Story of Seasons games, this means you must pay close attention to what time of year it is as you can easily miss something by a month and then have to wait nearly a year for it to come around again.

Two things that have been implemented that I found to be surprisingly refreshing are the fact you can customise your character (pretty extensively) and you can customise the whole dang town you live in. Don’t like where a building is, go all Incredible Hulk on it and pick the whole thing up and put it somewhere else. It offers a nice amount of freedom that hasn’t been seen in many other games.

Story

There is a story here, as in most games, that has you arrive in the old settlement of Echo Village. Basically, derelict now but its up to you to bring it back to life and interact with all the characters who can assist in updating and renovating the quaint little town.

Multiplayer

Those crazy kids did it, they brought into multiplayer. Thanks to this nifty little trick, you can play with other people from all over the region where you can trade animal products and even locate a special animal that gives unique loot.

Pros:

• Multiplayer is great
• New and improved graphics
• Introduction of new features is welcome

Cons:

• Island customisation can be clumsy