Harvest Moon is starting to grow

Harvest Moon is a franchise that has been with us for some time now. Many thought the concept of working on a farm a laughable excuse for a game. Many more however, found it the perfect way to break the monotony of blowing things up or driving around the same bit of track over and over again. It gave them the chance to escape the norm and relax in a world where they didn’t have to worry about end-of-game bosses trouncing them.

Harvesting the field

And what started out as a niche market quickly became a mainstream title. People would come home from a hard day at work or school and get stuck into life on their virtual farm. No violence, no killing.

Most of what people loved about the earlier versions of the game has been retained. In particular the cute look and feel that Harvest Moon is well known for. But while it retains much of the same look and gameplay, Rune Factory has also been given a slight face lift. Replacing the tiled backgrounds and scenery is beautiful hand drawn environments, which not only give Rune Factory a charm of its own but a more grown up feel too.

You start off in Rune Factory wearing rags and with no clue as to your identity or your whereabouts. You soon meet an attractive young woman, Mist. Instead of helping you in the traditional way by taking you to the authorities or the hospital, Mist leases you some land, a house and some tools to get your farming life started: a hoe, watering can and some seeds. Such a nice girl to make someone with amnesia do manual labour.

In with the old and in with the new.

From there you must get the farm up and running by clearing the fields, sowing the seeds and then harvesting the crops that you grow. You can also fish in Rune Factory, which I have to admit I actually found quite relaxing. Fishing, sowing and farming are, of course, standard activities for the Harvest Moon series. What really sets Rune Factory apart from the rest of the franchise is its Dungeon Crawling and Combat, a first for Harvest Moon.

The dungeons in Rune Factory aren’t immediately accessible. To gain access to them you will need to gain the trust of the mayor. He can permit access to the caves to not only plant specific crops, but also deal with a monster problem the town is having. At first you can only defeat the monsters you encounter but once you have built a monster hut you can capture and train them. The advantage of this is that they can help you with farming and future battles with other monsters.

When it comes to combat and manual work, you’ll need to keep an eye on the two bars at the top of the touchscreen. These bars are your health and rune points. Rune points are your stamina, so every time you perform manual labour or fight it will go down a little. If your rune bar is completely depleted then your health bar will start to diminish whenever you perform a manual task. So while you’re in the dungeons you will need to keep an eye on your runes.

Life on the Farm is an enjoyable one.

But life isn’t just about working and fighting, it’s about living too. One of the other key elements of Harvest Moon retained by Rune Factory is marriage. But that’s only if want to settle down. You’re not forced too. In fact you’re not forced to do anything. Rune Factory gives you the freedom to play how you want to play. I have spent the best part of two days fishing and just wandering around talking to people, and I’ve not yet been told that I should be doing something else.

Rune Factory is an evolving Harvest Moon adventure; bringing new elements and ideas to an already established franchise. Some of these improvements are fairly basic, like allowing you to walk over your crops without damaging them. Others are more drastic like the Dungeon Crawling and Combat. Rune Factory has been developed with the older Harvest Moon player in mind. Yes Harvest Moon now has dungeons and combat in addition to the farming, but for a game that’s all about working, Rune Factory is as relaxing and calming as it ever was.

GAME's Verdict

• Unbelievabley relaxing to play, you're never pushed to do anything
• The depth in character development will keep you going
• The new combat and dungeons are a welcome addition

• The fact that you can run out of Rune points really quickly
• The day seems to go too quickly
• Harvest Moon purists may not like the new additions

Review by: Tom "Farmer" Daly
Version Tested: Nintendo DS
Review Published: 27.02.09