Harvest Moon:  Another Wonderful Life
System: Gamecube   Publisher: Natsume   Developer: Natsume   Genre: Simulation   Release Date: 07/26/05

At the beginning of the game the novelty of the game-play hooked me in. I played for hours on end. So the game isn’t completely lacking in fun. It is similar to Sim City or the other Sims games where you play out the lives of people on the screen, but it is lacking an important feature that makes those games so fun; in the Sims you get to build things. Whether it be whole cities or just a house you are able to be creative in the Sims. However, with Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life you do not have room to keep developing the farm. Once you purchase everything your done and there is certain places that things go, you don’t get to choose. So right there this game loses it’s artistic/creative players that love the Sim’s games so much. Plus the story line is already laid out for you. You only have the choice between three husbands and that determines your children; you can’t even pick the genders. Basically this game doesn’t cut it in the action department, story department, or the creative game-play department.

Considering all the bad things that I have said about this game it’s a wonder that I would still recommend it, but I do. This would be a fine rental that might last you a couple days before you are through with it. I think what really draws you in is how different it is from other games. People really seem to enjoy things that are out of the ordinary because there isn’t many of them. So if there isn’t any other game on your list for the evening and all you want to do is relax a little give it a try and see if it bores you to tears.

Miranda Stites, HeroesOfGaming.com, 08/31/05