If there is one good thing to say about the Farmville style games that have taken over social networking sites like Facebook, it’s that it has generated a lot of new interest in Natsume’s Harvest Moon series. I have been a fan of the Harvest Moon series since I first discovered the PS2 game, Harvest Moon: Save the Homeland. It would seem that I would be a perfect candidate for the Farmville/Farmtown obsession, but I have stayed true to the original game.
At this year’s E3, Natsume had mostly DS games to showcase. It wouldn’t be a Natsume booth without a Harvest Moon and I was pleased to see that a new one is due out next month.
Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar is somewhat of a departure from the series while still staying in line with it. It still features you on a farm, raising livestock and growing crops. Normally, you would put what you reap into a Shipping Bin that would “magically” sell you items generating the income you needed to build your farm back to its former glory. Instead of the shipping bin, in Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, you will take your harvests to the Grand Bazaar, a kind of Farmer’s Market, to sell your wares to help generate commerce to buildup you town. You get to choose what to sell in your shop and you will even have a quota that you will need to make. The game will be test in inventory management. Along with raising your livestock and crops, you will need to sell your wares but you may have to shop instead as only certain items will become available at the Bazaar. You will also be able to fish and cook and I’m sure there are other surprises that await us in the game.
There will be festivals where you can compete in horse races and even a snowboarding competition. The game also features a multiplayer mode where you can invite friends into your farm.
As usual, you can choose to play as either a girl or a boy and you can still find a mate, get married, and have a family. Sadly, you can’t get drunk in the bar anymore as they took that out of the series a few games ago.
The most notable change is to the control. You will now be able to jump which will make getting around your village a lot easier. If you are familiar with the series, you will know that traveling around your town takes up a lot of time. Now, you will be able to jump over certain barriers and jump down from areas allowing you to traverse your town more efficiently!
Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar will be available for the Nintendo DS this July.
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