What's New? Fans of the series familiar with the premise will be pleased at the depth offered by the latest game. Working your own plot of land can be surprisingly fun. This is a fun title! But the glacially slow pace and gaps between interesting events or decisions really weigh it down over the long haul, turning what could've been a classic into a diversion only enjoyed by the most patient of players. Magical Melody, the latest game in the Harvest Moon series, does a great job with all of the basics. It's also up to you to decide which of the lovely videogame ladies (or handsome but cartoony men) of the town you're going to marry and raise a family with. It's up to you to decide which crops to plant and how to lay them out, or what barn to build and what animals to keep there. On paper it might not sound like fun, but running a simulated little farm is actually quite engaging. The Harvest Moon games have always been distinctly non-violent diversions that emphasize hard work and community building. No, it's not the next Metroid, and it's not meant to be.

Eventually, once you've built yourself a big homestead, you can even settle down with one of the townspeople and have a kid. As you expand your farm the town around you will grow. You'll work hard to plant crops, raise animals, fish, or explore nearby caves for precious metals. In Harvest Moon: Magical Melody, you build yourself a farm with the intention of fitting in to a bustling rural community. So it's a relief to see that the Harvest Moon franchise is still around, striking a very different note. Videogame shelves these days are packed with titles tasking you to blow up aliens, Nazis, robots, ninjas, thugs, zombies, or some combination thereof.

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