Age Rating:

3+ (PEGI)

What is it?

Some sort of hideously complicated farming/village sim.

Is it fun?

No!

Is it worth the money? (£24.99)

No!

Why not?

I’ll freely admit, I Do Not Get Harvest Moon. Even so, in the spirit of representing an Average Gamer, I’m writing this as someone entirely new to the franchise…

What the hell is Harvest Moon DS supposed to be? I’ve played Animal Crossing a lot so I get the concept of a relaxing game where you wander around collecting things. Harvest Moon seems to be like that, only a thousand times more complicated and without the helpful villagers to let you know what the hell is going on.

For starters, I get my new game, wander about and eventually discover that I should be tilling my field. There’s loads of debris in the form of rocks and logs. Not a problem. I soon discover how to pick them up and proceed throw them over the edge where they disappear.

WRONG!

They didn’t disappear at all. I was fly-tipping! The other townsfolk don’t like that at all. Why do I care? Well, I’m not entirely sure even after reading through sites like Fogu. Apparently the witch likes my littering. Do I want her favour? I have no freaking idea.

Another example; you can give random presents to women. Sometimes they’ll love them. Other times they’ll be hurt and offended and make snide remarks. I think affects my prospects of marrying them, which may or may not be a good thing. I hate it because there’s simply no way in-game to tell what they like and dislike. Even worse, I can’t work it out through trial and error. I have immense trouble recalling what I gave to who because everyone just blurs together into a haze of quirky villager. Write it down? Please. I already have a job.

The game is riddled with pitfalls like this. Considering the gameplay is about farming, maintaining your town and getting married, it seems a pretty big liability. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this complexity is with this choice quote by Jim/tyr888 on Yahoo! Answers:

“Before you can get married you must upgrade your house. Your spouse is not going to want to live in the tiny house you start out with! To upgrade you will first need to unlock Channel 2 on the Sprite Station. To open the channel you must buy something from Karen’s telephone store for 10 days.

When you unlock the Tv Shopping Channel 2, watch it every day. Eventually you will see the Table for sale. The little round table will only cost you 500 G. Call the Tv Shopping operators using your telephone and order the Table.

Only after you have received the Table can you then hire Gotz to increase the size of your house for the first time! You must own the Kitchen before he will upgrade your house a second time if you own the Japanese version. The English version does not require the kitchen. “

In other words…

This game is freaking complicated (or in-depth, if you prefer). I hated it. YMMV.

Screenshots

What is it?

A thoroughly frustrating yet totally addictive hospital surgery sim.

Is it fun?

Undoubtedly.

It is worth the money? £24.99

Oh, yes. UK release date is 28th April 2006.

Why?

Coz it’s addictive and you get to walk around going “I saved people’s lives today. Bow down before me, menial desk drone!”

Some of the missions are a real challenge and the simple gameplay and easy learning curve makes it really hard to put down. Oh and there’s a magic cure-all serum that mirculously brings your patients back from the brink of death!

Basic premise: You’re a doctor and wherever you go, people need surgery and they need it now! You can’t take a plane trip, go to a conference or even walk down the street without having to operate. Go Hero!

Everything comes in 2-5 minute chunks which makes it great for casual gaming but when you succeed in a mission there’s always the temptation to do “just one more!” Before you know it, it’s eaten an hour of your life without you even noticing which I reckon is the mark of a great game :)

It has its flaws - the missions jump from being really easy to mind-bogglingly hard but at least the storyline is entertaining. Plus, by the second or third time you replay a mission, you’re thinking “There’s no way I’m gonna let this damned game beat me. Grrrrrrgh!!!” Each mission gets a final rank as well so you can replay the ones with low scores: C is rubbish - you could deliberately hack on your patient and if he survives you still get a C. B is okay, A is pretty kick-arse and S is Super-Special Surgeon! Well, maybe not, but it’s bloody hard to get!

I had a few problems with the screen - dunno if it was overheating after three solid hours of my jabbing it but after a while it got quite difficult to operate on any bits near the edges of the screen. Haven’t noticed that in any other games. There are also the usual annoyances with repeated cut-scenes when you fail but you can skip the worst of that with the Select button.

Despite its flaws, this game is well worth buying for that feeling of immense satisfaction when you finally bandage up your patients. Let’s Begin The Operation!

Screenshots:

What is it?

Single-player 2D pool with time limits and crazy things you should avoid or hit to make things interesting.

Is it fun?

Yes. Strangely addictive.

Is it worth the money? Free!

Yes, but only coz it’s free.

Why?

It would be lots of fun if there weren’t so many spinning, whirling ads on the page. Oh and the music and sound effects were quite obnoxious as well, though I just turn my speakers off. It’s still kinda fun.

You’re supposed to avoid things on the table but there’s no option to add spin to your shot. On the bright side, the cursor makes it pretty easy to aim your shots if you know what you’re doing.

Finally, when I tried to register in order to submit my high score it crashed my browser :(

Entertaining for a while but the ads are so annoying that I wouldn’t go back.

Links: (optional, though at least the official site would be nice)

Playaholics - Lightning Pool. Macromedia Flash required.

Screenshots

What is it?

An adorable fake puppy that never smells like yucky dog or poos on your nice carpet.

Is it fun?

Yes! So cuuuuuuuute!

Is it worth the money? £27.99

Yes, if you like cutesy sims. Otherwise, no.

Why?

If you don’t like cutesy sims, there’s nothing for you here. The artwork and AI isn’t anything that hasn’t been done better elsewhere. The doggie animation is very good, but not enough to pay £27.99 to see.

If you do like cutesy sims, it’s like having a lovely never-aging puppy that doesn’t break things and you can switch him off when you’re busy without worrying that he’ll scratch the door down.

That being said, you do have to feed him and walk him every day or he gets really hungry and unhappy. And I mean every day, not just every day you feel like playing him. It tracks events across real-time so if you don’t play with him, wash him and feed him for a week, he’ll starve and run away, or huddle in the corner whimpering, waiting for his owner to remember poor little Bobo… Aww…

They’re lovely though - a nice way to teach responsibility and show the kids that they do need to look after things every day without the risk of getting a real dog. You have to scoop his poop and everything! Not the sort of game you can play when travelling though - I’d feel like a right idiot shouting “Bobo! Sit! No, not sneeze… sit!” on the way to work. It’s definitely a casual game. The three-events-a-day limitations mean that you only really get a small bit of gameplay each day. You have to wait half an hour between taking the puppies for walks as well, so small bursts are definitely the way to go.

Good game! Highly recommended for sim-lovers.

Screenshots