A combination of resource management and RPG-lite based around farming. Clear fields, plough, sow seeds and water your crop and it's about as fun as it sounds. Pretty to look at but tedious to play.

A lot of the critics reviews suggest that someone new to the Harvest Moon games wouldn't enjoy this game: I must disagree. It was through this game that I got introduced to the HM games, and I absolutely loved it. The concept was amazing, the graphics and the controls lovely and easy to use, and the characters (mostly) interesting. I will admit however that at times I found the game tedious and took breaks from it, but I always came back to it whenever I felt in the mood, which was quite a lot. Later on I've discovered that it was the elements closest to the HM games that made this one tedious, and I haven't found a game I've enjoyed near so much as this one by them, and so I will give this game an 8/10 in comparison to the 4/10s I feel the others deserve (e.g. A Tale of Two Towns, etc).

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon is a spin-off to the original Harvest Moon series and in my opinion a generally great game. It takes all the elements from Harvest Moon games and RPG games and puts them into one game. Harvest Moon fans will find the game a little bit hard to get used to and many RPG fans will criticise the slow pace but for others, this is a rare gem. The game-play is that of all the preceding Harvest Moon games and the battle system is similar to that of the Dragon Quest series. There are a few minor flaws however, one being the repetitiveness of the game. You will have to be very patient with this game to fully enjoy it. Another minor flaw is way too much back-tracking. Some dungeons can only be completed by going back to the beginning which can be annoying. This game isn't essential but it is one of the greatest Harvest Moon games to date and you might just truly enjoy this.