Trustyweasel

This is probably the best Harvest Moon I have played in a very long time. It brings back the memories I had of the original, which I missed in every subsequent release in the series. While the tutorials are a little in your face, cut scenes become a nuisance (I will seriously stand around waiting until ten minutes after 10am and 6pm on Neil's shop days before heading into the town area) and let's not really quibble over the waste of the touch screen, this installment is indeed a new beginning for the series. I had almost given up on reigniting the spark I felt for this series after Island of Happiness. The edit feature is a godsend for the series. The fact that I don't have to throw my crops into the collection bin, amazing. The art style is gorgeous and the 3D makes it pop. Honestly with most 3DS games, I end up playing with the feature turned off. Here, as with Ocarina, you really miss out on the quality of the graphics without it turned on. The depth of the gameplay, is terrific. You could spend your entire time just playing with the crops but there's so much more to do. As much as I want to punch that cowboy hobo mayor in the face every time he barges into my house, I really feel invested in his mission of revitalizing the town. There's more appeal for growing and expanding the town than I felt in Island of Happiness. Hunting down new blueprints, recipes, and music sheets is a terrific diversion. Sometimes though, the rewards from the Sprites for expanding the town are a bit underwhelming. The additional fact that they have to be unlocked in sequential order -- for instance I built the clinic before the cottage but I didn't get the clinic's music sheet unlocked until after I unlocked the sheet from the cottage -- is a tad annoying but not so much that it detracts from the game. Despite the slow start of the first month, you're constantly compelled to be doing something: foraging, fishing, flirting, building. This game is great.