Everyone needs a way to wind down at the end of the day. Life gets hectic sometimes, and our emotions might get the best of us, so it’s best to vent doing something you love. Burly, loud, probably smelly men use sports. Bored, restless, probably manic depressive homemakers watch The View (because no one in their right state of mind will). Plenty of gamers go to violent, bloody romps; such as Call of Duty, or Gears of War. As for me? I play Harvest Moon.

Gamers are to Video Games, as Manic Depressive Soccer Moms are to The View

Harvest Moon: Animal Parade is the newest in the cult franchise, and the second Harvest Moon offering on the Wii. Whereas Tree of Tranquility’s theme involved food and cooking, Animal Parade’s theme involves music. As the story goes, the land of Castanet, once a thriving utopia, has become a gray, near unlivable place. What’s to blame for this catastrophe? The divine tree has gotten very weak, and can only be revived with the power of the Harvest King. However, the Harvest King lives very far away, and can only be summoned by the clang of five magical bells.

The bells are unlocked as you progress in the story. Each will have different criteria before they are unlocked. All of the required actions usually require things normally done, such as mining different ores, farming excellent grade crops, and other such activities. As each bell rings, Castanet slowly regains its soul, your town becomes much more livable, and the real estate values will skyrocket (not really, but the land does become much prettier).

The visuals are definitely prettier than Tree of Tranquility, at least as the game progresses. But even when you start off in the desolate, soulless version of Castanet, the overall greyness of the land is depicted perfectly. Controls are much better with the elimination of the unnecessary waggle. Even if there was waggle, the easier way to play would be with the Classic Control, a feature I’m overjoyed the game allows.

Animal Parade is much more annoying than it’s Wii predecessor. Before, one bag of seeds would plant in a 1 x 6 block of tilled land. Planting crops in this game is much like the annoying planting style of “A Wonderful Life.” 1 bag of seeds = 1 block of tilled land. This game is full of little annoyances like that. Getting around town is always an ordeal. Your character doesn’t really run, and just about every important place (the blacksmiths, the seed shop, the livestock and poultry farm) feels like five minutes walking distance. And I’m not talking in game time. Mining is incredibly unrewarding. Before, useful ores would sparkle, so you would know whether they were worth your time. Now, useful ores are a gamble, a gamble you’re most likely going to lose. The more valuable the ore, the larger chance it will become scrap metal when refined.

There is plenty of livestock in the game: cows, horses, sheep, and goats, and ostriches. Unfortunately, no matter how fancy your barn is, you can only hold three different species in one barn. I don’t understand the angle there. Why would you do that Natsume? Annoyances don’t make the game harder, or spice up the gameplay. They’re just…well…annoying.

Even though the first 5-8 hours of the game are slower than molasses, there are many aspects of the game that are very rewarding. You can ride any of your livestock, once they have five hearts. Yes, even goats. The franchise is lowly modernizing, letting you process many of your products such as corn, wheat, chilies, and sugarcane, into products like cornmeal, flour, curry powder and sugar. Even if this game steers away from the cooking theme of Tree of Tranquility, Animal Parade’s cooked foods are almost on par with the food porn offered in Muramasa: the Demon Blade.

Weeeeee~

The Awesome

-Prettiest Harvest Moon yet

-Very rewarding

-The Ability to ride any animal

-Mouthwatering food porn

-Classic Controller Compatibility

The Not So Awesome

-Starts off at a snail pace

-Walking, walking, and more walking

-Unnecessary Annoyances, such as new crop planting style and “gamble” mining

Verdict

Animal Parade is escapism at its best. As difficult as the first few hours may be, the hours following will be the most rewarding of any Harvest Moon yet. Anytime the world hands you the shaft, sit down with Animal Parade and let your worries melt away into your own farming utopia.

Score: 8/10

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