Exhuminator wrote:Has anyone spent any time with the HM Wii entries?
Yes and Yes. The two I have played was the Wii version of Harvest Moon: Magical Melody and Animal Parade.
Magical Melody seems initially like one of the better Harvest Moon games, until you put you some real time into it. It becomes dramatically repetitive and the notes you collect are very arbitrary achievements that start to slog down the game. It isn't a bad game, but it seems to be more of a generic Harvest Moon game and doesn't have a very defined style or theme compared to other games like Wonderful Life.
As for Animal Parade, I have to say that it was very enjoyable. The game itself has a great art style and allows for a lot of customization for your character. You can play male or female, have tons of potential relationship choices and a bevy of clothes and accessories to make your character unique and yours. the world itself is interesting and has a great cast of characters that have a unique personality. The goal of the game itself is also very good. You are set with the task of ringing these bells to summon the harvest king. You ring the bells by saving these sprites and performing certain tasks. These tasks are varied until the very end, which turns into a series of repetitive, "Make friends with so many villagers," and, "Get an S ranking in one of the various revenue categories." Overall though, there are tons of events and they streamlined a lot of the farming grind to make it fun and accessible. Also, cave exploration adds a lot of cool elements that make the game a bit more frenetic and fast paced as you dodge various gasses that you unearth as you dig.
The big focus is on the Animal Parade, a circus that comes to town from time to time and animals escape and it is your goal to find them and bring them back. Although it is in the title, it really isn't as huge of a focus as they make it out to be. The real focus is on the interactions with other people and the various things you can craft and do. There is decorations you can buy and customize your house and customize your character that makes it fun and adds more of a personal touch, a touch that I feel is missing in previous titles.
It is good and I recommend it. Also, if you have other people around, they can use a wii remote to waggle around a pointer on screen. If there are people or animals around and you waggle the point on them, it improves their relationship with you. It may seem silly, but if you have kids who want to play with you, it gives them something to do and have a bit of interactivity in your play.
