The fact that this game was delayed only heightened my eagerness to get at it. I woke up early on the original release date and rushed to Gamestop, only to be told that it got delayed in customs.

“Oh well,” I thought, “it’s no big deal.” After all, I had dove into the Cute version like a starving fat kid shoveling chocolate cake into my mouth. I really wanted this game. When it was safely in my greedy little palms twenty-four hours later I didn’t even wait until I got home to crack that puppy open. With my husband driving I sat in the passenger seat all eager twitters and squeals.

It didn’t take long for me to run into my first complaint. While I love the fact that Nintendo is proud of its touch screen I absolutely hate the fact that unlike in the previous game we do not have the option of whether or not we’d like to use the stylus to do flippin’ everything. It’s not enough that the overall movement is a chore as my stunning little brunette doesn’t always seem to want to go in the direction I’m telling her to, but the use of the tools is annoyingly tough.

Don’t get me wrong, the game has its better points over the previous installments. The graphics were upped to little 3D people rather than the 2D pixilated we had before. In addition, the storyline itself is a bit fresher than the others, as you are populating an entire island with your farming skills, which is nice.

The game play itself is filled with a few pleasant surprises, if you can get past the first annoying hours of waiting for your tiny little patches of seedlings to grow. Interacting with your animals is quite a bit more entertaining and you’ll probably be less likely to skip caring for them altogether out of boredom.

For those of you who have played the previous ones you know that Harvest Moon isn’t the type of game you can sit down and finish in a few days or even a week. There are many game years of play in this game to devour your otherwise wasted time. There is also quite a bit to do within the game to alleviate the monotony of farming, so I encourage exploring.

All in all, I’d give this game a 6.5/10. So far it’s nice and I’ll probably finish it but I’m thinking I will take quite a few breaks out of sheer motor frustration.