[REVIEW] Harvest Moon - Grand Bazaar (DS)

Harvest Moon Grand Bazaar was a game I didn't originally intend to buy straight away. I've been a fan of the farm-em-up series for a while, but was intending to hold off for the 3DS version, when it eventually surfaces. After the traditional summer dead period for game releases, I was infuriated to find out that my beloved Tropico 4 had been put back a few weeks, so I scanned the new release sheets for something else to do, and Harvest Moon caught my eye. Well, I shan't recount the full story but that was put back too, and I was left wringing my hands in fury for a FULL MONTH, but now finally I have a new game to play! (Still waiting for Tropico 4, despite the PC version being out already. *sigh*)

This particular title in the Harvest Moon franchise sees you as a new farmer in the backwater Zephyr Town, a small town in a rural area that used to be a thriving commercial hub, but in recent years has seen a decline in trade in the area. One can only assume that recent council cuts and extortionate parking fees are choking the town and leaving it dying on it's ass. As the new kid in town, it's down to you to grow some excellent produce and reinject some life into the weekly market. As with any Harvest Moon game, the first thing to do at 6am on your first day is grab some tools from the Mayor, have a quick chat with the chap (yeah yeah, sales targets, growth, etc) and then quickly dash around the village looking for anything that's not nailed down that can be sold to the local seed merchant in exchange for a pocket full of turnip seeds.

And turnips is all you're likely to see for the first season! Like the rest of the games in the Harvest Moon series, this one is a slow builder, and relies on you getting your foundations right before it lets you go wild with too many different types of produce. In fact, if you tried to grow everything at once, and care for too many animals, you'd rapidly find yourself with not enough hours in the day and a woefully empty stamina bar.

The Bazaar adds an interesting angle to the formula, as you can fetch a much higher price for your produce there than selling them to the seed man in the village. This then leads to the need for carefully controlling your budgets, as the main bulk of your income will be coming in once a week rather than every day. Many items can only be bought at the market - such as livestock! No longer can chickens be incubated from eggs, which is a bit of a pain, but I must admit to being concerned about the inbred nature of my flock in previous games. At least this way, the gene pool might possibly be a bit deeper!

So far, I'm enjoying Harvest Moon an awful lot. It's familiar, yet challenging, with enough new ideas to keep the franchise fresh but still giving the tried and tested HM experience.

All in all, a rather happy, fed, groomed and watered 4/5