Review: Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning

The Harvest Moon series has been going for what feels like forever, but has actually just hit 17 years since the first release in Japan. The latest instalment is Harvest Moon 3D: A New Beginning, the second game for the 3DS and the first to be presented in actual 3D. The story of A New Beginning is similar to that of previous instalments: you’re a young farmer-to-be moving to a new town, looking to take your plot of land from dirt patch to prosperous farm by raising crops and livestock, participating in festivals and revitalising the town.

This time around you’re the newest resident of Echo Village, taking over an estate owned by your father. After customising your male or female avatar – a first for the series – you’ll follow the suspiciously cowbow-looking Mayor Dunhill around the town in a series-trademark, the incredibly slow and laborious tutorial. This is especially helpful if you’ve never played a video game before, as it will teach you all those difficult techniques like how to interact with an object or jump.

Much like with previous Harvest Moon title The Tale of Two Towns, this tutorial grated on me. The entire thing is mandatory, a point of frustration for anyone who had played the games previously or even just video games in general. This is compounded by the fact that all this information is available in the game’s manual, the on-cartridge digital manual AND a bookshelf in your character’s house – the mayor even mentions this information is available at the START of his tour! This iron-gripped handholding makes the games beginning drag on in a way it really doesn’t need to.

Once you finish your leisurely stroll with the Mayor, the game oh-so-slowly starts up for you. Gameplay elements are drip-fed in, leaving you with very little to do each day to begin with beyond uprooting rocks and weeds around town. It’s around the second week in-game that you’ll first have access to livestock, to put things in perspective. If you can persevere through all this however, the game is a solid title. All the expected micro-management is there, from growing your crops and participating in festivals, to schmoozing the townsfolk and potential suitors. You’re also able to rearrange your farm as you like, to the point of even picking up and moving your house if you’d rather it be somewhere else.

The move to 3D isn’t a first for Harvest Moon, but it is a first for the 3DS games. Sadly, it’s not very well executed – gone are the series’ trademark cutesy stylings, instead replaced with a very barebones set of 3D models. Houses and environments are blocky and simple, making the world feel fairly empty. Areas that are editable also suffer from noticeable framerate drops, especially your farm. Given this is where you’ll spend the majority of your time, it’s less than ideal. It’s troubling that the game should suffer from these issues that even early launch titles for the 3DS (or even 3D titles for the DS!) didn’t really have – given the fidelity and detail in games like Super Mario 3D Land it’s clear the handheld is capable of handling a lot more, a lot better.

All that aside, the game IS enjoyable. It has everything a Harvest Moon title should have, and adds enough new content to make it a worthy step up from previous games for the real farming fan. Let’s be honest – you’re not playing this game for the cutting-edge graphics, so if you’re able to grit your teeth through choppy framerates you’ll no doubt have a great time tilling your virtual soil. I’m not entirely sure A New Beginning is living up to its name, but it’s certainly trying.