Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon Reviews

Pro Reviews

Average Review Score: 8.2

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon Reviews

Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon Previews

"Overall, this is a great game with an overwhelming amount of things to do giving you a lot of freedom to explore the little world and follow the main story at your own pace. While it might be strange taming monsters to create farm produce for you at first, it feels a little more fun than just going to a local shop to purchase an animal. NPCs give the feeling that they have their own little lives in the game as they talk about a variety of things and appear at different locations throughout the day. Getting to know each of them at festivals or during the day is a joy. Control system needs some work but, nevertheless a great title to start off the New Harvest Moon series on the DS!"

GameBrink »

"Despite a totally different visual style and the introduction of combat, Rune Factory still delivers a relatively straight-ahead Harvest Moon experience."

GameSpot »

"Nintendo must really be pushing its new DS WiFi service on the development community, as publishers keep on announcing new compatible titles. While Sega's Bleach and Taito's Lost Magic were added to the network-compatible list a few weeks back, the latest Famitsu reveals that Marvelous Interactive's Rune Factory: New Harvest Moon will be joining them."

IGN DS »

"For Harvest Moon fans, Rune Factory is exactly what you’ve been waiting for. The game balances a classic farming system (with some changes for the better) along with a full dungeon-crawling aspect, monster collection, and all the added goodies you’d expect from the franchise. The game has a few minor faults to it though, as there are some graphical bugs that pop up every once in a while, the stamina system is still pretty unforgiving considering how fast you can use it up, and the game pretty much just drops you into the action and expects you to figure it out, but in the end it’s definitely one of the best Harvest Moon games we’ve played. The art style is amazing, the modeled characters look decent (though we still would have preferred hand-drawn to fit the world more), the music and VO is a definite step above last year’s Harvest Moon “effort,” and the game is simply fast and fun to play. Things like Wi-Fi and wireless support, as well as the screenshot editor and added non-farm aspects of the game make for a more rounded experience overall, but the game still has that niche, “Harvest Moon Club” mentality where you’re either part of the fan-base or you aren’t, and we don’t really see the game capturing a ton of new users in its design change. It’s still a farm RPG first, dungeon crawler and adventure game second. For long time fans of the franchise (or the adventurous new wave of DS players) that are looking for a true Harvest Moon experience over ten years after our first taste Rune Factory is sure to win you over. Simply put, this is the Harvest Moon experience you’ve been waiting for."

IGN DS »

"This is fun stuff, though, and fans of Harvest Moon will thoroughly enjoy it. That is, if you are a fan of Harvest Moon with a little hardcore gamer in you."

NintendoSpin »