There's only so many ways that the classic Harvest Moon farming game can be spun without entirely exhausting the series. As that has more or less already happened, it's really no surprise to anybody that Natsume had to expand their franchise to encompass different types of genres, so in this particular case, they decided to try their hand at turning the farming game into a new sort of puzzler.
Much like many other puzzle games for the DS, you'll be familiar with the sight of colored blocks on top of a grid board. But unlike typical puzzle games, each different color represents a different type of vegetable, which you must grow from the size of a seed upwards, until it's fully grown. Once it's fully grown, you can send your little garden sprite to harvest them. Depending on the level, you either have to harvest certain type(s) of crops in general, or collect a specified number, or collect more crops than your opponent. It gives an interesting competitive edge to the game, but at the same time, this makes some of your levels frustrating.
Add to this that, once you think you've finished the game the first time around, you learn you've only just begun. Which is good on the one hand, because if the game ended at the beginning of your first game, you'd complete the whole thing in possibly under an hour's time. The downside to this is that you'll unlock new characters...with whom you'll have to follow the same exact storyline with from beginning to end; the only variation being their own special type of power-up moves. Some of them make the game considerably easier, while others make it almost impossible to complete.
While at a first glance this game seems like it's just a quick little knock-off Harvest Moon game, it's actually surprisingly complex. If you enjoy challenging puzzle games, you'll most likely enjoy this. You'll definitely get your money's worth for the amount of time you get putting into this game! Rating this 7 out of 10 HM crops.
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