E3 2011: Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns – its crops vs critters in the latest adorable farm sim

Farming may be dying as an industry, but as a video game career it’s thriving. Farming games must strike some evolutionary nerve regarding the need to grow food. And Harvest Moon: The Tale of Two Towns promises yet another million tons of fake crops.

The most recent Nintendo DS installment in the series is another farming RPG with a strong emphasis on building relationships. The story begins with the character choosing between two bitterly divided towns embroiled in a agricultural cold war with two different farming styles; either animal husbandry or field farming. From there you act as an agronomic Henry Kissinger, seeking to reconcile the towns’ differences.

The game looks and plays like many other Harvest Moon games, with an in-game clock, family options (such as marriage), and of course, hours of super cute farming. For fans of the Harvest Moon series, this iteration will feel safe and familiar with a different story. And with 40-60 hours of gameplay with no real ending, you can count on staying occupied until the next one comes out.