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  1. Games
  2. Puzzle Games

Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming review

Farming isn't as fun when it's a simplistic puzzle game

Reviews
By Charlotte _Martyn published 6 October 2009

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GamesRadar+ Verdict

Pros

  • +

    Simple puzzle mechanics

  • +

    Appealing Harvest Moon world

  • +

    Favorite characters show up

Cons

  • -

    Limp Story mode

  • -

    Convoluted gameplay

  • -

    Lacking in pick-up-and-playness

Why you can trust GamesRadar+ Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

This isn’t the first time the seemingly disparate worlds of farming and puzzling have come together. Puzzle De Harvest Moon tried to combine crop cultivation with ‘minigame madness,’ but came up short. Sadly, despite Frantic Farming revising the gameplay, it’s still convoluted.

Characters from the main Harvest games show up to battle each other across a vegetable-packed grid. It’s all about grabbing ripe veggies while watering others. There’s a tactical side to this, making sure you don’t run out of ripe produce and trying to chain together potatoes, tomatoes or whatever by sliding tiles around. It doesn’t have the pick-up-and-playness of Tetris or Bewjeled, but taking the time to master it isn’t rewarded enough by the limp Story mode. Harvest Moon should stick to the cow-tending.

Oct 5, 2009

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