Harvest Moon: Magical Melody

Even after two years, this is still my favourite Harvest Moon game in the whole world ever. Whether you're a fan or a newcomer, Magical Melody is captivating, mixing the best aspects of every game that came before to create the biggest, most involving, most addictive and most challenging entry in this loveliest and most unique of series.

Quotation forthcoming. [May 2008]

Rising Star should be berated for the conversion, but this remains a delightful and worthwhile game. [Issue#22, p.81]

Those who know what to expect from Harvest Moon will find here one of the best titles of the series. To those not familiar with the gameplay, we recommend the game with some caution, since it’s slow and repetitive mechanic, while captivating, will bore the less patient and frustrate those with little time to invest in the discovery of the hidden treasures of a country life. [May 2008]

Harvest Moon: Magical Melody is a successful conversion from the Gamecube to the Wii. Fans will enjoy the game, but newcomers will also like the addictiveness of this game and its unique style. But the game is technically a bit behind, the difficulty is low and the story is a bit boring.

This will tide us over until a proper Wii Moon, but it's one of the laziest Wii ports to date. [May 2008, p.73]

It's the 'Simple Life' personified, with all the benefits of running a successful lifestyle block - minus the muss 'n' fuss (not to mention backbreaking labour). Allow yourself a good hour for the learning curve, though.

Magical Melody is a decent game and if you have the time to invest in it your affections toward it will grow.

Magical Melodies doesn’t foal around. What kernels of entertainment can be extracted from its time-consuming gameplay are let down by lazy aesthetics and an overall confusing design for newcomers to the franchise.

A grand old gaming franchise that's looking extremely creaky in 2008 on Wii. [June 2008, p.52]

A lazy port of a GameCube game. [May 2008, p.72]

The major problem with this entry in the farming series however is that it's a sloppy conversion. From the controls to the fact that some people in the game refer to the R button on the Gamecube controller, there are too many things wrong with this version to recommend it to a Harvest Moon fan over the Gamecube and PS2 titles.