Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life 2003

Is it still worth playing?

Marvelous Interactive's farming game for the GameCube, released in Japan in September 2003 and in North America in March 2004 outside Japan, part of the Story of Seasons series. You move to the city to inherit an abandoned farm in Forget-Me-Not Valley, where Takakura, an old friend of your father's, gives you a house, some seeds and a cow and explains the basics of farming. The game has up to six chapters, and by the end of the first chapter you have to marry one of the bachelorettes or the game ends, which also happens if your married life fails in a divorce. After marriage you have a son who grows older as time passes, and his career can be swayed by what you do. The GameCube version connects with Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town on the Game Boy Advance. A life with a deadline for settling down still gives every season a reason to hurry.