Harvest Moon is less of a game than an addiction: you don't know why you want it, you just can't quit.
Cons: Much more limited than other entries in the series; Fairly weak presentation aspect; Gameplay is ultimately very repetitive; Social interactions are shallow as ever
"No, this game shouldn't be fun. I refuse to believe that this game is fun."
These were thoughts that occurred to me around the third chapter of Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life. I had successfully gotten up, watered my crops, tended to my livestock, and given out my daily gifts to my neighbors, and while I was fishing, those thoughts occurred to me. Read that again. I did CHORES. I was NICE TO MY NEIGHBORS. I went FISHING. And yet I had convinced myself once again to stay up for just one more (in-game) day.
Stuff like this shouldn't be legal.
Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life is the Gamecube version of the laid-back Harvest Moon series, a collection of games in which you take on the laid back role of the farmer. You plan out a routine in which you check the weather, water and/or harvest your crops (which you select for the season), take care of your cows and/or sheep, and then do your miscellaneous other activities. This might involve giving random items to your neighbors to win them over (still shallow as ever). This might involve mining at a local dig site (so you can get shallow gifts to give). This might involve fishing, cooking, whatever.
However, something about the pace of this game effortlessly moves you along from one activity to the next in an extremely busy schedule (should you choose to play the busybody anyway) without ever stressing you out. It's relaxing, yet engaging, which thus must be a magical combination for addicting, because many lives have been claimed by its intoxicating ways.
But that's just Harvest Moon in general, and this first Gamecube iteration has a few key differences. Most prominent of these is probably the addition of chapters and a changing town. Whereas previous Harvest Moon games set you in a static town where nobody aged and almost nobody changed (the exceptions to this were your dating options who would all become unavailable if you weren't careful), AWL changes every 1 - 3 game years depending on the chapter. People age. People move. People die. It's not a huge addition by any means, but it serves to keep things somewhat fresh as you continue your farming duties.
Unfortunately, almost every other difference about this game involves features being removed or simplified. Festivals, which livened up the in game seasons of past games are now hidden and insignificant. Relationships are now much easier to develop, as you are expected to get married within your first year. The dig site is very paltry in size. Everything else, however, is pretty much the same, and a couple features have even gotten slightly more in-depth (in particular, milking cows is more detailed than ever), so the net change isn't THAT significant. On the flip side, many of the same issues that plagued other entries, particularly the base level repetition, make their show in this version.
One area where Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life edges up on other entries in the series is graphics, but that's not saying much. There is a clean, yet cartoony look to the game that is pretty easy on the eye, but once things start animating you begin to see the cracks. The animations are pretty basic, are often awkward, and when items are involved, they often don't even properly connect (most notable is the hilarious watering can visual glitch where it warps out of your hand sometimes). Dialogue is pretty basic and sound is minimal at best, rounding out a pretty mediocre presentation aspect. But this is par for the course with the series and none of it is so offensive as to actively detract from the experience.
Harvest Moon A Wonderful Life is not for everyone. Many people will not be able to tolerate the slow pace. Many will find the repetition intolerable. And another many will have gotten their fill on another entry in the series. But for everyone else, I can only urge you to open your mind and give this one a shot. After all, what have you got to lose?
Besides large quantities of time.