This isn't just a game, it's a way of life.
The gameplay is great fun despite appearing repetitive. The game allows you to train little elf dudes who help you with the day to day running which helps reduce the strain and allows you more time to explore the town. The mini games available are varied and a great distraction. They range from horse riding to mining and fishing and while they may be simple are good fun. The actual running of your farm is also enjoyable, you will have to plan which crops to plant, purchase food for your stock, train your dog (great fun), tend to and harvest your crops and many other things. The game has a large variety of locations and all of them are associated with a particular character and the initial exploration of the map is hugely enjoyable and you discover the ins and outs of the place. The controls are nicely done with all actions modelled to the GBA few buttons, although occasioanlly you can drop items you were needing. Your inventory of tools can also be upgraded through use and reforging which improves their abilities allowing you to catch bigger fish or break bigger stones. The only slightly annoying gameplay aspects are the lack of initial portable storage space for items and tools and the fatigue bar but as you play these soon become less and less troublesome. The implemation of time is brilliant it allows you enough time to explore and complete your jobs while adding a sense of realism to the game.
The story is not exactly edge of your seat stuff but enjoyable none the less. It follows the story of a young man who inherits a farm where he enjoyed a memorable summer as a boy. The characters are amazing in this game, each one has a little back story which is slowly unvieled as you play. The characters are so full of character and you get a great feeling of being part of a real community, something rarely felt in games. Each character has a few little in game scenes where you see them interact with each other, contemplate their life or in some cases funny little moments. This means that when you eventulally stop playing this game, your feelings for the characters will have changed as you have go tto know them and earnt there trust. The marriage system is a great addition and allows to you to get married and have a child, a nice touch which made you feel even more for the characters.
The graphics, whil technically average, convey the feelin of the game perfectly. The game has bright and colourful graphics with great character sprites, wonderful backgrounds which capture the feeling if a small town extremely well and nice bits of semi anime artwork for conversation pictures (mmmmm Karen). Whether you are walking through a forest, with its butterflies and little stream to the towns bar where you can meet fellow residents for a drink, you will be amazed by the great attention to detail. With the changing of the seasons comes the changing of the background to reflect it. This is handled extremly well, waking up to a winter morning you feel the cold air as you walk into the town.
The audo for the game is good. The music perfectly suits every moment from the silence of the night to the slightly downbeat winter music (some of the best in game music ever in my opinion), every piece of music has its time and place. The sound effects while minimal portray what is happening very well.
This game is also, in theory, endless. This means you can play this game for years if you really wanted to. The game will constantly suprise you with a little new piece of information about a character or a new item and this is the games greatest strongpoint, how it slowly reveals the secrets to you meaning you can still be suprised after hours of gameplay. The ability to trade items from your game to a friends would have been a nice addition but personally everything about this game is so good it doesn't matter.
So all in all this is one of the best games i have ever played. A great visual style and music mixed with long lasting gameplay make this an essential purchase.