Harvest Moon: Frantic Farming

Console: Nintendo DS
Japan Release: Announced but no release date
N.America Release: August 25, 2009
European Release: December 03, 2010

Franctic Farming is a follow up to Natsume's Puzzle De Harvest Moon, which was released in November 2007. This puzzle game contains a Story mode, Mission Mode, Score Attack, and Freeplay mode.

The object of the main story mode is to figure out why all of the crops on Sunny Island have begun to grow and overtake the island. You can play as 12 different characters from Island of Happiness, and each one has a little bit different take on the crop mystery. The story is the same, but different aspects of the story will be different from each point of view.

Besides story mode, there is mission mode, which requires you to complete specific tasks in a set number of moves. This mode is very challenging, as each of the 12 playable characters has different levels of difficulty to their three given missions.

As you go through the game, players will unlock bonus features like the music sound test, special artwork pictures, and graphics of the beloved Island of Happiness characters.

The game also support multi-player local DS play, where you can play with up to 4 of your friends. If your friends don't have a copy of Frantic Farming, you can still play DS-to-DS by transfering a smaller version of the game to your friends' DS console. Each person can play as Mark, Natalie, Chelsea, or Elliot, and the field map is set for the Ranch. If your friends have their own copy of the game, then there are more options to play with.

This game was mentioned in the Japanese magazine Famitsu Weekly in July 2010. In Japan, the game will be called "ぼくものキャラクターズ 野菜でポン" (roughly Harvest Moon Characters Pop Vegetables). Marvelous AQL has not published a final release date for the game yet, even though it was announced years ago.

There is also a mobile version of the game, published by Namco-Bandi on Android and Natsume on Apple (iOS). The mobile version only contains the Score Attack and Mission modes - not Story mode. The iOS version is no longer supported as of iOS 11.

Should I buy this game?

Most people are very sceptical of buying a puzzle game, but those who have bought the game are rather surprised at how much they enjoy Frantic Farming. The story and misson modes will keep players busy for awhile, as they try to collect all of the special pictures. The game also has a records area where you can keep track of how much of the game you have completed, your play times, top score, and other bits of information.

The company who developed the game, Platinum Egg, worked on Puzzle De Harvest Moon. They have obviously learned from their prior experience with Harvest Moon and the puzzle genre, as Frantic Farming is a massive improvement over PdeHM. Past games they have worked on include Shining Force NEO and Red Ninja: End of Honor.