Harvest Moon Boy and Girl

Yesterday I got the very much anticipated Harvest Moon Boy and Girl just like Lauren did. DBF got me Harvest Moon innocent Life on PSP for my birthday, and I spent 2 weeks playing that game any moment I could.

When I read that the PSP would have a new Harvest Moon game at the E3 convention, I got very excited. So imagine my deception when I started the game and saw the blurry pictures, and that it was mostly Harvest Moon DS, minus the handy rucksac view.

Reading further this morning, it looks like this is actually PS1 games ported to PSP !!!!

I'm used to Nintendo recycling their games from one console to the next (see Mario 64 on DS), but Sony, and especially the PSP usually have original games. Even God of War isn't the original Ps2 game but a new game specific to PSP. So was Harvest Moon Innocent Life.

If in Innocent Life you have an added dimension of saving the island, and a good tutorial, if you are new to Harvest moon and try Boy and Girl, how are you supposed to know what to do? They leave you wandering in the village with no useful indication... Plus the "equip" and "bag" are very small...

I will play it a little more and see if it gets interesting, but I don't have much hope...

The good side to it is that I won't be addicted to the point that I won't stitch anymore ;)

Zendoku, the other sudoku

I discovered sudoku during the big sudoku craze. After seeing a tv show with Carol Vordeman from "Countdown", I thought I would never understand the principle. Then, the following day I bought a sudoku puzzle game, the translation from the original japanese one, and spent the whole day try to figure it out. And the addiction started...

The good thing about sudoku is that it clears my head, and I like to do it in the evening as it makes me sleepy.
I love the paper version better than the electronic ones, as you can scribble around, and carry thee book in your bag without fear of breaking it. So when all the PSP and DS sudoku games came out, I wasn't really interested. But then came Zendoku, or "how do turn a basic puzzle into a wacky different game?"

First, for the purists you can play regular sudoku if you want. But Zendoku decided to spice things up by using pictures instead of numbers. And it needs some getting used to, but in the end it's very fun.

But what's really new is the "battle" mode. You can choose your character, assigned to one of the pictures, and fight against opponents. It's not turning sudoku into a 2 players game, though. You solve the grid, but from time to time you have mini games trying to disorient you, and it's up to you not to loose your track of thought...

My favourite section is the "zen", where you solve sudoku puzzles with the pictures.... It really makes me... zen !

Harvest Moon Innocent life on PSP

Of course, farm simulation isn't my idea if a fun game. And it's hard to get into this game. You can't save until you've gone through all the text and tutorial, but soon you will realise you're addicted to it. You play late into the night. You have to resist playing at breakfast time, and you feel like playing all day at work.

And while you are obsessed with the game, of course, your mind is set on something, other stuff don't really matter, and depression flies away...
So what is it about that game that is so addictive? Not only do you have to grow crops, manage the buying, planting, but you also have to explore the island, and save it from a volcano eruption. So there's a big puzzle/treasure hunt element to the game, talking to the right people at the right time, finding elements in treasure chests, etc...

Being a boy robot, ou also have the challenge to become more and more human by interacting with people, animals, acomplishing quests and learn how to cook.
This game also shows the superiority of the PSP on the DS. I recently bought Harvest Moon DS. Besides the fact that it feels like playing an old SNES game graphically, a newbie can't start to guess what you should do in this game. No tutorial. And no greater purpose than becoming a farmer, getting a wife and such.

Harvest Moon Innocent Life is now a hard to find game in shops, and I'm glad DBF had the idea of giving it to me for my birthday !!! This is an exemple of a PSP game not perceived as a typical PSP game (war, fighting, cars, etc...). If you want good games, you have to look for them...
for thwe moment, i feel I need a break from the game, but it will be interesting to see when I will come back to it.

My PSP

DBF is deep into video games. Video games have been part of my life since I was 10, but it was a superficial thing, something to do with a friend coming home, trying to find fighting combos and the like. Then 2 years ago it seemed that the Nintendo DS would be the console for me, with puzzle games, stylus and kawai characters.

In the meantime, DBF was going on and on about how the PSP was the best thing in the world. And in the begining, the PSP wasn't the console for me. It was all infiltration/war/guys games.
When Tetris DS came out, it was the last straw: it was packed with Mario/Zelda, for no reason, and as I hate Mario... I started to doubt that the DS was the console for me.

So last summer I finally bought a PSP. And I have to say it took me a long time to be addicted to it. But now I play it everyday, as now there are games like Loco Roco, Gurumin or Harvest Moon on it.

It's like having a little friend in your pocket...