E3 '10: Natsume Booth Roundup

I already singled out Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove, but Natsume had a few other Nintendo DS games on display at their booth you might also be interested in. First up was Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar, which adds a new wrinkle to the traditional Harvest Moon gameplay by making you sell your items at a bazaar at the end of the week. Over time, the bazaar grows larger and larger, adding more and more shops giving you more products to choose from as you bring prosperity back to town. Another new element are windmills, which allow you to do everything from ferment fertilizer, wine, beer and tea as well as mill seeds or flour or make accessories. A jump and double jump button now lets you cover ground much quicker than in the past, but there are still plenty of classic elements for Harvest Moon fans. Again, you'll be able to play as a boy or a girl, with five prospective suitors on either side to choose from. And your pet will actually be able to help you with the farm. Dogs will herd animals while cats can retrieve chickens and the like. There are also mini-games like horse racing and snowboarding at the festival, and you can invite friends to visit your farm in multiplayer mode. Harvest Moon: Grand Bazaar is due out on July 27.

The next installment in the fantasy Harvest Moon series, Rune Factory 3, adds a little more RPG action to your town building and suitor romancing. You'll play as a guy, with nine bachelorettes to choose from, but your real issue is that you need to bring the human and monster villages back together again after years of bitter animosity. And as a half-human/half-monster hyrbid, you're just the man for the job. Crafting plays a major role in the game, allowing you to create your own shields, swords and... pizza and tomato juice? Hey, variety is the spice of life, right? You can befriend monsters that will then live at your farm and join you on quests, and you can also have NPCs join your battle team as well, which is handy, as there are hundreds of quests to complete than can add up to 40-60 hours of gameplay. You can also transform into your monster form to open up a can of whoop-ass on your enemies, even though you look like a cute little horned sheep! There are local multiplayer dungeons where up to two friends can tackle the challenges together, and you can trade items via Nintendo WiFi. The action RPG is due out in Q4 2010.

But if you're looking for a more pure RPG experience without all the dating and farming sim action, you might be more interested in the return of the Lufia series with Curse of the Sinistrals. It's a remake of Lufia 2 on the SNES, and has the same basic plot and characters, but features a brand new script. There are six playable characters, each with their own special abilities and attacks, and the touch screen is used as an extremely convenient way to switch between them simply by tapping on their headshot with your thumb. I found it very handy during my playtime with it, as everyone's abilities come in handy in different situations. It's a nice, traditional action RPG that should feature 25-40 hours of gameplay, depending on how anal retentive you are about completing every little thing. Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals is due out in Q3 2010.

Wootini
Posted to E3, Galleries, Hot Stuff, Video Games on 20 June 2010 · Comments (7)
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