RPGamer had the opportunity to speak to Graham Markay (Director of Operations) and Yasuhiro Maekawa (President and CEO) of Natsume yesterday about their upcoming Harvest Moon games. This particular impression deals with the upcoming GameCube title, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life. You can also check out my impressions of the Game Boy Advance installment, Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town, over here.

Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life was originally set for release earlier this year, but Nintendo has picked up the distribution rights for the game in Japan, and it is currently undergoing some additional polishing before its North American release. Despite the fact that the development cycle is drawing to a close, the build available on the floor at E3 is looking rather dodgy. Unlike the Game Boy Advance version, which is awesome, the GameCube installment clearly still needs a lot of work.

Graphically, the build on display is bit of a hodgepodge, with both good and bad elements. The general design is perfectly suited to the series, but the current color palette looks a little bland. It's very possible that it was just the TV being used, though, since it was a crappy RCA set. The graphics are not quite as cartoony as Harvest Moon: Back to Nature was, since that game's cell-shaded graphics style has been dropped for something a little more realistic. There are some serious clipping and collision detection problems though, as characters will often walk straight through animals. There was also a section where I walked to the top of a hill and then nearly left the game completely; everything except the sky and character was gone! The game features a dynamic camera, much like the later Zelda games, making it easy to look around, yet keeping realignment only a button press away.

Another aspect that was severely lacking was the localization. To be fair, it was explained to us that the current build was whipped up specifically for the show, and it would not be fair to concentrate too much on this.

The scope of Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life is much broader than ever before. The game starts with the main character at 15 years old and follows him through the course of most of his adult life, until the ripe-old age of 40. During this time, our protagonist will have to woo one of five lovely lasses, marry her, have children, and raise the younguns on the farm. There are also 40 new characters to befriend, leading to a packed social agenda.

All of this might make you think that there is not all that much time left for farming, and, with the old system, you would be right. Natsume has however taken previous suggestions to heart and days will now pass a little slower in the Forget-Me-Not Valley, giving you time to do all your chores before heading out to partake in socializing and the many mini-games on offer.

As it stands, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life promises to be a fantastic game, but the build on the floor still has to see a lot of work before release. The game is currently slated for release in Japan in August, and simultaneously with Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town in North America in October.