PSP - Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon

Format
PSP
Publisher
Natsume
Developer
Natsume
Country of origin
Japan
Genre
RPG

First Look at Innocent Life : A Futuristic Harvest Moon

By David Rasmussen
28th Apr 07

After years and years of putting out the same Harvest Moon (more or less) with only so many changes here or there (with it’s own chain of hits and misses) it looks like the new age of Harvest Moon (without the PS2 & GameCube to support them anymore… though, technically, the PS2 is still breathing on life support and hasn’t kicked yet) will have to completely change the rulebook and reinvent the series from the ground up, though this new breath of life will come not from the next generation of consoles (What? No Harvest Moon Wii yet?!?) but from the two powerful portables out now. This May Harvest Moon is revamped as it rolls out it’s 1st PSP version, as well as the coming 2nd iteration for the Nintendo DS, with past throwback Rune Factory : A Fantasy Harvest Moon for the Nintendo DS (still in the works as we speak) and future shock Innocent Life : A Futuristic Harvest Moon (what we’re taking our first look at right now).

Innocent Life breaks the mold of the franchise (of which I am certain will also be the case with Rune Factory), as the series’ has undergone an almost Darwinian mid-life crisis, deciding to “evolve” rather than perish off the face of the Earth. And by evolve I mean to completely reinvent itself. Gone is the villages of the games of the past (if you’ve played the games you know them all by heart), and gone is the conventions of the past. Sure, it does look (from the visuals) that the game was originally a traditional Harvest Moon game that they slapped futuristic paint on, but it is still a change of pace as you leave the old and enter a brand new realm of possibilities in the future… and you end up losing something as well.

Innocent Life, the first original release for the handhelds (second of which will be Rune Factory), came out one year ago as of April 27th, 2006 (from the information I gleaned from Wikipedia… hmm… am I listed on Wikipedia yet? Let’s see… uh… never mind, sorry.
Set on the island of Heartflame in the future, you find yourself come into a world which seems to live the I, Robot lifestyle (only without any appearances by Will Smith, mind you). In this world it seems advanced robots and computers have taken over the work of the people of Heartflame island, making their lives easier. However this tranquil state will soon come to an end (doesn’t it always) when the island is threatened by an ancient curse, of which only you (one of these robots created to look and act like a human being) can… yeah, yeah, I know, suddenly you see a possible connection.

True, with this talk of an “Ancient Curse” it could be construed that the storyline of Innocent Life is the logical followthrough of your adventures in past pretense set Rune Factory. Of course it would have probably helped if Rune Factory came out at the same time as Innocent Life, but I guess we can only speculate the connection between the past set DS version and the future set PSP. One thing I am sure of, however, is that the two are NOT going to be compatible. Somehow I don’t think Nintendo and Sony are in enough of a good mood to join forces on a game like this, that I don’t think the PSP/Nintendo DS are even remotely compatible. So nuff said about that.

Since most of the human (I take it all) have become to lazy to do their own jobs it looks like you’ll have to do all the dirty work to save the island, which includes exploring a volcano and ancient ruins, all in an attempt to unlock the entrance to a place called “The Ancient Lands” (buried deep beneath the island). By either walking, biking, or the use of an ATV you’ll explore all over, looking for answers to the curse (which starts with your understanding of the curse itself before you go on the quest to find it’s “cure”) before time runs out. That is all new, yes, but it does seem to smack of the immediate-ness of the failed first PS2 version of Harvest Moon (Save the Homeland), in more ways than one as you’ll soon see. Also Wikipedia (from where I got part of my information) and Natsume’s official site seems to disagree about the exact plot of the game. Wikipedia says you’re here to save the island from futuristic “autofarming”, while Natsume is all about the “Ancient Curse”… whatever that is. They may be on in the same, but who knows.

On the plus side the game features a brand spankin’ new art style that steps away from it’s traditional roots of the franchise, as well as making you a robot (when all past versions made you human).
This is good as well as bad as I am about to go into with you.
Good because it means a change of the game franchise into new terrain.
Bad because it means the most likely removal of courtship, dating and marriage from the game. These things were also missing in Save the Homeland, by the way, and that game sucked something fierce.

Three things promised from the game, however, is this. (And yes, this was from Natsume’s site)
- Grow crops and raise animals in a futuristic world (duh).
- Unlock the secrets of the ancient curse as you interact with the villagers (really).
- Explore the island by walking or ATV (or bike as mentioned in the Wikipedia article on the game), which just so happens to be just one of the high tech tools you’ll use in this game.

Other than that there isn’t much on the game at this time.
If we’re lucky maybe Playstation Magazine will have a demo disk of the game in their next volume, otherwise we’re going to have to just wait the few weeks until the game comes out before we find out more about the upcoming new Harvest Moon. Stay tuned.

-- David Rasmussen 28th Apr 07

PSP Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon Images