You are a punk kid who is given a patch of land to make your own. As a farming noob, you have to learn to plant, raise, and harvest crops as well as rear animals and win prizes for your livestock and produce at the local fair. When you become proficient, you will be given money to buy authentic John Deere equipment, including tractors and variable attachments. What more could you want in life?
Itching for a Harvest Moon to come out? John Deere could most likely pass the time. For those of us that are addicted to farming simulators, John Deere hits the spot long enough for our withdrawal symptoms to pass.
This is what Destineer has to say about John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland:
Adding to its popular lifestyle lineup of John Deere games that have already sold more than a half a million units, Destineer today announced it has shipped John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland, a “hands-on” real-time farming game for the Nintendo DS. From soil to sustenance, John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland challenges players to create and maintain a fully functioning farm.
Through an intuitive Touch Screen interface, players use the Nintendo DS stylus to work the land, raise livestock, pick crops, milk cows, and more to earn cash and improve the farm by purchasing land, livestock, and authentic John Deere equipment. However, there is no such thing as a successful “lazy farmer’ and players who neglect their farm will reap what they sow as they watch their farm and crops turn to dust.
Design & Detail: use the touch screen and stylus to layout the locations of fields and buildings. Use the top screen to monitor the farm via the mini-map and check on the status of crops and livestock with the Query Tool.
Hands-On Farming: clear land, plant and harvest crops, and drive authentic John Deere equipment. Paint buildings and create a unique logo for the farm which identifies players at the Commodities Market. Feed, care for, and harvest products from the animals through a variety of fun and intuitive stylus actions.
The Commodities Market and County Fair: raise crops and livestock for sale at the daily Commodities Market. Reinvest money earned from the sale of crops and animal products to upgrade John Deere equipment and make the farm more efficient and profitable. Or, enter your products and livestock in “Best of” contests at the County Fair for prizes and fame.
Read on for what I think of John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland (mwa haha):
I expected John Deere to be a lot like a Harvest Moon game, considering the descriptions of each are very similar in condensed form. However, John Deere offers more instantaneous gratification and is much less complex.
There is nothing more to John Deere than raising noteworthy crops and livestock, acquiring equipment, and keeping your farm beautiful. No prissy girls to woo, no magical weapons to win, no tool upgrades, no puzzles to solve, and no stupid harvest sprites to rescue. John Deere is plain and simple, which is somewhat of a relief.
Admittedly, I popped this game into my DS somewhat reluctantly. And at first, I was just as disappointed as I thought I’d be. Here I am, choosing a boy or girl dressed in traditional hick garb with either a John Deere hat or braids, with gloves and a hoe, and some funky banjo/violin country twang music. I sank into my couch while I waited for the game to get more exciting.
Luckily, it did. After becoming inured to the awful music, I actually became intrigued by the gameplay. Harvest Moon games are notoriously difficult to get into because you have no money and your tools suck. John Deere is different, and a lot easier. To plant a crop, you pay the woman at the local garden and feed store to prepare the field for you. Then, you put seeds into each square which you pull out of your magical, bottomless seed bag. After that, you water your crops with the bottomless watering can. Finally, you buy the cheap equipment to harvest your crop, and immediately reap the benefits instead of collecting and distributing your goods. Ahhhhhhh…
Earning money was easy. After I planted and harvested my first two crops, I was able to buy livestock, a barn, and some farm equipment to make the job easier. After TWO crops! Sheesh, all in a day’s work.
The point of this game is to acquire all of the John Deere equipment and win all of the trophies from the local fair. Each season (lasting eighteen days), you have the opportunity to enter your animal or crop into the fair for judging. If the judges like yours the best, you win and get a trophy! Trophies bring prestige which allow your farmer different varieties of crops to plant.
The graphics are more complex than those of Harvest Moon. Your character does different movements depending on what type of tool he/she is using, such as a scythe, hammer, axe, or gloves. He/she is also bigger and you can see their facial features and clothes on an elongated body. Instead of dots for seeds, we get green, rounder dots…woo hoo! Also, the livestock and crops are more distinguishable from one another. Lastly, your character looks awesome on top of some hawt, big farm equipment.
Obviously, John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland is a plug for the John Deere company. Characters wear John Deere hats and sell John Deere equipment. I don’t have anything against John Deere, in fact, most of the farmers I know use and love their equipment. I just thought the shameless plug was a bit interesting.
Like I mentioned earlier, I abhor the soundtrack chosen for John Deere. I mean really, couldn’t they have used something a little more interesting than the same track over, and over, and over again?
For $29.99, I had a surprising amount of fun playing John Deere. Although it is easy, it is more gratifying than many other farming simulators that seem to drag on and on while you fill up your watering can or wait until 3pm video game time to buy seeds from a specialist store.
There is a multiplayer feature, kind of. Wirelessly, you can invite a player to visit your farm and then they can receive a postcard of the farm they visited. Or, you can be invited for a visit and get the postcard to go in your shrine. Both players have to have a copy of John Deere, and I find it highly unlikely that you will encounter someone playing John Deere within five feet from you at any time considering this game is still relatively underground.
If you like Harvest Moon and have a bit of cash, I would recommend picking this game up used or as a rental. Relatively short and without a lot of options, John Deere could grow old quickly. It’s definitely worth a week’s time though.
Title: John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland
Platform: Nintendo DS
Rating: E for Everyone
Players: 1
Genre: Farming Simulator
Developer: Destineer
Release Date: November 21st, 2007
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