By now fans probably know what to expect from a Harvest Moon videogame. You've got your farmer who tries to revive an old farm, planting seeds, watering them, harvesting, selling them, and so on and so on. However, I bet you never expected to see Harvest Moon branch out into the realm of puzzle games. I know I certainly never did, but imagine my surprise when the game turned out to be completely unique and fun as well. Who knew farming and puzzles could be merged so well together?

The way the game plays out is that the bottom screen of the DS is a virtual field, and you and other players are both competing on it at one time together, as you advance through the usual four seasons of the year, so that you can hopefully harvest enough plants to increase your score and win the game. From the moment you begin a game till the moment where the winner is finally revealed, your eyes will be tired from never blinking, because you have to keep your eyes focused on all the stuff going on, because it never lets up for a moment. There is no time to plan deep strategies, mulling things over like a move in chess. No, in Puzzle de Harvest Moon you've got to act fast and act accordingly.

The way in which you score points plays out much like if you were farming in real life. First you need seeds in order to have a plant in the first place, then you need some fertilizer to really get the thing growing and looking lush and fruitful, and then you need water to make sure it continues growing and remains ripe. Once the vegetable is grown enough, then comes the harvesting where you reap your rewards. Much like in life, so too does the progression in Puzzle de Harvest Moon play out. Along the right side of your screen you'll see various icons, representing the planting (seeds), nurturing (fertilizer), and watering (water can) aspects of farming. The initial struggles come in the fact that you aren't always given the pieces of the puzzle you need at any given moment, as the game might stick you with two bags of seeds and water, but no fertilizer. If you want to win, however, you'll be resourceful and plant those seeds and use the water on someone else's plants, hoping a fertilizer will show itself quickly. Meanwhile, you can help grow other people's plants and then harvest them from underneath their nose, and though you won't get as many points as if it was your own crops, you'll still get some points, and most importantly keep them from getting any in return. As for the harvesting, all you have to do is slide your stylus over the crops you want to harvest in a scratching motion, and after several swipes the plants will be picked and points will be added.

Besides working to get your own points, you need to be a little underhanded as well, sabotaging your opponent whenever possible. In the case of Puzzle de Harvest Moon, you sabotage your competitors by placing farmyard animals on patches of dirt controlled by their crops, stopping them from properly working on them for set periods of time. The sabotaging and crop stealing elements are a valuable strategy that will need to be used to win, but it also makes for some really heated and fun matches, as friends are sure to go crazy whenever someone steals from them. Let the trash talking begin!

Admittedly we felt a tad daunted when we first tried out the game, and then quickly found ourselves finishing in dead last, leaving a sour taste in our mouth. However, it only took us until the next game to erase that feeling, as we found ourselves getting an early lead and not looking back. Puzzle de Harvest Moon doesn't play by the rules of other puzzle game mechanics, and so it can be frustrating or confusing the first time you play. However, given a little time, you start to see proper moves to make, seeing what the best strategies are, and soon enough quickly conquering over the competition. We didn't know a puzzle game and farming could be merged so well together, but we do now, and can't wait for more.