It seems these days that the really great games come along once or so a year, with little to complain about and lots to love. But what about the games that offer lots to love, but also a decent amount to complain about? That's the case with John Deere: Harvest in the Heartland for DS.

What you get in short with this game is a more realistically based Harvest Moon with a nice sponsorship tie in, and some very good game play. You start as a farmer with a small plot of land, a few basic tools, and a single crop. From there you work your way up to being a corporate farmer with tons of shiny John Deere green tractors, combines, etc.

The farming part which is the core of the game, is well done with one exception. Crop values are astronomical. Your reward for individual crop sales are so high, if real farmers made that kind of money, the government would never have to bail any out. The crop cycles are much closer to a realistic timeframe than in Harvest Moon.

The real problem with the game comes from the technical side of things. There are way too many load screens, far too many video glitches ("Wait, where did I put my barn? Oh there it is, where i was JUST STANDING"), and other technical issues. But I have to admit, I'm hooked. It's been way too much fun playing my way up from being a simple one crop farmer to having tons of land and crops at my disposal.

I haven't used the Multiplayer features yet, but being able to visit someone elses farm isnt all that enticing to me anyways, unless I can drive their tractors.