There are certain games that barely need to be reviewed. A easy “If you like this sort of thing, you’ll like this game” is all anyone really needs to know. I’m talking about games like Halo 3, Rock Band 2, Mega Man 9; games that fans of their genres will completely love, but non-fans just won’t.

Rune Factory: Frontier is almost that kind of game. If you like the time/resource management, farming, and dating stuff that has made the Harvest Moon games so successful over the years, you’ll really like this game. If you hate Harvest Moon, well, it’s not likely that Rune Factory: Frontier will be for you.

This review is for the people in between, those that sometimes like Harvest Moon, but other times hate it with a passion. People like that might still get into Rune Factory: Frontier for its sizable amount of action/dungeon crawling. Sure, the game is still about watering turnips and getting the local girls to marry you, but it’s also about cleaving goblin’s heads open with a broadsword. For me, that’s a big deal. I’ve always wanted to enjoy the Harvest Moon games, but I just couldn’t. The series’ signature combination of passivity and constant responsibility just doesn’t jive with my inherent need to be completely lazy and violent at all times.

Were these action elements enough to get a non-Harvest Moon fan to like a farming sim? Hit the jump to find out.

Rune Factory: Frontier (Wii)
Developer: Neverland
Publisher: Marvelous Entertainment/XSeed Games
Released: March 17, 2009
MSRP: $49.99

I’ve been trying to get this review finished for weeks. It’s probably been the toughest assignment I’ve done for Destructoid yet, both due to the game’s big size, and also due to a certain indescribable quality the game possesses. Just last week I was telling Anthony Burch that reviewing Rune Factory: Frontier is like trying to review the Television show Friends one episode at a time. It’s all technically above average, all a tiny bland, but most of all, its body of work is so nondescript and inoffensive that it’s really hard to even speak about.

Rune Factory: Frontier is a game about a slightly girly amnesiac (clich

Popularity: 4% [?]

Did you hear that Monster Hunter D Wii sold something around 100,000 duplicates in its first day of release in Japan? Crazy sales for a Wii port of a PSP port of a PS2 game.

Chances are that these sales have less to do with Japan’s interest in a four-year-old PS2 game, and more to do with the demo of Monster Hunter Tri that comes with it. Ever since last year’s Tokyo Game Show, it’s been clear that Monster Hunter Tri might be the game in Japan for 2009. Though I haven’t played the demo myself (yet), I’m extremely curious about it. Capcom rarely fails to please in the third-person action game department, and the game’s graphics are pretty much the ideal the Wii has seen yet.

Popularity: 12% [?]

It is becoming more and more clear that Capcom doesn’t think it can possibly release the original Resident Evil enough. The game’s been updated and revamped more than Joan River’s face and they aren’t stopping. Next up is the Wii port of the game Resident Evil: Archives which just got a Japanese teaser trailer. The budget game will feature remakes of Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Zero that have already been released before as separate games in Japan.The trailer itself is pretty much useless on all fronts as it doesn’t show any new content, but does proclaim proudly that the game will be on the Wii.

Archives is scheduled for release in the US this June at the low price of $29.99 and will feature some added Wii Remote controls that include shaking for readying weapons and other fun motion stuff that we’re sure will add an entire new layer to the game. The game looks to be nearly exactly like the GameCube remake except for the motion controls shoved in so there isn’t much new to see here, especially because it doesn’t even look like widescreen will be thrown in for a variety of reasons. I’m just going to pop my GameCube version in my Wii and save $30.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Remember that Bionic Commando demo Capcom teased a few weeks back? Well, it’s coming tomorrow to Xbox LIVE Marketplace. Xbox 360 owners, fire up your Gold Xbox LIVE accounts; we’ve confirmed that Capcom has no plans for a PlayStation 3 or PC version of the demo.

Popularity: 4% [?]