For the past ten years, the Harvest Moon series has somehow managed to make the chore-like nature of planting tomatoes and cutting grass seem fun. How it has achieved this sorcery is a pure mystery. Regardless, it seems that the creators have decided to give the series a futuristic facelift in Innocent Life: A Futuristic Harvest Moon. Unfortunately, while most other titles in the series give off a distinctive and quaint charm, Innocent Life seems completely out of place with other Harvest Moon titles. It could be the generic futuristic setting, or it could be the dull-as-dirt pacing and little to do, but in the end, Innocent Life is painfully forgettable, even for the biggest Harvest Moon fan.

Innocent Life takes place in the far-off and totally futuristic year of 2022. On the Island of Heartflame, which coincidentally looks like a big heart, most of the old agricultural practices have been outdated by automated processes, which have led to a pretty easy life. Unfortunately, this has also angered the spirits of the island, who have punished humanity by locking off land and threatening to erupt the nearby volcano. In a last ditch effort, the sickeningly named Dr. Hope creates you, a robot boy, to tend to the farmlands and bring back the old farming methods. That’s right, he’s solving the problem by making robots do the work instead. That’s progress.

Unlike most other Harvest Moon titles, instead of working on the usual farm, all of the farmland resides on top of a set of ancient ruins. It’s a different feeling, although for the most part, the mechanics are mostly the same. What is different is that you only have access to a small bit of the actual ruins at first, with the rest being unlocked as you complete your robotly tasks. These tasks will eventually unlock a lot more content than you’re originally given at the start, which is great if you can tread through to get to it all. The keyword here is A