→ November 1, 2012 "A New Beginning" is a bold name for a Harvest Moon sequel. This is a series defined by stasis – it's celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, and for most of that decade and a half its nearly annual installments have safely stuck to the status quo established by the very first game.

You are a farmer. You start with nothing, work day after day to raise crops and livestock, and occasionally explore the surrounding countryside. You woo a spouse.

Those are the basics of every Harvest Moon game, and A New Beginning doesn't deviate from them. But – and here's where the boldness pays off – that name ends up being absolutely justified by all of the new content, extra features and overall refinements this installment brings to this 15-year-old franchise. I'm a little shocked to say it, but a new beginning? Yes. It actually is.

"Echo Town" is almost entirely unpopulated when you first arrive. Besides your character, only three other people are there – the shopkeeper, the shipping bin operator and Dunhill, a long-winded

But they'll have to wait some more. Because this sequel is painfully slow, not just in tutorial text, but in every facet of the first several weeks' worth of virtual days. The town is so deserted, and your options are so limited on your farm, that you'll have only about a minute's worth of crop- and animal-tending chores to attend to every day. Then you'll be left with nothing to do but run around picking up random rocks and weeds.

I said this was a new beginning, not a quick one.

Over time, thankfully, things begin to pick up. The early, slow, boring days of your first Spring season spent in Echo Town ultimately serve as an important contrast, as the overall goal of A New Beginning isn't just building up a successful farm, it's in rebuilding the village itself. As you harvest successful batches of crops, take care of your animals, and earn yourself a little money, people take notice.

NPCs begin to appear. Old residents who'd abandoned Echo Town for its lack of energy and excitement return and re-open their businesses. New citizens arrive and new shops open up. Festivals return, you encounter the resident Harvest Sprites, and eligible bachelors and bachelorettes begin to attract your attention. That last one's important for longtime fans, who should be satisfied by the selection of singles this time around.

Taking care of your critters.

So A New Beginning starts out too slow, but if you're willing to invest the time and effort like a good, hard-working farmer, it will pay off. Eventually it has a vibrant, active and flourishing community full of many more things to do and many more people to interact with than just the three sad citizens that greeted you in the game's opening moments.

But let's turn back time to those opening moments for a moment more – because that's where the truly new features of A New Beginning begin to appear. For one, there's a Character Creation mode as you start your adventure. Rather than being locked into one default look for your male or female avatar, developer Natsume has given you the option of a fair variety of different hair styles, hair colors, skin tones and even eye shapes to choose from. It's not as robust as the 3DS's on-board Mii Maker, but it's certainly a step up for a series that previously featured no character customization at all.

That customization continues after you've played long enough to attract a tailor to your town. Then you'll be able to further tweak your look with a variety of different clothes. (Since no one wants to wear the same old dirty overalls when delivering flowers to a potential love interest.)

The customization angle then transcends avatar aesthetics and becomes a truly robust positive for the franchise as a whole through the satisfyingly thorough Edit Mode. When you earn access to it, you'll find all kinds of world-shaping fun. You can basically pick up and move everything anywhere you want it. Don't like that fence there? Pluck it up and reposition it. Want your house on the other side of your land? Easily done – just lift it up above your head like the Incredible Hulk and toss it over there.

Building the town back, using blueprints.

A whole other laundry list of features could merit mention here, like A New Beginning's multiplayer capabilities, or the various "exotic" travel destinations you can access. But probably the most important thing left to scrutinize before wrapping up are the game's graphics.

They work. That might sound too simple, but it's important – since this is the first time Harvest Moon has ever gone 3D on a Nintendo handheld. We've seen polygonal installments in this series before, on consoles and Sony's PSP, but all the previous Nintendo portable versions have been flat, 2D and sprite-based. (Even last year's A Tale of Two Towns, which actually shipped a 3DS version after its DS debut.)

But though there's relatively little set precedent, the 3D visuals do work well here. Echo Town isn't the most sensational visual spectacle available on 3DS, but the personality of the village and its characters come across well. There's solid camera control in place to adjust your view of your surroundings. The stereoscopic effect won't overwhelm you – but it may give you a more in-your-face perspective when you're milking your yak.