Battle Harvest Review

Anyone that has ever bitten into a piece of fruit only to find a little worm friend hiding inside will know the shock and disgust an experience like that can cause. Take a moment to consider, though, how that piece of fruit felt. It probably didn't enjoy having a worm inside of it any more than that person enjoyed finding the worm in there. In Battle Harvest players fight to save fruits and veggies from an invading army of worms called the Wormwits led by Nephridus an evil spirit-turned-worm-monster.

Each level of the game begins with a grid in which various fruits and vegetables stack up against their squirmy foes. Wormwits will burrow up from the bottom of the screen into the lowest fruits and veggies. The game unfolds in turns and the player can move one fruit each turn. By matching fruits the player can strategically arrange the board in order to match the fruits containing the Wormwits, destroying them. The Wormwits will continue to climb up chewing through a new fruit each turn, turning them into rotting Rotlings as they go. The fruits and vegetables turned into Rotlings take on a nasty new appearance and will award no points when the are matched. The Rotlings will also grow noxious roots which will block off areas of the grid and allow Wormwits to climb higher and faster to reach new fruits and veggies.

As matches are made, a meter fills. Each time the meter fills, a hero fruit or vegetable is dropped onto the board where it's special ability can be used to accomplish various things like clearing a rows, columns, or certain areas of the board, or knocking all of the Wormwits and roots off of the board momentarily. There isn't much variation from level to level, but there are some "boss fights" that make interesting use of the hero fruits and vegetables and freshen the game up every now and then.

There is a story mode where players play through various levels and worlds. There is an invasion mode which pits players against endless waves of Wormwits to hold out as long as they can. There is also a recruit mode which is basically a puzzle mode where players have to match a preset formation of fruits and veggies in a certain number of moves.

The animations of the fruits, vegetables, and Wormwits are superb, and watching fruits transition to Rotlings as Wormwits eat through them is one of the best parts of the game. The puzzles can get a bit repetitive, but there are plenty of game modes to switch things up when needed. This is one game that won't be rotting away in some forgotten folder.