Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness

Harvest Moon is a farm simulation video game published and developed by Marvelous Interactive Inc. in Japan, and released in North America by Natsume exclusively for the Nintendo DS. It is the fourth instalment of the Harvest Moon series on the DS.

There are a number of different episodes in this one big series of games and Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness is just one of the latest acquisitions.

I've decided to review this particular game as it just didn't cut it as well as the other games in the series. But, you may think differently! Are you a Harvest Moon fan? Then, let me know what you think about this game and my review.

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness follows the same principle as all the other Harvest Moon games with slight variations.

You are shipwrecked on an Island with initially only 2 other people with you. You must set up your own farm to help the Island grow into a thriving, busy community. You must farm crops, raise and breed animals and mine for precious stones.

You have a choice to play as a girl or a boy which you must name and your aim is to fall in love and start a family as well as manage your farm.

Sounds simple?

It is, in theory, as are all Harvest Moon games but it is also strangely enjoyable even though the premise for the game hardly changes between each new addition to the series.

There is, however, an awful lot of playing time in this game. So many things need to be unlocked before you can progress on to the next stage.

To learn more about this game, please do read on..!

I was looking forward to receiving this game. However, there was a couple of things that I was disappointed in.

My copy of the game had no instruction manual, well it did have a manual but it contained no instructions to the game. So, basically I had to feel my way through the game.

You control the entire game using the Stylus. The directional pad only works for equipped tools.

Aside from the change of method of controlling, the rest of the game is no different than any other game in the series. Whether the controls make any difference to the game play is entirely down to you and your preferences.

In some ways, it can make things tricky. You will often find it's a slow process because you have to click to equip the tool and click again to use the tool, but you have to make sure the correct square on the ground is highlighted before your character does what you want it to do.

To begin with, you may feel frustrated as you get used to the idea of only using the stylus. There are mixed feeling about this around the Internet in the gaming world for this game. Some say it spoils the gameplay and makes the entire game impossible to play, others will say it makes no difference at all and once you've learnt how to use it, the game itself is very playable and very enjoyable.

In Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness you don't have to be social if you don't want to but if you want to fall in love and get married then this is something you would need to do, obviously. Each girl has their own desires and you would need to figure this out if you want to get on with them.

Farm your land, plant crops, tend to your crops, harvest your crops, ship your crops.

Buy chickens, sheep, cows and other animals. Raise their babies, harvest wool, milk and eggs. Sell them.

Upgrade your own property (it's just a little shack at the start; very basic.)

Socialise, fall in love, get married and have kids, though you do look a little too young to do any of those things!

Work hard and play hard.