Island of Happiness brings to the DS a fun, enjoyable, intuitive and highly-customizable Harvest Moon game!
Awesome 3D graphics | Nice sound | Gameplay is solid and innovative | Great replay value | Huge level of customization | Crop system is innovative and realistic
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The Bad:
Controls have a steep adaptation curve | Shipping is hard | Annoying Yes/No confirmations
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Harvest Moon is a classic series ever since the SNES came out. Not as popular as Mario or Zelda, per se, but with the aid of Rune Factory, it's become a must-try (and play, if it's deemed good). The former HM DS installments have been pretty mediocre, but IoH promises to turn the tables. Can it really?
Graphics: They are finally 3D. It works, since the visuals are very good and clean. It really takes HM on the DS to another level. Top screen display useful information in 2D, such as your stamina and fullness levels, weather, time and your location. One of the best on the DS.
Graphics Score: 9/10
Sound: You may not notice the music, but then again it is really subtle. See, HM isn't a very music dependent series, and the less it interferes with what you really want to do, the better. This has, again, been accomplished here. Most songs are subtle, and on rain days there is only the patter of the rain, no music to interfere with what the game wants you to transmit - the weather which is important to keep a record of so your crops can harvest successfully. Nice move, Natsume.
Sound Score: 9/10
Gameplay: Here is where my review gets a little lengthy. If you want to read some explanations of major game features and their mechanics, read on.
Right, so the story is simple: you shipwreck on the coast of a deserted island after a stormy voyage. It appears to be inhabited by very few people, just this Taro guy and his family. Your plan is to take care of the ranch he possesses, harvesting whichever crops you desire, and living in the house next to it. Basically, it's yours to keep and care. You also have to try and make this island more appealing so that it will eventually grow and prosper. This is mainly the general story line present in all HM games, except for the voyage part. But it's a nice intro to the same type of gameplay.
The new crop system is basically the biggest change in IoH. This time around, crops are dependent on certain amounts of rain and sun in order to harvest a successful end result - the fruit (or vegetable). Too much rain/watering crops will end up with a failure, and the same applies to too much sunlight. There are some plants (such as grass) that may require more or less of the two, so you have to be aware before planting them. The game also divides the 4 seasons into a month for each (with each day taking around 10 minutes time in real-life). Some crops only harvest in certain seasons, while others can be harvested all year round. Keep in mind that any crop, in any season, can also be harvested in the Greenhouse with the use of season stones (i.e. you can set a Winter stone and harvest typical Winter crops in Summer). In my opinion, this is a lot more realistic, since you'll need to take note of anything that happens to your crops, and it's also harder too. Some fans may not like this new approach, but I speak for myself - I think it's brilliant.
Next new feature - upgrading your tools. Now, this may not seem new to you, but the truth is that the way you can upgrade your tools has been changed in this game. They now require Wonderful Stones to be upgraded. There are seven types of these, all different colors, which obviously all do something different - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Purple. I'm not going to cover what they do, otherwise this section would be way too long, but they can be obtained by reaching the last floor (255th) of the only mine existent in the game, or simply by winning the different contests throughout the year.
Obviously, after crops have grown, you are to either ship them and earn G - the game's currency - or keep them, get a kitchen installed, and then start cooking to produce even tastier meals to ship out, eat or give to your friends/inhabitents in order to boost their friendship and hopefully marry you one day, and have a kid.
Control-wise, this game invests uniquely in touch-screen movement. This may come as a disappointment to many fans, and the control scheme is a bit hard to get used to at the start, but you'll soon like it. Truth be told, it's not as responsive or smooth as Zelda: PH, but it doesn't lag or stutter, so don't worry.
Item sorting is just plain dumb, though. The game hasn't any sort of intelligent sorting, save maybe when you pick up the same crops. It stores the same item in different rucksack slots, so if you have a small one you'll quickly notice that you have to move them into a single slot, stacking them up manually. This can turn into a very repetitive motion, since you'll have to be doing this over and over again before you have the time to upgrade to a bigger rucksack. You'd think that items would auto-stack, but no. And if you're mining, this really gets annoying, as you have to interrupt what you're doing to go to the rucksack every minute, stack items and make room for more, then resort to picking up more items, etc...you get the picture.
Gameplay Score: 8.5/10
Replay Value: This game is simply huge, due to the fact that there is no limit to when the game ends. You can harvest for an infinite amount of years (at least, there is no restriction) before you actually get bored with the game.
The game offers huge amounts of customization so you can really personalize it to your likes. There are tons of recipes to learn, some exclusive, others a little more mainstream, but nonetheless equally fun. You can harvest an enormous variety of fruit and vegetables, using the land you are given or the Greenhouse, which is a valuable extension to your land. Animals, such as sheep, chicken, dogs and cows all play an important, albeit facultative role in the game. You can have cows and sheep which produce milk, dogs which protect your land from other predators getting their sticky paws on your crops and ruining them, and chickens which lay eggs.
With tons of things to do, you won't get bored so soon!
Replay Value Score: 10/10!
All these aspects and tons more combine to provide an unique, highly-customizable gaming experience that no other series can compare to. There is no doubt that Harvest Moon is one of the most famous and played series out there, on a variety of platforms.
Island of Happiness brought to the DS what this excellent portable console was lacking for quite a while now: a 3D, fun, enjoyable and intuitive HM game that most fans will enjoy. I have no doubt that this is one of the best games in the entire series. Probably not the best, but it simply is a must-have and play for any avid HM fan. It truly is quite a shiny gem.
Recommended!