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Nintendo: DS Reviews

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Review

Harvest Moon: Island Of Happiness

70%

Format Nintendo DS

Developer Natsume

Publisher Nintendo

Genre Role Playing

15-Dec-2008 The new location doesn't make for an exciting new experience...

17 Comments

Harvest Moon first arrived in the UK ten years ago and although it has since been usurped by Animal Crossing, this series steadfastly continues to plough the same field. This time, our farming hero (or heroine) is shipwrecked on an island populated by one family but he seems to get over this trauma pretty quickly as, after about five minutes, he's already settled into a life of farming.

Other than some fiddly stylus controls and some Wi-Fi options (you can compare your farm's ranking with other players and chat with your friends) it really is the same old Harvest Moon and naturally it takes ages to get going. It doesn't really need to be this way either. There is no reason why your character should be exhausted after watering nine turnips. Nor should picking up a few weeds take all morning. Moving your character around with the stylus is fine but it becomes annoying when you have to carry out precise actions such as watering a plant or smashing a rock.

Of course once you've built up your stamina and got your farm running smoothly (with crops and animals) it gets far more rewarding as you can spend a bit of time fishing and cooking. Also, once you attract more people to the island, you can set about finding yourself a wife or husband.

So is it worth putting up with the early frustration? Well, if you're a Harvest Moon fan you will have experienced this all before and we're not sure if it's worth paying out £30 again for the same old slog. Meanwhile newcomers might find it a bit unfriendly to begin with. This is a series which could do with a change...

Tom East