Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands

3 Comments

1. Random Reviewer says:

   December 13, 2009 at 2:08 pm

   I bought probably all the Harvest Moon entries after the original DS and DS-Cute, including the Wii and PSP platform offerings and the Rune Factory games. I didn’t play any of them for more than a day or two because I didn’t like the graphics or controls or story line. I tend to measure all HM games against the DS and Cute versions.

   That said, Sunshine Islands has kept my interest for several days. But there are things about it that drive me nuts. Worst: Giving gifts to residents is VERY likely to result in littering, because several of the residents are almost never still — they walk in erratic paths and it’s hard to give them a gift without dropping it, the costliest faux pas in HM games. (I hate that HM games won’t let you just pick up what you drop, instead of immediately penalizing you as though you deliberately littered.) Saving the game first for safety, and getting back to where you were, requires NINE separate stylus taps, which is ridiculous. I’m in the Fall of the game’s first year, and there are still several residents who won’t even accept gifts from me yet (yes, they refuse your gifts at first), probably because of my accidental littering. The consequences aren’t just social — by giving these gifts, you gather Sun Stones that are vital to unlocking islands that are the only places you can mine, grow fruit or grains, etc.

   The rucksack in this game works better than in DS & Cute. Having 4 equip slots is nice, and moving stuff within your rucksack (as in, separating large piles of one item into smaller piles) is a lot easier. But: If you gather several of one item, each one goes to a separate slot in the sack. If you’re gathering a lot of things, you will soon have to stop, open the rucksack, and combine all your fish/grasses/flowers/mushrooms/etc. Only your weeds and your wood and stone blocks will stack themselves. Buying the larger rucksack helps a little but you’ll still get annoyed. There also seems to be a lot less goodies to gather in this game. Forget having a big stash of flowers or wild berries at the end of a season in this game, it’s not gonna happen.

   Farming’s also difficult in this game. Some crops need more or less sun and water, and most crops seem to take much longer to mature. You must run out and consult a resident to get the next day’s weather — impossible on festival days when everyone’s gone. And the way the graphics portray some of the growing plants (tomatoes are worst, so far), the plant obscures the square you’re trying to water, and it becomes impossible to see if you’ve watered a square or not once the plant’s a certain size. Cooking is also much more difficult.

   I will probably go back and play DS or Cute for the tenth time, and hope they fix the flaws that makes Sunshine Islands more of a chore than a game and re-release this.
   
2. S. Gibson says:

   December 13, 2009 at 4:04 pm

   As I’m sure most who read this review know, Harvest Moon is a series that is over a decade old and spans plenty of platforms(mostly older ones). It has a strong fanbase, but the games aren’t too hard to get into for newbies. However, before I continue, those of you who like instant gratification and/or dislike repetition would do well to stay away. Basically, you start out with a plot of land that is covered with weeds, rocks and logs. Your job is to clear it out and plant crops to make money and in general improve your farm. There are four seasons with 30 days in each, and you plant crops according to the seasons, water these crops and harvest them when the time is right.

   But there is a lot more to the game than this! The main focus of the game is collecting sun stones to raise new islands. One of them is the Volcano Island, which allows you to mine, and another is the Animal Island in which you can feed wild animals that will collect resources for you. There’s plenty to do, some of which will net you sun stones: You can chop wood and use it to upgrade your farm (with such upgrades as a chicken coop, a barn and a kitchen), befriend the residents, raise new islands by collecting sun stones, get married, obtain animals for your farm to take care of and collect resources from, cook, collect recipes, fish, mine, enter festivals and a lot more. These things do take time, but if you plan right you can steadily improve your farm and find new things to occupy your time on the islands. However, this game is complex to play without a walkthrough, so I advise searching the web for a good guide. (No need to pay money for a game guide, good ones are readily available online!)

   Even with all this stuff to do, the game can get slow, especially during wintertime when you can’t plant crops. Therefore, winter is a pretty good time to go fishing and mining, since these both use up stamina that would otherwise be used farming. There are 143 fish to catch, and whether you catch a lot of different fish depends on how often you fish, what time of day you are fishing and your location. The actual act of fishing is basically just waiting for an exclamation mark to appear over your character’s head and quickly pressing the “Y” button, but in a way it’s still fun. (Keep those reflexes sharp!) I don’t have too much to say about mining, except that it can be an exercise in frustration if you don’t pack enough food to keep your stamina high.

   Taking care of your pets is pretty fun. You feed them, brush them, pick them up, milk them, shear them, and occasionally pet them with the stylus. The horse and dog have their own little festival minigame that you can practice for.

   The graphics of the game are a nice step up from HMDS and HM Cute, going for a more DS-friendly appearance instead of the GBA-esque graphics of the others. The sound has a nice cheery tune to it, it isn’t memorable but thankfully it doesn’t get repetitive. The controls work great, giving you an option of traditional button controls and stylus controls. I find that a combination of these works great.

   To sum this up, HMSI is a game that long-time fans of the HM series will likely approve of, and for open-minded newcomers it’s also a great deal of fun. Repetition does occasionally rear its ugly head, but long-time fans won’t be bothered by this obviously, and newcomers who have done their research with expect this. Happy farming!
3. N. Wellsfry says:

   December 13, 2009 at 5:50 pm

   This game is so much better than Island of Happiness. You collet sunstones to raise special islands that unlock characters. [mushroom island, animal island, volcano island, etc.] You get sunstones by befriending villagers and earning their trust. A nice feature is that livestock comes in different colors-

   Chickens: Black, White
   
   Cows: Black & White, Brown & White
   
   Sheep: White, Brown

   Same with pets

   Dog: light brown & white, dark brown & white
   
   Cat: black & white, white
   
   Pig: black & pink, pink
   
   Horse: white, brown

   You have to unlock colored livestock by shipping a grade S egg, milk, and wool.