Harvest Dreams

By Eternal Silence

Harvest Moon: Sunshine Islands (for the Nintendo DS), one of the newer games in the Harvest Moon series, is similar to its counterpart, Island of Happiness, in many ways. However, there are enough differences to set the games apart from one another and make each one worth owning.

The Good:
* New characters
* New challenges
* New islands to unlock
* You can befriend and hire animals to work for you
* More items to gather, such as different species of fish, more wild items, etc.
* Two colors of pets to choose from, and three different pets to own (horse, dog, pig)
* Harvest Sprites available to help with all kinds of tasks around the farm
* Sun Stones – the items you need to gather in order to raise new islands and unlock new people and tasks – are relatively easy
* Random events have been added.
* A balanced game

The Bad:
* The watering and Sun system is still a little difficult, though easier than it was in IoH.
* It can be difficult to bring everyone to the island
* Points are hard to acquire and you can’t get an exact quote
* The weather patterns are determined a week in advance, so there is no saving and restarting the night before to get a different weather forecast.

All in all, a great game to play. It isn’t that difficult if you get a good start, and the characters and plot in this game are extremely well-thought-out and fun to interact with. Give SI a try!

By 12Kittycat1214

This year Natsume unleashed their newest game for the Wii 'Harvest Moon: Animal Parade. The game has multiple features and some of the old characters from Tree of Tranquility, but there are a few differences Animal Parade has. Some are great and some are bad:

The Good:
* Four more marriage candidates including: Wizard, Witch, Harvest King, and Harvest Goddess
* You can ride any livestock animal
* Pick between two different styles of characters for both the male and femal starters
* Large assortment of potential pets
* Each date is different for each marriage candidates
* Two children instead of one

The Bad:
* Controls are completely different from Tree of Tranquility
* Listening to confessions brings other marriage candidates friendship down
* Easy to beat main storyline (I beat it by Winter 1, Year 1.)
* You start out in debt to Hamilton
* Harder to understand at the start of the game
* Houses are harder to upgrade
* Not as many mini-games as Tree of Tranquility
* Can't interact with friends around the world in English version
* Cost money to visit Toucan Island

Nonetheless, Animal Parade is a fun game to play and I'd recommend it to a friend in a heart beat.

By Rosette

After the making of Harvest Moon DS, DS Cute is released. You would take control of of one of the girls (Jill or Claire) instead of the boy (Jack) this time.

The Good:
* Many of the bugs from Harvest Moon DS are fixed
* You can be Claire (the blonde) or Jill (the brunette)
* An extra character (Skye) is added as a bachelor, and he has no rival.
* The game doesn't end if you marry a Mineral Town character like in Harvest Moon DS
* If you like cute 2D sprite based graphics, this is a plus.

The Bad:
* If you already have the first Harvest Moon DS game, getting this one is almost a waste due to the similarities. The only reason you'll want this game is if you want to play as a girl instead.
* Tedious if you hate farming, and tedious if you dislike saving the Harvest Sprites.

Overall, this game is enjoyable. Anyone who likes the Harvest Moon games should get this.