I always feel bad when a Harvest Moon game lets me down, because I feel like a bitter old bitch. I can feel Natsume frowning at me and saying, “It’s called Island of Happiness. How can you possibly dislike it, you ice-hearted witch? Do you hate happiness?”
And then I have to steel myself and say, “No! They’re wrong, too!” See, I do hate happiness and the laughter of children, but when I put down a game because the graphics are giving me a pounding headache, I think both Natsume and myself are in the wrong.

I’m playing Harvest Moon: Island of Dreams for the Nintendo DS. You can choose between playing as a boy or a girl, so I guess that’s it for Natsume’s shoddy “Girl Version” Harvest Moon cash-ins that were shameless enough to make Pokemon blush.
Harvest Moon: Island of Dreams puts you on a desert island, one of a handful of shipwrecked survivors. There are obvious signs that the island was previously populated, but the people mysteriously disappeared. You and the survivors decide to make some kind of a life out of their ruins. Nothing bad could possibly become of such bold dedication …read more