Want some annual events? You’ll have to build a bridge first.
The remainder of the game remains very much the same as other HM games. You can still fish where you play a simple reaction game and you can still decorate your home. Hanging in your house, there’s a calendar letting you know what events are taking place and whose birthday it will be soon. Events include the annual celebrations such as New Year’s Day and contests to be won such as cooking. Then of course, there are those few days when you can express your affection towards a certain character to win their heart. Once you’ve done that, you can go on ahead with marriage and even have a baby. Most HM games only catered for the male audience in this area but girls can have fun too because you can choose to be a boy or a girl this time.


It’s the New Year and that means Mochi mashing time!
As for Wi-Fi support, there isn’t anything too exciting here. You can’t trade items or send photos like you could in Rune Factory but you can connect with friends and chat with them using the voice chat feature. There’s also a permanent and weekly ranking you can participate in to see how well you do amongst other players in various factors of the game such as island development, contest victories and even the number of steps you’ve walked!

Despite the increased difficulty of the game, the cute graphics remain unchanged. A certain amount of 3D has been used but you won’t notice it much because there are no camera angles. The shades of colours change with time, seasons and weather – all with a good theme going. As with previous games, the fields look beautiful once all your crops have sprouted.


Ah, the smell of sweet corn and fresh tomatoes!
Music is generally good too with different tune for almost every area and each season. There’s a high tempo song marking the exciting time of summer, the jangling of bells in winter. There are no voice effects in the game but sound is fairly good. They generally have a comicy feeling to them all which matches with the cute graphical nature of the game.


It started out hard but it’s good to see the island developing.
“Bokujou Monogatari: Kimi to Sodatsu Shima” has an excellent setting for the story but, the game gets off to a very slow and rough start – mainly because of the touch screen controls and the quick depleting energy bar. However, once you’ve grown accustomed to the controls and have all your tools setup with the right combination of Wonder Stones, the rest of the game is a breeze just like previous HM titles. It’s satisfying to see old abandoned buildings get restored and fill with people as the island develops. You just need a bit of patience before you can enjoy this game fully but yes, the traditional button controls should have been left in.


It’s going to be fairly difficult to play this due to the amount of events that take place in HM games. You won’t have any problems buying what you need for basic farming thanks to all the icons used at the shop but, the menus used for expansion are text only. Also, you’re going to have problems joining in the events or trying to get another character to like you since you don’t know what’s going on. You can save and load on the spot but I doubt trial and error will help much.

Pros

• Main character can be a boy or a girl; don’t need separate versions of game.
  
• Cute, stylish graphics.
  
• Fairly good seasonal themed music.
  
• Watching the island develop is very satisfying.
  
• A replayable sim just like all Harvest Moon games.
  
• Two save files.

• Energy depletes too fast during early stages of game.
  
• Controls are mainly touch screen only, takes time getting used to.
  
• Mini games get repetitive.