Who would have thought that a video game series with a basic premise of looking after a farm would become so popular and be so fun? It’s like The Sims in that games that portray mundane tasks tend to sell by the truckload when the very reason we’re playing games is to get away from doing these tasks. It’s a strange contradiction. I am one of those people who has been captivated by the Harvest Moon series and I don’t regret it one bit. I fondly remember picking up Harvest Moon: Back to Nature for the Playstation and being all giddy and excited simply because I realised you could get married in the game. God, I’m such a girl.

Thankfully we can all start building the farm of our dreams and courting the local nurse again with the upcoming gazillionith installment of the series called Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness. The series is returning to the DS following the release of Harvest Moon DS, a game that wasn’t exactly praised from the highest mountain (I own a copy and there are a number of bugs that range from mildly annoying to incredibly frustrating and game damaging).

The series has often been criticised of offering up the same ideas time and time again, but this time you’re shipwrecked on an island and decide to stay and set-up a farm. Ok, so it’s really not that original but I suppose it will do. Anyway, you originally start out with four people living on the island but building up your farm will attract new settlers to the island who, as always, will open up shops for you and possibly become friends or love interests. It’s apparently the biggest handheld HM title yet and includes over 100 characters and, erm, new types of crops (yay!). Frustratingly (as there was already enough to deal with) too much sunlight or rain will be bad for your crops, but hopefully you can hire help again.

While it’s good to see a few new ideas it remains to be seen if the game isn’t just the same old thing with a new lick of paint. Japan and North America already have their hands on the game but a European release is still TBA.