Spring Break
Tree of Tranquility plays like Harvest Moon of old
Brett Fischer
Issue date: 10/31/08 Section: Sports
It is quite remarkable that a farming simulation game has done as well as the Harvest Moon series. In the past, reasons why it succeeded so much was because it had fresh content, short loading times, cute graphics and almost unlimited replay ability. I still remember how shocked I was that Harvest Moon 64 was an amazing game despite it's seemingly weak storyline. My first impression deceived me and the Harvest Moon franchise has successfully delivered title after title. Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility for the Wii had high hopes of continuing to be dominating force is has been over the past decade. But despite having an expansive universe and several mini-games, this version of Harvest Moon does not live up to its expectations, mainly because it fails to separate itself from the previous generation consoles.
For those unfamiliar with the game, in Tree of Tranquility, you start out as a boy or a girl resident on an island that houses a goddess tree; but the goddess eventually disappears because the tree dries up. You are in charge of bringing back the goddess and her tree by creating rainbows and collecting badges. You will build your farm, raise animals and hopefully find the love of your life, while trying to earn enough money to survive.
Graphics: Graphically speaking, this would be a great Game Cube game. The only problem is that it does not take advantage of being on the Wii and the fixed camera angle can make it frustrating to fully take advantage of the large map the game has to offer. I expected the characters to be better developed and have much more detail, but Tree of Tranquility does not make much improvements from the previous console.
Gameplay: The fun simulation feel is what Harvest Moon is best at creating. It's fun raising animals and meeting a potential wife, even though the gameplay is essentially the same as in previous versions. I am a bit disappointed that Tree of Tranquility does not do a better job of using Wii controls. Outside of the mini-games, there is not much usage of the Wiimote. The biggest problem with the game, however, deals with the loading time. Sometimes I felt that if I combined all the loading times within one week of game time, I could probably build my own farm by then. Every time you walk into a new environment, it takes time to load. In addition, when it rains, the games runs slower.
For those unfamiliar with the game, in Tree of Tranquility, you start out as a boy or a girl resident on an island that houses a goddess tree; but the goddess eventually disappears because the tree dries up. You are in charge of bringing back the goddess and her tree by creating rainbows and collecting badges. You will build your farm, raise animals and hopefully find the love of your life, while trying to earn enough money to survive.
Graphics: Graphically speaking, this would be a great Game Cube game. The only problem is that it does not take advantage of being on the Wii and the fixed camera angle can make it frustrating to fully take advantage of the large map the game has to offer. I expected the characters to be better developed and have much more detail, but Tree of Tranquility does not make much improvements from the previous console.
Gameplay: The fun simulation feel is what Harvest Moon is best at creating. It's fun raising animals and meeting a potential wife, even though the gameplay is essentially the same as in previous versions. I am a bit disappointed that Tree of Tranquility does not do a better job of using Wii controls. Outside of the mini-games, there is not much usage of the Wiimote. The biggest problem with the game, however, deals with the loading time. Sometimes I felt that if I combined all the loading times within one week of game time, I could probably build my own farm by then. Every time you walk into a new environment, it takes time to load. In addition, when it rains, the games runs slower.
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