Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility

It has made progress in the social simulation, going from simple mechanics to a quite realist simulation, and it could be a pleasant surprise for players looking for a quiet game.

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility is a cute little farm simulation game with some decent additional features. However, even with the new features, it’s still too similar to past games in the series so if you have played these games in the past and they didn’t take, this won’t recharge your farming batteries – but dedicated fans should get their money’s worth.

If you are really into farming, and don’t mind the repetitive tendencies of the series, then Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility is a solid entry and definitely worth your time.

Lame controls, rubbish camera, loads of crappy loading pauses. It seems very cheap. [Jan 2009, p.66]

Basically the same old Harvest Moon formula with a few new features, but a pleasant little diversion from the pressures and pace of real life - and good value for money.

Bottom line: if you expect nothing out of the Tree of Tranquility except the same old same old, then this will do the trick. [Oct 2008, p.106]

The problem is that the game feels phoned in, from the tacked-on motion controls to the scan tutorial system that assumed you've already played every other Harvest Moon game. [Oct 2008, p.90]

In the end, Tree of Tranquility is a decent - but at times, weak - first offering on Wii, and while we had a good time playing it, we couldn't help but think of the better times the series has already seen, and hopefully the better it has ahead.

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility is not the right game for everyone and there are a lot of mistakes that make the game less fun. Loading screens, the missing of voice-overs, repeating gameplay and controls that aren’t that great are examples of that. There is a lot to do on Waffle Island, maybe for weeks or even months!

The old gameplay is still the same. If you aren't afraid of that, or if you're a new fan of the series, you could have fun with this Harvest Moon episode. Even if there are tons of loading times and some old gen graphics.

With only minimal improvements to a well-worn formula, the Harvest Moon series is starting to show its age.

Tree of Tranquility is very much the essence that this franchise has always dealt with. We have to harvest a different number of fields, looking forward to earn some money, to marry and all that familiar stuff that we should know very well at the date. There's nothing particularly wrong with the game, but lacks some new additions like the one's we've seen in Rune Factory.

Combine the sub-par sound with the repetitive gameplay and you'll quickly get bored with Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility. The combination of English text with Japanese text bubbles largely passes by on the intended age group of young gamers in the Benelux. The one somewhat addictive aspect is making your farm bigger and finding a partner. Finding a good balance between social life and farm life is what this title is about. Fans of the series will love it: a farm life sim, which could've turned out so much better.

Old school Harvest Moon-style, with all the positive and negative things that follows with that.

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility has all the staples of a successful Harvest Moon title as well as a few new welcome additions, but it's not without its flaws.

The most depressing issue, however, is the four- to 10-second load time you'll suffer each time you enter a new environment, but methodically engaging gameplay helps make up for this.