A challenge for hardcore HM fans - also time-consuming

Author's Rating:

Pros: expanded gameplay; more detail-oriented; precise control over specific factors and features

Cons: micro-management; too many factors to keep up with; general grind

The Bottom Line: 
Innovative and challenging for veteran HM fans, but with lots of grind

Author's Review
Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness is the 6th Harvest Moon game that I've played so far, and I guess the best way I can explain it so far is that it's definitely giving me a challenge as a veteran HM gamer.

I say it's challenging because IoH has broken down and expanded a lot of features that were originally either provided or otherwise automated. For example:

Villagers and Friendships: In most HM games, all villagers are available from the start, and are permanently residing in your game (other than the occasional character that only visits on particular days of the week.) In IoH, you start out with a few basic characters, and as you expand your island and its prosperity, you have to 'earn' the other villagers - this includes more than half of your marriage prospects. There are primary villagers (shopkeeper, animal keeper, etc.) and secondary villages, all of whom can either move to or away from your island depending on whether or not you meet the requirements for their move, and then maintain their friendship at the same time. Should you fail to do so, they move away - but not permanently.
There are something like 100-105 villagers total. That's a lot of talking and gift-giving. XD

Weather Points and Farming: In previous HM games, farming is pretty straightforward: you farm your land and plant your crops. If you don't water them, they don't grow, or grow very slowly. In IoH, they revamped this system entirely - the success of your crops depends on a combination of sunlight, water, and timing.
Crops (and most other items that you forage and otherwise obtain) have 3 scores: quality, size, and freshness. These depend on factors like a) how much you water your crops, b) how much sunlight your crops get in a day; c) the timing in which you harvest; d) how long you keep them around in your rucksack/fridge/etc.
Basically, it is much more complicated. On the one hand, it's nice because it's much more complex and therefore more challenging to someone like me, who was actually beginning to get bored of the same farming gameplay over and over. On the other hand, it can be frustrating, because you can't really control the weather, and sometimes you may not be able to grow any more than 2-3 sets of crops at a time.

You also pretty much have to earn EVERYTHING. When you start, you don't get a chicken coop, or animal barn. When you build them, they are very basic - they don't come with shipping bins, and the chicken coop doesn't come with an incubator. Gannon (the carpenter who moves onto your island in the beginning) has to build everything for you, and everything is generally pretty expensive.

You (as in, your character) also have to be much more careful, as you now have to deal with two factors of health: hunger and stamina. They are two separate things that both deplete over a course of a day; you have to eat things you find in the wild or buy food at the cafe/diner (which, naturally, you also have to earn) in order to replenish these bars.

Same thing with your dog and horse - you have to befriend two main villagers and get their friendship points up to a certain amount in order to receive your pets.

Another huge difference is with tools. In previous HM games, tools are upgraded by use and they level up on their own. In IoH, each tool has X number of slots (only 1 in the beginning), in which you place Wonderful Stones. Each Wonderful color has a unique attribute: an indigo Wonderful for example, when placed in your tool, adds 5 additional slots.
Wonderful stones are attained in 3 ways, all of which are difficult: a) mine for them on the 255th floor of the mine; b) win them in festivals; c) buy them from Chen (your shopkeeper) during the winter, but that depends on if the last digit of your farm points is a certain number on specific days. Basically, yeah - no cool tools for a while.

Overall, despite the incredible grind that I feel most of the time, I enjoy the game and would recommend it for those of you who love Harvest Moon but want something more challenging. Now that there are all of these new factors to consider, a successful farm will be ever so much sweeter. :D