Customer Reviews

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

(From PlayingWithMyWeiner.com:)

f you're my friend or my poor husband, you've heard me running around for months singing the following (to the tune of "La Cucheracha"):

Viva Piñata, Viva Piñata
It is a nice piñata game!
Viva Piñata, Viva Piñata
No two piñatas are the same!
Olè!

Before this week, though, it was a lie. All of my brightly colored papery pals were the same. Same colors, same Candyosity, same names. Never more.

Viva Piñata:Trouble in Paradise from Rare and Microsoft Game Studios builds on the original Viva Piñata formula of building a garden, attracting and breeding piñatas, and sending them off to children who enjoy their sweet sweet candy. Players who "dug" the original will like this one, because it has everything the first game has and more. New gardeners won't feel left behind: the game has an excellent and reasonably interesting tutorial system that will set you up with gardening basics. Besides, it's not that difficult a game.

That is not to say that VP:TIP is not without depth. As in the original, your job is to build and nurse a budding ecosystem literally from the ground up. Start with clearing enough grass or soil and you'll attract adorable little Whirlms in your garden. They'll soon attract Sparrowmints, who will eat the Whirlms and may themselves be eaten by a Buzzenge as a part of their Romance requirement. It's all a part of the great circle of life. Or something.

VP:TIP improves on the original in several ways. First, it simplifies the menu system, particularly the buying and selling aspects. Gardeners can now just highlight objects for sale and they are automatically marked, rather than having to trudge all the way to the village. On the retail side, objects are placed immediately in the garden right before the money (chocolate coins) changes hands. This saves you "travel time" and really helps in letting you see how you want to plan your garden.


Other improvements include the introduction of an actual storyline. Professor Pester, leader of the sour piñatas, has a plan to destroy this paper paradise forever. He's a man (a "straw" man?) with a plan, which both unfurls and unravels as you level up your garden. The Prof's intrusions can range from just sending Sour Shellybeans to eat up all your seeds to building stone walls that keep essential piñatas out of your garden until you can pay to knock the walls down.

I mentioned "no two piñatas are the same", and this time its true. Not only can you still name each and every piñata, and design a custom tag for it, but they also all have varying states of happiness. These states are known as the piñatas' "Candiosity", and are an indicator of how happy your paper pal is in your garden. The higher Candiosity level, the more your piñata is worth, and the more likely that she or he will stay in your garden and make lots of little piñatas.

The Prof's machinations, along with a more structured mission system (usually "raise a piñata with maximum candiosity and ship it somewhere around the world") really add to the adventure without taking away from the sandbox feel.

Rounding out the new features are opportunities to leave the garden, both in game and out of game. In game, you can use signposts to nip off to such exotic locations as the Dessert Desert and the Pinarctic region. You don't play in these gardens - you go there, capture new and exciting piñatas, and bring them to your home garden. Out of game, you can search other folks' gardens if they are on XBox Live, or use the Xbox Live vision camera to scan piñata cards (ala Sony's Eye of Judgement) and import new piñatas into your garden. Full garden multiplayer, both at home and via XBox Live, completes the set.

If this all sounds like a lot, it is because it is, which is one of the chief issues with the game. The problem is not that it is too deep, but rather that there is too much thrown at the player too fast with not nearly enough space to use it all. For example, in order to get a pair of piñatas to do their Romance Dance (mate) they need a home. Each species of piñata has its own type of home, and even the smallest of these, the modest Whirlm home, consumes a considerable amount of real estate. By the time you've built the Sweetle home you need to complete the final tutorial mission, you're out of room for more piñata homes unless you significantly tear up your little slice of heaven. Your garden size does increase, but the first bump isn't until level 12, by which time you'll really need the extra space.

The more things change, however, the more they stay the same. The developers obviously spent a lot of time lovingly crafting piñatas and items. Why, then, could they not manage to record all new bits for the speaking characters? As far as I know no one had a deep-seated attachment to the exact phrases spoken by shopkeeper Lottie Costalot as she swindled you out of your coins. In fact, most of her phrases (and the other villagers') were pretty annoying. There are some new spoken bits, but most of it is reruns.

All in all, though, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is a worthy sequel to Viva Piñata. The visuals have been upgraded, and the piñatas actually look like paper. The game controls better, and the new Romance Dance cutscenes are hysterical and adorable. If you haven't seen a VP Romance Dance, check one out on YouTube.

The bottom line is that if you don't like sandbox games or god games, you're not going to start liking them with Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. If you do enjoy them, and particularly if you enjoyed the original Viva Piñata, you've got a lot of love coming in this title. Share it with your friends! Just beware of papercuts.
I'm giving Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise 4 Weiñatas out of 5.

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is a great sequel to the first. Much improved upon menu systems and many more features, piñata, plants, and items. Your piñata can now be trained to do tricks which can be fun trying to figure out what they need to eat to get them to do tricks. There are now dessert and arctic type piñata to be found via going to those realms and trapping them as needed. The trapping is easy to learn and is nice to let you get away from the confines of your garden. You should not stay there long though as time keeps ticking back in your garden.

They even did a great job in having the same piñata from the original game requiring different things to romance or become a resident. So whatever you may remember from the first game for the most part is different now. The romance games are now more challenging as well. The more often you romance the same piñata, the harder the mini-game becomes.

So, if you liked the first game, you should love Trouble in Paradise.

I feel that if you're a fan of the original, you probably don't need this review. For those who are new to the Pinata games, it's a game where you tend to a garden in order to attract new pinatas to it. Gameplay focuses on growing plants and trees, keeping your pinatas safe and happy, and "catching them all". While it seems simplistic and childish, the game is surprisingly deep like the original. As your gardening skills get bigger, you receive various upgrades to your tools, the plants at your disposal, the size of your garden, and of course, the pinatas that are coming in to see what all the fuss is about.

One of the greatest things about this is how relaxing it can be to tend to your garden and watch the pinatas roam about. While there is a bit of comic violence in the game, it isn't enough to raise eyebrows and is perfectly suitable for most children 8+. Also, the game incorporates 2 player Co-Op so you can play with a friend or with your children. Hopefully this little review helps you get a decent understanding of the game and whether or not you would enjoy it.

Rare's second outing for the Viva Pinata series is not much different that the original game. The gameplay is relatively the same, the controls are relatively the same, the graphics are practically the same -- at first glance, you'll wonder what effort Rare made on this second game, other than adding two new play areas and a couple dozen new pinatas.

You'll start this game somewhat similar to how the original game started -- in a garden that barely has anything. The difference is that you'll get a random animal, some flowers, and will attract new pinatas fairly quickly. In fact, the first 30-60 minutes is extremely fast-paced. Many of the original pinatas will appear rather early. The fun, though, is in seeing the new pinatas appear -- watching the reveal videos and then working to make them residents. After that, you'll need to romance them (and you'll see another new video for that new species). This adds a somewhat fresh take on the same old gameplay. This is probably where Rare put in the most effort -- and it seems they've fulfilled requests by gamers for pinatas that were missing from the original.

The controls are relatively the same, but Rare has implemented some new twists. You'll now have easy access to your pinatas and all the available seeds with simple bumper-clicks. The camera seems to zoom out more than before, so you'll have a much wider view of what's going on. Cycling through and finding a particular pinata is now extremely easy -- Rare did a great job implementing this feature.

The game incorporates some new challenges. Langston's factory challenges now require that the pinata be at "full candiosity" before you can send them. This will require additional creativity on the part of the player. You can also visit the new Desert and Pinarctic areas, and trap the new pinatas in those locations. This can prove extremely challenging and time-consuming, and since the game continues in real-time, the pinatas in your central garden may start fights, get sick, etc. In addition to the romancing mini-game, you can now involve your pinatas in races and fashion shows, although there doesn't seem to be much value associated to these other than unlocking their associated achievements.

The Pinata Vision camera/card functionality is only useful for those with a Vision Cam. Gameplay includes an in-game camera function, so you can snap pictures of your pinatas and upload them to a website, where they can be viewed, shared, etc. This creates a much more social aspect to the game, and creates a greater tie between the game console and the Internet. There are also leaderboards incorporated into the game, and your ranking is displayed on the associated website. Other than just reviewing achievements, this is a great way to show others what you're doing.

The game's achievements are somewhat difficult to unlock. A player should expect to devote many, many hours to this game. Like the original game, most of the achievements should unlock over time as a player gains experience and levels-up. This game is designed with excessive replay value in mind.

For the most part, the game seems to run faster than the original. Menus open faster, and travel between your garden and the village areas is much quicker. There have been issues with slow-downs, more so than the original game, but fortunately the game has not crashed. Sounds and music are typical and no different than the original game. The CGI-animated sequences show more detail and are much more fluid this round.

Overall, the game is fun and immersive. It is quite easy to forget about the real world while playing this game, looking up at the clock, and suddenly realizing that 5 hours have passed. The game forces you think in multiple directions at the same time, and with the added desert and arctic regions and the new mini-games and other features, you'll have more to do than in the original. On the downside, however, most of these new features seem to be tacked onto the original game and don't add much value to your primary goal. If you've played the original, you'll be somewhat dismayed to start this one and have to face the same challenges all over again -- sours, ruffians, Pester, as examples. Fortunately, if you've never played the original, you can pick this game up and skip the original. If you're a fan of the original, you'll likely enjoy this.

Don't let the little kid looks fool you. This is even more addicting for adults. And yes, even hardcore games should have a lot of fun with it, if they go in with an open mind. A must have for any 360 owner who doesn't mind a little cuteness in their games.

I played the original Viva Pinata all the way through, which is a rarity for me to do with any game. I was strangely addicted to it and had about a dozen different gardens. I looked forward to the release of the 2nd version, Trouble in Paradise, assuming I would enjoy it at least as much as I did the previous version.

Perhaps I burned out on the game previously and didn't realize it, but I found myself becoming bored with this version early on. While there are new pinatas to catch, there just didn't seem to be enough, really, for the price. I liked the idea of having sand/desert style items as well as snow. However, I found the method of trapping the pinata in those locations a bit quirky. Why can't I have a garden there, instead of just visiting?

The thing I liked the most about the new version was the online play. However, I just don't know that many people who play this game to make it a worthwhile feature. As I said in the title of my review, I hate to be a naysayer, but I just don't think this game lived up to its expectations. Try renting it first to see if you really like it before actually purchasing it if you are unsure.

Oh, and the whole idea of collecting cards & scanning them in with your vision camera is bunk. I don't own a camera as I just don't see the need in seeing the people I am playing online. So unless I want to spend more money, that's just part of the game I will miss out on.

The game came fast in the mail and was a great price.

Theme: What an awesome idea!

Build a garden. Plant flowers and veggies. and watch colorless pinatas wander near to inspect. Plant just the right things and they decide to stay and get filled in with bright color, but watch out, some may fight and need to be fenced off. Fill them up with good food/candy, and sent them off to a party to make kids happy. Make chocolate money and attract exotic species. Even share items/pinatas/chocolate coins over X-Box Live!

Sound:

The sound effects and mellow music(classical) are average quality with options to turn up/down/off the music,speech, ect.

Graphics:

The graphics are big friendly and very colorful. The characters are all wearing exotic masks and have almost sarcastic personalities.The scenery is well drawn and the pinatas are cute and cuddly.

Playability:

The controls have options for advanced or basic. The difference being more viewing angles for the advanced. My kid uses the basic controls, I use the advanced. The game requires a 2nd or 3rd grade reading level for most kids. My child who is a bit behind has some difficulty but there are enough audio ques to enable her to get buy on her own most of the time. There are a lot of tasks given to complete and the pace of the game seems to move quite fast(a bit too fast for little ones)and the controls are not the most consistent or intuitive. There is a good tutorial with bright visual ques and a second cursor option( via another controller) for people to play together or for a parent to help a kid.

Over All:

A welcome and refreshing change to the video game scene. Good values and little violence compared to most. Also non-corporate (ie. not Barbie,Pokemon,or Disney)
May move to fast or be too involving for some kids or people who like simple games! Beware- you shooter gamers may find this one addictive in a refreshing way or worse....YOU MAY FIND YOUR WIFE PLAYING IT TILL 2 IN THE MORNING!!! ;>)

It plays like the first game but much better. The menu system is a lot better and makes buying seeds very fast and it's really easy to find pinatas. There's a lot of new plants and pinatas that will keep you busy for hours.

As many of the previous reviewers had noted, this game throws a bunch of stuff at you all at once. I was a huge fan of the first game and eventually got my husband to play too. We loved this one when it came out. It is difficult to play because you can overwhelmed with many pinatas at once and very limited space. But once you get the hang of things, it works out well and you work hard seeing how many different varieties of pinatas and plants you can keep at once. It becomes almost an obsession trying to get all the different varieties and to set the perfect trap to capture far off animals. Great game if you like the ones that keep you addicted for hours and building your own "world".

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
At first I was skeptical about this game,I thought it was only for 10 year olds and younger. I was wrong ,Teenagers and adults will enjoy it.