Viva Piñata (Xbox 360, 2006)

In Viva Pinata you have inherited a garden in a fantasy world populated by living pinatas and an assortment of odd characters. Your mission is to build your garden to attract pinatas to live there. Everything you grow in your garden, including the pinatas, vegetables, flowers, and trees, can be sold for chocolate coins. You can use the coins to buy more seeds and grow more plants or to otherwise improve your garden. Viva Pinata is like a cross between Pokemon and The Sims and virtual pets, but I found that the result is greater than the sum of its parts!

This is a sandbox game of the best sort. You can make whatever decisions you want to and your garden can look however you want. You have the ability to dig ponds, grow grass, build houses for your pinatas, and all sorts of other activities that I am still discovering several hours into the experience. The decisions you make about how your garden develops will determine the kind of pinata who want to live there. The open-ended nature of the game is its best feature, and it really makes you feel like you are in control of the game's environment. The feeling of empowerment that kids receive playing Viva Pinata is enhanced by the excitement of constantly finding new things to do and play with.

I am impressed that a game that is so easy for kids to pick up is also so complex. My daughter is nine and was familiar with the controls and basic concepts within a half-hour. Yet the underlying concepts of the game are complicated. The skills I see her working on in this game primarily have to do with resource management, which as we adults know is critical for daily life. You have a limited amount of space for your garden (just like in real life), yet if you are not organized in your approach then the garden will quickly become a place of chaos. Kids will also learn the concepts of working to make money and how to budget for the next big item they need to improve their garden.

As other reviewers have stated, this looks like a game for kids, but it will suck an adult into its world just as easily. I couldn't wait for my kids to go to sleep the first night so I could start on my own garden. Time is greatly accelerated in the game, and the result is that you are very busy - you may suddenly look up from the game and see that a few hours have passed in the real world almost as quickly. The pinata are just the right amount of cute so that they are fun to watch, not annoying. There is no lull in the action for at least a few hours, at which time you may have been able to hire some helpers to take off some of the pressures of a big garden, such as watering and gathering your sellable items. This too is a good introduction to kids of the concept of people management. Lots of times you have to tell your helpers what to do, rather than just letting them do their own thing. Otherwise, their priority list is typically different from yours and those plants that you just planted may die because your helper was busy watering something less important.

Viva Pinata has way too much to offer to cover it all in such a short review. The environment is incredibly well done, from the sounds to the graphics. The game play is very addictive. Playing Viva Pinata actually got me excited to go out and do lawn work in the back yard! For parents wondering if this game is suitable for their kids, I will say that I am picky about what I let my kids watch and play and there is nothing here which offends me. There a

I purchased this game looking for a break from all of the First Person Shooter [FPS] games that are always hitting the market, little did I know that the game would be easy to pick up and play yet in depth enough to keep me [and just about everyone else I know] coming back to it.

At the beginning of the game you are placed in your new garden and I admit it does start out a bit slow as it teaches you how to use all the different tools available to you throughout the game but keep in mind that this is an all ages game and the tutorial is great for young ones. But once you get through the tutorial the game quickly picks up the pace. You'll need to come up with a strategy on how to construct your garden in order to attract different pinatas.

I'd highly recommend this game to everyone out there.

Find the whole review @ http://gnadegames.blogspot.com

Do not be turned off by Viva Pinata's colorful and kidlike presentation. Though Kids will probably adore all the colorful critters and simple controls, adults will love the depth, challenge, and overall uniqueness of the game. Is this game a "must-buy" like Gears of War? Not quite, but if you are a gamer open-minded to non-shooters and are looking for something that plays different...this game is for you. Yes this is the beginning of the review, but this game is one of the best "family" games I have ever played. There is obvious kid appeal, but nothing is overly cutesy or annoying. Adults will of course not really care to watch the "romancing danced" of the pinatas, but the game is smart enough to know that and will only show you a new movie if you breed a new species. You can skip this if you wish and watch two worm pinatas dance over and over again if you choose. The beginning of the game is very well paced and you're constantly trying to absorb everything that is thrown at you. RARE is back after a mediocre Perfect Dark Zero! OK, I'm rambling and this review is quickly deteriorating in quality so I will impose some structure:

Gameplay: 8/10
Pros: There is a lot to do! and if you don't like the meaningless tasks of gardening, you can hire helpers to do it for you. The controls work well (thank god for the shortcut d-pad). It's not the most frantic gameplay, but this is a simulation game. The way you can do anything to your garden or quickly undo it and dynamically change it is just really satisfying and liberating. There are sooo many different pinatas with deep preferences and requirements.
Cons: There are times when there is too much going on or you get interupted from sodding the grass or cleaning up your lot. Then there are other times when you are waiting for something to do. Overall, it's a good pace, but you feel some of the busy times could be spread over the hectic times better. I found myself lacking direction after the initial tutorials dropped off. I kept working and eventually I got it, but a little more direction or objective list would help. There is no excuse for pinata, seed, etc information to have to be loaded. When I highlight an object and click info, a menu should pop up giving me basic stats. Some species are just too picky!

Graphics: 10/10
Pros: Gorgeous and vibrant garden and interesting creatures. There always so much going on...seeing a bustling garden is really a testament to the Xbox 360. The pinatas are animated really well and exude personality. The zany "human" characters all fall into the visual presentation well. The menu system and loading screens also stand out and embody the visual style of the game.
Cons: Yes the game is not as stunning or jaw-dropping as "Gears" but I can't think of anything to complain about or nitpick...maybe you can.

Sound/Music: 9/10
Pros: "human" characters voices are full of personality...my favorite is the sarcastic pet shop owner who is so un-thrilled with her job. The voiceovers are excellent. The pinata sounds are also tremendous and help clue you into the personality of the species. I love the pretztails and badgers (forget their pinata name).

...read the whole review @ http://gnadegames.blogspot.com

Added November 30th:

This is easily one of my favorite Xbox 360 games. I was skeptical to buy it at first, because it looked like a game for a young child. However, after finally deciding to buy it for review purposes, I actually have found myself playing this game more then Gears of War.

The game is addictive because of how easy, and yet challengeing the game can be. If you enjoyed The Sims, then I suggest giving this game a try.

This game has many, many secret objectives, and when you solve them, it opens up more pinata animals, more upgrades, more things to experiment with, and makes the game more enjoyable.

Finally, if you have played any Rare game in the past, then you sohuld knwo what to expect. These are the same people that made GoldenEye 007 for N64, and more recently Kameo for the 360. They put a ton of effort into there games, and if you are not sure if you sohuld get this game or not, take my advice and get it!

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(Preview from before) Viva Piñata™ is a window to another world where wild-roaming, living piñata animals inhabit a growing, changing garden world. You take control of this environment and the piñata within it, influencing its contents to create your very own pet paradise.

Lives of their own: Discover the secrets of more than 60 different candy-filled piñata animals to see them grow, change, fight, and even dance!

Anything can happen: Guide a constantly evolving, vibrant world to keep your piñata happy and protect them from dangers threatening to break them open.

Personalized world: Customize your world and your piñata animals to reflect your style and create a pet paradise unlike any other.

Online experience: Enjoy both friendships and rivalries in a worldwide community of Viva Piñata players.

Taken from Xbox.com. This game should be a lot of fun, and I think it will be the first game to allow users to buy and sell objects between each other.

I am a gamer dad with a 4 year old and a 2 year old (both girls) and most of my X360 games are of the shooting and blood letting variety. I needed something that I could play in front of the kids if I got the itch and they were still out in the living room. I didnt think I would like it as much as I did. Its a Sims/RTS combo that is fun to play. My 4 year old would laugh every time a new animation showed the new pinata visitors. She also was very into seeing the homes of the pinatas that I built. I find myself playing this game after they go to bed and cant seem to put it down sometimes. The helper mode is nice to let your child attempt the controls and you can help out with another controller. Nice features and is great for kids and parents alike.