Viva Pinata

Title: Viva Pinata
Platform Played On: Xbox 360
Release Date: November 9, 2006
Date Played: February - March 2012
Time Played: 40 Hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes (Animal Crossing type game)
Score: 4/5



Opinion:
Viva Pinata is easily dismissed; however as the old proverb states, dont judge the book by its cover.
If you have ever played Animal Crossing or Harvest Moon, then you know what you are getting yourself into. It is a mix of those two with some Pokemon sprinkled on top.

Viva Pinata starts you off on a small patch of land with nothing but a shovel and a few items available for purchase. You are a gardener, and your goal is to create a garden attractive to various pinata animals to visit and hopefully become residents. The gameplay has an entire ecosystem where one species will depend on another, and certain species will not like each other (like cats and dogs, or ants and bees because ants eat bee's honey).

Viva Pinata is gorgeous. This is a launch title were talking about, its vibrant colors and cute animations are just as good as any modern game.

Viva Pinata suffers from some fundamental issues though. The controls are not standardized, which leads to some frustration. The X button will at certain times open a shop menu, at others dig a hole, the B button will sometimes back out of the menu, at other times do something else you didnt want to do. Sometimes the button functions switch, so you end up pressing the wrong button, even though a minute ago it would have been the right button. Thank god for the standardized 'get me the hell out of here' back button, which takes you back to your garden (most of the time).

Another issue, and a HUGE one, is the object limit. The great thing about Viva Pinata is its Pokemon bit of collecting every species of pinatas. That whole aspect of the game is ruined by the fact that there is a very low hard limit on amount of objects you can have in your garden. Everything effects this limit, even decorations. So what ends up happening is after having about 20 pinatas in the garden (keep in mind there are over 50 species, and you want to have at least 2 of every kind for breeding), and some trees/plans (which are also needed to either feed or attract pinatas), you hit the limit. Its actually pretty ridiculous how low the limit is, and kind of ruins the experience. You can not keep collecting the pinatas, you have to get rid of species to get new ones. I played the game for 40+ hours, and entirety of that time I was hovering at 99% full garden, constantly struggling to make room. This is unfortunate since the collecting aspect of it, is the thing that attracted me the most to Viva Pinata.

Overall Viva Pinata is a great idea, it is fun. However with the sequel out (Trouble in Paradise), there is no reason to play this first installment. TIP is the same game with some improvements. The aforementioned control issue is fixed, and the limit (although still there, and still constraining) is increased.