A cute, sandbox-style game that's surprisingly fun and addictive.
One part cutesy kids’ show, three parts sandbox-style, open-ended gameplay, and two parts pure, uncut crack cocaine. That’s Viva Piñata.
The comparisons are evident in the game, and they are everywhere in the reviews: Animal Crossing. The Sims. Harvest Moon. Viva Piñata takes some of the best aspects of these games and creates something not necessarily innovative, but purely addictive. Viva Piñata seems innocuous enough, and its colorful design and apparent kiddy demographic may be off-putting to gamers who are much more inclined to adrenaline, blood, and butt kicking.
While more of the aforementioned frag-fests are simply variations on a theme, Viva Piñata is the 360 game with appeal for the Wii’s intended audience: casual gamers, non-gamers, kids and the non-arthritic elderly. Under its shiny candy coating, however, is a deep and rewarding game showcasing a scintillating world full of garden design and animal husbandry.
And it is fun.
The garden is the real star here, as landscaping and horticultural design attract certain species of ’s resident piñata animals. One incredible potential addition to the game would have been the ability to watch, at any point, a fast-motion view of one’s garden from the opening of the game to its current state, as the garden is in a constant state of flux, from animal traffic to gradual and sometimes sudden upheavals of large parts of the garden layout.
With an all-purpose shovel and a watering can, both of which are upgradeable, you can grow flowers, trees, and plants, and even cut down trees and dig (and fill in) ponds.
’s village is home to a handful of stores that carry any good or service you may need, from purchasing seeds and accessories for piñatas, buying domesticated piñatas or even paying a sort of bounty hunter to drag back a piñata you already had.
In all of this, the game does have some noticeable lulls. Being stuck without a seed you may need to attract a certain animal definitely makes the time drag, and pestering Seedos or even beating him with the shovel doesn’t get it – and until you get it from him, or he leaves it for you, it can’t be bought at the store.
This is a game with quite a few small hidden gems and secrets, and they are as rewarding as anything. Attracting a rare piñata and making them resident, finding new variants of piñatas, or even cross-breeding piñatas to create something new, are all satisfying and lend a lot to the game experience. There are a lot of complicated parts of these procedures, of course, and there are a lot of guides and FAQs online to help the less hardcore gardeners out with the more rare accomplishments.
Achievement points are divided up well, rewarding the gamer with points for baby steps and large accomplishments as well. Unfortunately, every achievement is set at 20 points, so the size of the task doesn’t matter, point-wise. It would have been nice to see the harder achievements, many of which are secret, count for more points than the basic ones.
For fans of leisurely pace and lots to do, Viva Piñata is highly recommended. It’s also advisable that anyone, regardless of their taste in games, try this one out. It may spend more time in your 360 tray than you think.