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| The Entertainment Review |
| Genre: Entertainment Developer: Rare Publisher: THQ |
When the Viva Piñata series got its start on the Xbox 360 it fell victim to the same problem that many games deal with these days. The
game was loved by critics, but passed by consumers. With both critics and the game’s developers agreeing that the product was
strong enough to deserve better, Rare and Microsoft continued the franchise with spin-offs and sequels. The series makes its way to a
pocket conversion of the original game, in “Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise” now with a few added options, modes and more piñatas to
check out. It may be a bit complex for kids, and lacking in some of the amazing style the game was known for on the Xbox 360.
The entire experience starts extremely simple and can also get repetitive. Since there isn’t a large amount for players to do with a
chunk of land and a few tools, players will need to take a few minutes to grab the grass painter and scrub the entire plot to get it ready
for the soon arriving inhabitants. This is part of any simulation game, but if Rare wanted to speed up the experience, it would have been
easy to do by adding different sized brushed so players could get their garden the way they want it more quickly. After the garden is
ready and the piñatas are ready to arrive, that is when the addiction starts.
New animals are always showing up and the game’s alert system lets players know when and where these creatures arrive. A simple
tap of the stylus gives players plenty of information as to what the piñata wants in order to move in. The new encyclopedia makes things
much easier all around and, within a few hours, even a beginning player should be able to have at least a few different species co-
existing in their small starter garden.
The core game play hasn’t changed much from the previous version, but it didn’t need to. Touch control works well, with a single tap
selecting the piñata, a double tap zooming in to see the beautiful models in actions and a few different camera controls. The D-Pad or
face buttons can be used to pan around the garden, a scrub on the end of the screen will pan the camera or a small on-screen D-Pad
can be used instead. There are very few times that players will use the wrong item or hit a piñata with the shovel, and for the most part
the icons are easy to read and quick to use. Even the town visitation, which was previously a whole set of menus can now be accessed
with the touch screen.
“Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise” does a great job of holding players for a few hours, but like the previous game on the Xbox 360, the joy of
discovery will eventually wear thin. The game does a great job of keeping players busy with small challenges to complete, the ability to
plant flowers and seed and evolve them with the help of other piñatas, or even breed and make special colored piñatas through more
advanced techniques, but it all starts to taper off. On one side, the game has no real goal to reach, so it is simple and free form enough
to work for gamers of any age. On the other hand, players can only breed, collect and tweak creatures for only so long before the
players starts to wonder what the point of the game is.
As a new aspect to the experience, one that will probably be overlooked by many gamers is the new Playground mode which is a
custom, free play experience only available on the Nintendo DS version of the game. It is here that younger players can hop into a pre-
made, random garden and just start adding whatever they want with no limitation on piñata type or cash flow. All animals are available
from the beginning, as are all items, houses, seed and flowers. A quick trip to the fully-unlocked store allows players to grab whatever
they want and send it directly to the playground. Rather than working with terrain morphing, a simple icon slider takes preferences of
what type of ground should go where, and then auto builds it. It is the perfect mode for younger players that are too young to get into the
main game.
“Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise” takes the original Xbox 360 game as a template and brings the free-form design to the Nintendo DS in a
great way. The visuals are crisp and colorful, the audio is a mix of in-game animal sounds and voiceover taken from the TV show and it
is an easy to control world with a quick swipe or tap of the stylus. There are some minor changes that affect the game a little, like the
lack of camera control, the removal of mating mini-games and the watching piñatas move around in HD, but the core game play
survives in this conversion to the portable platform. The overall experience can get a little bit complicated at times as the game clock
ticks on, but for those who are able to get simple pleasure out of other games of this type, like “Animal Crossing” and “The Sims,” Viva
Piñata: Pocket Paradise” is a must play Nintendo DS game, and one that fits into portable gaming perfecting.
game was loved by critics, but passed by consumers. With both critics and the game’s developers agreeing that the product was
strong enough to deserve better, Rare and Microsoft continued the franchise with spin-offs and sequels. The series makes its way to a
pocket conversion of the original game, in “Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise” now with a few added options, modes and more piñatas to
check out. It may be a bit complex for kids, and lacking in some of the amazing style the game was known for on the Xbox 360.
The entire experience starts extremely simple and can also get repetitive. Since there isn’t a large amount for players to do with a
chunk of land and a few tools, players will need to take a few minutes to grab the grass painter and scrub the entire plot to get it ready
for the soon arriving inhabitants. This is part of any simulation game, but if Rare wanted to speed up the experience, it would have been
easy to do by adding different sized brushed so players could get their garden the way they want it more quickly. After the garden is
ready and the piñatas are ready to arrive, that is when the addiction starts.
New animals are always showing up and the game’s alert system lets players know when and where these creatures arrive. A simple
tap of the stylus gives players plenty of information as to what the piñata wants in order to move in. The new encyclopedia makes things
much easier all around and, within a few hours, even a beginning player should be able to have at least a few different species co-
existing in their small starter garden.
The core game play hasn’t changed much from the previous version, but it didn’t need to. Touch control works well, with a single tap
selecting the piñata, a double tap zooming in to see the beautiful models in actions and a few different camera controls. The D-Pad or
face buttons can be used to pan around the garden, a scrub on the end of the screen will pan the camera or a small on-screen D-Pad
can be used instead. There are very few times that players will use the wrong item or hit a piñata with the shovel, and for the most part
the icons are easy to read and quick to use. Even the town visitation, which was previously a whole set of menus can now be accessed
with the touch screen.
“Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise” does a great job of holding players for a few hours, but like the previous game on the Xbox 360, the joy of
discovery will eventually wear thin. The game does a great job of keeping players busy with small challenges to complete, the ability to
plant flowers and seed and evolve them with the help of other piñatas, or even breed and make special colored piñatas through more
advanced techniques, but it all starts to taper off. On one side, the game has no real goal to reach, so it is simple and free form enough
to work for gamers of any age. On the other hand, players can only breed, collect and tweak creatures for only so long before the
players starts to wonder what the point of the game is.
As a new aspect to the experience, one that will probably be overlooked by many gamers is the new Playground mode which is a
custom, free play experience only available on the Nintendo DS version of the game. It is here that younger players can hop into a pre-
made, random garden and just start adding whatever they want with no limitation on piñata type or cash flow. All animals are available
from the beginning, as are all items, houses, seed and flowers. A quick trip to the fully-unlocked store allows players to grab whatever
they want and send it directly to the playground. Rather than working with terrain morphing, a simple icon slider takes preferences of
what type of ground should go where, and then auto builds it. It is the perfect mode for younger players that are too young to get into the
main game.
“Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise” takes the original Xbox 360 game as a template and brings the free-form design to the Nintendo DS in a
great way. The visuals are crisp and colorful, the audio is a mix of in-game animal sounds and voiceover taken from the TV show and it
is an easy to control world with a quick swipe or tap of the stylus. There are some minor changes that affect the game a little, like the
lack of camera control, the removal of mating mini-games and the watching piñatas move around in HD, but the core game play
survives in this conversion to the portable platform. The overall experience can get a little bit complicated at times as the game clock
ticks on, but for those who are able to get simple pleasure out of other games of this type, like “Animal Crossing” and “The Sims,” Viva
Piñata: Pocket Paradise” is a must play Nintendo DS game, and one that fits into portable gaming perfecting.
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