Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Review

The co-operative gardening experience

you have always dreamed of !

By Sith Lord Jim.

©2008 Jim McIntyre:

Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise is one of those games that if you are a male, you will spend the entire time your playing it hoping that nobody walks into the room. Yes it is one of those things that males world-wide will be hesitant to admit that they enjoyed. Yet at the same time is something that is damn near impossible to not enjoy.

If you have played the original Viva Piñata then you will know the drill here. Create a garden, meet the requirements for piñatas to live in your garden, and level up as you accomplish tasks. It’s all quite childish on the surface, but below the childish exterior is a game with a ton of depth, and addictively fun gameplay.

The story this time round is that Professor Pester has broken into Piñata Central and accidentally deleted all records of piñatas. So you are tasked with restoring these records as you garden. It’s not much of a story, but it is fairly unimportant in the scheme of things with this title, and its also something your likely to forget about after the first five minutes.

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So for those of you who are not familiar with the premise of the Viva Piñata series, you are a gardener. Piñatas are needed for parties and so you have to attract them into your garden. Different piñatas will require different things in your garden before they turn up to have a look.

When they are visiting your garden you can then find out what they will require in your garden or need to do before they choose to live there. Some piñatas might require that you have a few of a certain type of flower, while others will need to eat a certain something first.

When you have two of a kind of piñata in your garden you will find a new set of requirements, which is used for getting them to do the horizontal funky dance. Once these requirements are met you take part in the romance game where you have to guide a piñata through the maze picking up the required amount of hearts and reaching the other piñata before the timer runs out. Once this is done they mate which is presented in a family-friendly way with a dance that’s not horizontal, but is at times funky.

For growing plants, romancing piñatas, getting piñatas to become residents, and getting piñatas to visit your garden you are provided with experience points which are represented by flower petals. When you have enough experience you will level up, giving you access to new seeds, items, and sometimes shovel, title, and garden space upgrades. This leveling system is a very large part of the addictiveness of this title.

The challenge of this title comes from bad piñatas called sours who are out to make your piñatas sick and fill your garden with weeds. These sours can be tamed and turned into lame looking good piñatas who will frolic happily amongst the rest of your collection, or simply beaten to death with your trusty shovel.  As you progress visits from these sours become increasingly common and other creatures begin to appear to drop bad candy or kill your sick piñatas.

Things become quite hectic, and its here that one really has to wonder whom exactly Rare is attempting to target with this title. Many of the things that take place as the game grows increasingly hectic are likely to reduce most children to tears.

I myself was ready to give up on the game for good after one such occurrence. While tending to my garden and attempting to coerce a camel into living there, I failed to notice a weed growing in the center of the garden. It was not until there were three of them there that I spotted them.

“Right-o I can deal with this!” I thought to myself as I whipped out that ever-trusty shovel. I promptly beat the first weed into the ground and watched in astonishment as three seeds fell from it. I took to the first seed with my shovel and turned to deal with the others. In horror I watched as the two seeds planted themselves and sprouted before I had a chance to deal with them.

Suddenly a piñata was sick, poisoned by the weeds. 20 minutes later my garden was covered in weeds and every piñata was dead. Thankfully when you start a new garden your levels, and upgrades carry over.

Luckily there is a new mode that seems to be specifically for the younger gamers. The new Just for Fun mode, presents gamers with a mode that is free from sours, and gives you unlimited chocolate coins to spend. Piñatas also seem to be easier to get into your garden in this mode. The only real downside is that achievements can not be unlocked in this mode.

Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise is more of an expansion of the original than a true sequel. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as the first title truly surprised me with how enjoyable it was. The majority of new things that VP:TIP bring to the table are small and seem like they probably should have been in the original anyway.

Most notable of these additions, other than the just for fun mode, is the co-op and the new areas. Co-operative gardening allows somebody else to come in help you maintain your garden. Its quite fun, and extremely helpful, especially as things become more hectic.

The new areas are a desert and snow area where you can travel to and trap piñatas. Once these piñatas are trapped you can drag them back to your garden and as with all other piñatas attempt to coerce them into staying. To help you do this you also have a snow and sand packet to use on your garden now.

I would like to say some negative things about the game, but I’m struggling to find many, aside of course from the fact that it will sometimes make you want to put a controller through the screen. The menus at times feel a bit clunky, but are nothing that one can not get used to. There is really not much this title can be faulted on. I am not saying this game is perfect, but any faults are very few and far between.

Overall I would have to say this title, although not a major overhaul of the original is without a doubt one of the most enjoyable titles I have played yet this year. It is full of that Rare charm that we all know and love, and is sure to give you hours of enjoyment regardless of your age. Of course it will not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you give it a chance it is truly an enjoyable experience. Just don’t tell anyone I said that….

“9.5/10

©2008 Jim McIntyre:

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