Review: Viva Piñata (360)

Comparisons would be difficult because Viva Piñata has a number of elements from various titles including Animal Crossing, Harvest Moon and the many Sims games that suck up all your free time. You have your own virtual garden to play around in and the main goal is to attract as many different kinds of piñatas that you can, with each piñata having a few goals for you to achieve. But like many other sandbox games before it, the game is endless and once the tutorial is over and done with, you're left to your own devices.

What makes the game unique, though, are the piñatas themselves. Like having an ecosystem in your 360, the piñatas don't always get along and, on many occasions, fights will start - sometimes leading to piñatas having their insides eaten (their 'insides' being their inner sweets). From the point in the game where the first fights start, you know that you'll be unable to have every species living happily ever after. You have to make sacrifices, sometimes selling them for chocolate coins or just letting nature take its course and have the bigger animal eat him alive.

But all this can be stopped with your trusty shovel. Not only can you smash wreckage or soften the soil, but if you feel like it, you can give a piñata a swift smack around the head. It's surprisingly violent for what is essentially a kids' game, but that's not the only thing that makes it hard to understand why this is targeted at kids. Beneath the cute exterior, the micro management is surprisingly complex. You'll be forced to manage your money wisely, either by breeding and selling piñatas, or earning your money through your vegetables and fruit. It's something that we feel the target audience will find difficult to grasp, though kids will have the help from the Viva Piñata cartoon; as bright and colourful as the game itself, this CG cartoon is not only there to keep kids happy, but give players rather subtle hints at how to do certain things in the game.

At times it can feel a little overwhelming even to the point that you dread your next land expansion because you can barely cope as it is. Once you get the hang of things, though, you'll soon be planting seeds, creating buildings and managing the land effectively with ease. There's plenty to keep you occupied, but during the quiet periods you'll just find yourself marvelling at your creation. You are the god of this world and when things take a turn for the worse you'll feel angry that it's all going a bit pear-shaped.

Similarly to classic games in the genre, like Sim City and Animal Crossing, once you start playing you'll find it incredibly hard to stop. Before you know it, the "10 hours Playtime" achievement will pop up and you'll be shocked at how engulfed in the Viva Piñata world you've become. One slight disappointment is that you can't visit your online friends gardens; instead you're just able to send them piñatas. This is a shame considering one of the early selling points of the game was the online environment, but this is something Gamestyle can hardly over-criticise because the whole game is just a joy to play.

Once Viva Pinata grabs you then there is no way you can escape. A bright and vibrant world surrounds a game that is an essential purchase for everyone. Those that doubted Rare for not delivering another Goldeneye-like classic can eat their hats; this is one of their finest games ever and definitely a contender for game of the year.

Rating: 9 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver