Review: Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (360)

For piñata veterans they’ll feel right at home as they build up their new garden. Newcomers on the other hand will be left a little more confused. There are a few tutorials at the start, but they’re minor, only telling you the basics before throwing you in headfirst. Our main (and probably only) complaint with the first one was that for a game obviously aimed at children a lot wouldn’t be able to play on their own due to the sheer complexity of managing your garden. Adding a flurry of new options only makes this more apparent. The big main addition are the two new areas you can visit. The desert and ice regions are where you can capture different kinds of piñata and bring them to your central garden by capturing them using a variety of traps and bait. At first though you’re that overwhelmed with cut scenes and new piñatas being introduced you won’t visit these areas till you’re at a higher level. Most of the piñatas being introduced in this area are brand new though, and added together with the existing ones make the piñata total in the game to over a hundred. Plenty to do then.

The final new feature is the Xbox Live Vision camera support. With the game you receive one card (or maybe more if you buy a special deal) and after about half an hour with the game you unlock a rather nice ability. The cards have a special barcode on the side and once held up to the camera it scans the piñata on the card sending it into the garden. More cards can also be purchased from the Viva Piñata website. It’s a clever and unique way of using the camera, something we’d like to see more of.

We’re around three hundred words into this review and we’ve already explained the brunt of the new content. It’s really rather disappointing. Progression through the game is same as the original. Growing new plants, meeting new piñatas, making them resident and then romancing them, all of these raise your level. Raising your level in turn unlocks more stuff and increases the size of your garden which at the start is criminally small. Romancing and residency is done the same way as it was in the original with each piñata needing certain things, such as eating a specific seed or having a specific garden item. Harder said than done when some piñatas will be more than happy to either ignore you or get stuck on some garden ornament.

The first game was a different take on the sandbox playground seen in other genres, but with the sequel (or should that be “expansion”?) being more of the same we’re finding ourselves being more critical than we were with the high scoring original. For start the appearance of the Ruffians and their leader General Pester has become en even bigger annoyance. The Ruffians can be dealt with a swift hit with the shovel, but as they run out of the garden they always have time to sneak back in and destroy something you’re very fond of. Then there’s General Pester. The ‘villain’ of the game can only really be stopped from coming in the garden by building something special, and even then it takes a while before you actually obtain said item. Hitting him with the shovel only makes him laugh maniacally and unlike Ruffians who only target structures, Pester goes after piñatas. Oh, it’s hilarious when you take ages getting a particular piñata to romance with another only for Pester to come and smash it open. It has to be said though that the addition of online and offline co-op is a stroke of genius. Taking time to help a friend with his garden is a refreshing change to the usual kill everyone shooters that the Xbox 360 is mostly known for.

While the original hooked us for many weeks we found ourselves becoming bored of Trouble In Paradise rather quickly. If this is your first foray into the VP world then you’ll love it, but for those of us who were waiting for a true sequel, we’d best be more patient.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver