Review: Viva Pinata - Trouble in Paradise

Mike Bantick
Sunday, 19 October 2008 09:18

Opinion and Analysis

Offline, a second player can join in to help garden, or nurse sick Pinata's.  Though the second banana role definitely feels just that, it is an ideal way for a parent to guide a younger player through their game.

Players can trap Pinatas in the two new adjoining gaming areas, the desert and Pinartic returning them to their own garden for safe-keeping.

There are two modes to game-play, the standard, and somewhat challenging Standard Mode.  And thankfully a more relaxed Just-For-Fun-Mode where the pace is lowered, and there are no Sour Pinatas (angry little blighters)  to deal with.

The amount of customisation and collectibles is breathtaking, and in many ways is the main attraction of the game to youngsters.  My seven year old daughter spent an exorbitant amount of time simply dressing up the creatures in her garden.

If your Xbox 360 is armed with a LIVE Vision Camera, custom Pinata cards can be created, collected and traded with real-life friends, and then flashed in front of the Vision Camera for transference into the game.

Episodes of the Viva Pinata animated show can also be downloaded from Xbox LIVE Marketplace (regardless of whether you own the game or not) to round out the experience.

All in all, Trouble In Paradise is not a big leap forward from the original, instead it tightens up and expands the successful formula, and does it in a way that should bring a more family orientated interaction that has been lacking in the 360's stable of games.

7.5 candiosity levels out of 10