User Review : Viva Pinata

Most Overrated, Underrated Game Ever.

Forgive me if I missed the whole point of Rare’s 2006 title: Viva Piñata, but this game is officially given the toughNAME title of Most Overrated, Underrated Game Ever.

Players are given a small garden with the goal being to attract piñatas. Piñatas are wild animal like creatures who look like actual piñata’s. They range from rodent piñata’s, to swimming piñata’s, to flying piñata’s, just about any storybook animal you can think of. You attract these animals to your garden by fulfilling certain requirements, such as providing food which they eat, or by building a home for them to come live in. As your garden grows you get access to more piñata’s and learn how to do things such as mate piñata’s and how to ward off evil piñata’s.

Originally, I thought nothing of this game as it seemed quite childish and certainly not a game appropriate for my age. But the game was released to raved ratings and calls of being a very underrated game. Curious, I decided to pick it up.

The game has a very easy learning curve, easy controls, and a solid save system.

Graphically, this game is quite impressive. It obviously goes for the childlike look with bright coloured animations and cute looking piñata’s. There isn’t much to say in regards to positives, as the graphics clearly show the developers achieved what they were aiming for. Negatives are also hard to tackle because the actual playing area is so small. In terms of actual faults there were almost none. Framerates issues, textures problems, you’ll find none of those in Viva Piñata. Plants, animals, and the environment all look stunning, but with the low amount of objects that are seen, this issue should definitely be looked at objectively (with hopes of not confusing you anymore, I’ll leave that part to the actual gameplay section). Overall the visuals in this game were beautiful, and any negatives would only be personal taste.

Audio, like visuals, was done very well. All piñata’s had unique sounds, and environmental sounds such as an apple falling from a tree and hitting the ground were a definite positive for this game.

The act of playing the game is where my queries starting popping up.

Players are thrown into the garden party action right off the bat with little to nil tutorial given. Earlier on I enjoyed the game as I built up my garden and garnered more and more piñata’s. But the unfortunate thing here is what you experience in the first 20 minutes of play is no different than the rest of the game.

Sure more piñata’s come, and small options are given in which you can alter your garden, but nothing really changes. How about a change of scenery? Or the ability to have a larger garden? With no actual goals this game presents no actual challenge to most gamers. I won’t go into much detail, but a game requires certain aspects which make it an actual game. As you progress you come to realize Viva Piñata is nothing but an open ended, never ending, waste of time.

If you can bring yourself to get into the game, then the longevity of Viva Piñata can be rewarding. I say through gritted teeth that this game can get addictive.

But like all reviews, a full 10% will be knocked off the final score because it is singleplayer only. That’s not entirely true as you have the option of sending friends certain items, but this is equal to a game with only leaderboards as it online functionality. I haven’t the slightest idea what multiplayer could be, but the fact that you will get as many hours out of this as any other singleplayer only game is the real reason why 1 point was taken off the final score.

I had a decent time getting 400/1000 achievements. You earn a lot early on, and some will make you play longer just trying to earn them. I feel positively about the achievements, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this game is no where near the must buy list, and not even close to the rental list. If you remember any of this review, remember this one thing: Viva Piñata is not worth you money, and definitely not worth your time.

Score

4.0

Graphics

8.0

Sound

8.0

Gameplay

4.0

Fun Factor

3.0

Online

Overall

4.0

[lodossrage]

Better than these so called "professional" reviewers

[toughNAME]

And I get what your saying...most reviewers gave this game a disgustingly high score

I've given back to back 4/10 reviews and 3 straight reviews that fail a game (in my book). I'm feeling a little depressed about it and it makes it seem like I play only the worst games:S

I'll be reviewing the Lost game probably next week and I have high hopes for that. Also, I'm almost finished writing the review for my favourite xbox 360 game.

So here's hoping my review average goes up:) and thanks for reading/commenting

[lodossrage]

It's just that movie games, tv show games, and cartoon games are normally traditionally bad. With very few exceptions

[sonarus]

i actually agree with this review more than the others. Perfect dark wasnt the best 360 game but i thought it was more decent than a 4.0. This one however i have to say 4.0 is pretty spot on

[heyheyhey]

man could we get some positive reviews from you mate

your a good reviwer but so far you've mostly been ripping game's to shreds

looking forward to the review of that game you like

[chester]

this is one i disagree with you on. i absolutely loved this game after i picked it up for $20 bucks or something. for some reason i completely got into it, found it completely addictive, and became almost attached to some specific pinatas. i had a ton of fun with this one.

[toughNAME]

The game got such high reviews there had to be someone out there who agreed with them

I know what you mean about being addictive, I just thought it could have been so much more had you been able to have a bigger garden, or have more pinata's in your garden than the game allows

[chester]

i do agree that having a bigger garden and a larger limit of pinatas would have made the game better. i found myself wanting to make a massive garden with many different areas taylored to different species, but it doesn't really work on that grand of a scale unfortunately. but the fun i had with the area they gave us was enough to love the game. i was hoping they'd make a bigger and better sequel because i'm sure they learned alot from the feedback on the first, but unfortunately, we got a crap party game and no dlc. so it's a game resigned to be an occassional relaxer that i play sparingly instead of a mainstay. missed opportunties abound, but i still loved the game for what it was.

[FirstknighT]

I'm a hardcore action gamer and for some damn reason, I could not stop playing this game. This game is so much fun and addicting. The size of the garden never came into my mind and their were enough pinata's in the garden. A big garden and more pianata's would make the game to overwhelming. You mention that their are no goals or challenges in this game. That is wrong. Lots of goals and challenges. How about trying to get the rare pinatas in your garden? Trying to get the unicorn pinata is almost impossible.

The only thing this game was missing was online play. I would love to enter other people's gardens and check out their setup. 4.0 is way to low for a game that averaged an 8.5. Your review seems pretty positive for the most part except that you think a bigger garden and more pinata's would make a better playing experience. Fair enough, but from reading your review...it looks like you were going to give it atleast a 7.

[toughNAME]

Reviewers all seem to rate this game in the 8-9 range, yet judging from the comments above and below, the gamers, are split.

The very first line of this reviews says that I may have missed the point of this game. I understand some people have different opinions but from the 15-20 hours I invested in Viva Pinata this is what I got out of it (4).

And I get where you could get 7/10 from. But paragraph 8 and 9 are where the criticizing is and perhaps I didn't focus on the negatives as much as I should have.

And I see myself as a... realistic reviewer.

[DarkSniper]

And yet Microslaves call Little Big Planet a kids game. How peculiar.

$niper

[mintaro]

i see your points but this game is a true gem, i bought this game for a bargain price, not knowing what i was getting in to, and it totally hooked me form the start. its really addictive and is, in my opinion the most forgotten game of the 360

[WIIIS1]

Reading your review, I'm surprised you gave it a 4.0. The pros you have highlighted appear to be a lot more than the cons. I think you might have let your personal dislike for the genre get in the way of a fair review. Just curious, did you like Animal Crossing?

[toughNAME]

And what genre would Viva Pinata be in?

I played this game pre-Gears of War, I was pretty bored with my games and when I heard about this one I had pretty high hopes

But I'll say it again, maybe I missed the point of the game...but my review is saying I basically couldn't find the 'point'.

I suppose I could have bumped it to a 6, which in my eyes is still a fail. But this is just my opinion of the game and from the comments clearly many people think otherwise and I encourage others to write their own UR for V.P. I'd love to read a review completely contradicting mine:P

[LJWooly]

Of course people aren't always going to agree with the score you give, but in terms of your writing you're a pretty good reviewer, keep it up.

I like your style, but sometimes you're a little bit depressing (no offense meant). I want to hear a review of a game you like, that should be good :)

[Alymon]

I have played about 50 hours of Viva Pinata total.... so I have quite a bit of experience with it.

You do get a larger garden over time. I forget the intervals, but every so many garden levels, you are given an increase in land.

The game is very repetitive and you are mostly right that it is the same thing at a few hours as it is at a few hundred hours.

It's going to be hit or miss. There's a demo (or was, I think it's still available though) on the marketplace and it really is the best indicator of whether you should buy the game.

Personally, though the game had some flaws (the auto-save was a bit of a nuisance) and could've used a bit more options...... it's a pretty solid title and I think the professional reviewers are on par with this one.

If it's not your cup of tea, naturally you'll score it much lower. But if you are looking for a good casual title to kick back with, it's a good investment.