Viva Pinata

Best Buy had Viva Pinata on sale for $29.99 this weekend and I decided to pick it. Partly because I wanted to get the game for the girlfriend and partly because I was real curious to try it out myself.

I've spent a good amount of time with it (more than my GF) and I think the game is actually pretty damn good. It starts you off slow enough, introducing new elements as you gain experience and there are plenty of tutorials to teach you almost everything you need to know without the need to read the manual.

Don't let the game's kiddie exterior fool you though, this game is quite challenging and very deep. At times, there are so many things going on it can feel overwhelming. Fights between pinatas, your garden being attacked by sours (the "evil" inhabitants of Pinata Island who want to wreck your garden), sick pinatas, trying to meet requirements to have certain pinatas stay as residents, or having them fall in love so you can mate them, building them homes, watering your plants, it is a lot to juggle.

With practice though the chaos can subside as you get familiar with which pinatas tend to not get along, you hire help to do some of the more mundane tasks like watering plants, collecting produce (from your garden), and warding off sours, and your garden begins to take the shape of a pinata paradise.

I still haven't scratched the surface of the game, as I still have a lot more gaming to do, but I look forward to tending to my garden in hopes of attracting some of the really rare pinata species (man, never thought I'd be saying that).

Technically the game looks very nice, with lush colors and generally great animation. Each pinata type's personality comes through in how they move and react to their environments and the sounds they make are amusing and appropriate. The voice acting for the characters can be a bit annoying, but nothing you cannot overlook. Luckily, none of the pinatas actually speak like they do on the cartoon show, since that would have not gone over too well.

For anyone who might have been on the ropes about the game, especially because of its kiddie appearance, rest assured that the game is deep, challenging and highly addicting. I fact, so far it has been one of the more enjoyable games I have played this year.