Viva Piñata, like most of Rare’s games circa 2001, has had a strenuous history of switching systems. It started out as a Nintendo game in a Pocket PC, the Xbox, and now the Xbox 360 (you can read more about that in our Viva Piñata feature). Unlike Rare’s games from those years, Microsoft decided to announce this game well into its development and as such, promised a Fall release date. Rare thankfully kept their word, as Piñata is already in stores in the United States, with a European and Australian release not that far ahead (December 1st). Now, on to the impressions.
When you begin the game, you are treated to the Microsoft Games Studio logo as in Kameo: Elements of Power and Perfect Dark Zero. Immediately afterwards comes the Rare logo, and in their true charm doesn’t disappoint. A bat is about to beat a Horstachio until it finally does so, with a paper mache Rare logo coming out. After this scene is over, you’re treated to the Viva Piñata theme song that is used in the TV show. Soon after that, you see the title screen.
When you press start, Hudson Horstachio welcomes you to the world of piñata, yet if you’ve paid attention to the press video in March 2006 and/or the E3 video, he’s merely repeating himself for the little ones who are the first and foremost audience for this game who haven’t heard his PR speech.
Soon afterwards, you have the option to make your own garden and give it a name. The game begins like a dream. You see wonderful gardens, piñatas, and all around beauty... until you get to your own garden, full of junk and weeds. You encounter a crying Leafos, your guide in the garden. She proceeds to give you a shovel with which you can clean out the garden by cutting the weeds and destroying the junk in the garden (one of which happens to be a broken arcade cabinet of Grabbed by the Ghoulies II. How Rare loves to tease us so).
As you proceed to renovate your new garden, piñatas start to come in, the first you encounter commonly being a Whirlm. The more you take care of your garden, the more accessories, piñatas, and people come into your garden to give you advice. When a piñata comes in, you have the ability to see, through a personal profile-like menu, the requirements of how to make it a permanent resident in your garden. More on that later. In the first three hours, you encounter humans such as the Doctor who cures piñatas when they’re “sick” (i.e. They got smashed into itty-bitty pieces, or they have eaten bad candies); Seedos, who gives you seeds everytime you talk to him, thus attracting more piñatas; Billy, who can build anything for you in terms of love shacks and houses for your piñatas at the right price; and a merchant who loves your money.
The graphics are simply beautiful. There’s detail everywhere from the dirt in the ground to that little lake that’s just beyond your reach. Rare has done such a great job with each piñata’s design, using the geometrical effect (again, mentioned in the Viva Piñata feature) to make them look like a real life piñata. The creature models are simply stunning. It’s a pity the game suffers framerate problems for a couple of seconds now and then when autosaving happens; it doesn’t make a favour to the general graphics impressions.
At first I was worried about the controls, but after Leafos tutors you on how to play the game, my worries were put to rest. The left control stick controls the movement of your cursor, while the Left Trigger, Right Trigger, and Right Control Stick controls various camera movements. You can direct a piñata to another piñata for romance, make them go somewhere located in the garden, or talk to humans when you place the cursor above them and press the A button. The X button brings up your menu, which regularly updates with items you receive and use in the garden as well as who you meet, such as your water pot, your shovel, and the village, where your human visitors reign. The controls are very simple to use and very intuitive.
The music is calmly serene for Viva Piñata. The main theme in the garden mostly resembles classical music, while a little tune plays whenever a piñata is interested in your garden. As mentioned in the piñata feature, the music for each romancing piñata changes. For example, Whirlms obviously love hip-hop while they’re mating (don’t we all?).
Multiplayer over Xbox Live is simply trading piñatas, accessories, and seeds with your friends over Xbox Live. While you cannot visit other people’s gardens, you buy a crate and place your accessories, seeds, or even piñatas to transfer to another island through Xbox Live.
In the time I’ve played this game, over three hours, I’ve turned the desolate area I was given into a grassy field filled with an apple tree, a torch, various flowers, houses for my Sparrowmint and Whirlm piñatas, and home to about eight other varations of piñata species. And according to the game, I still have a way to go in terms of attracting more piñatas in my growing garden.
When all is said and done, Viva Piñata is a very solid game in every sense of the word. The desire to do more and get the dream piñatas are there if you take the dedicated time to do so. With 50 achievements and more than 60 piñatas to obtain, I can safely say that if you’re a Rare fan, you will enjoy the charm that this game resonates.
