Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3824 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Microsoft
• Released on: 2006-12-01
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Platform: Xbox 360

Edge
Viva Piñata is rich with charm, ingenuity, artistry and genuine delight.

Manufacturer's Description:

Viva Piñata, the latest innovative gaming experience from leading U.K.-based developer Rare Ltd., invites gamers to create an immersive world where living piñatas inhabit an ever-changing environment. Beginning with a few basic tools, players build and take control of this environment, using their creativity and imagination to attract, protect and manage over 60 different piñata species that can visit their world and make it their home. Utilizing hundreds of customizable elements, players can create a unique piñata paradise.

Pushing the capabilities of the hardware, Viva Piñata brings a vibrant and engaging gaming experience to the Xbox 360 platform. Appealing to kids, adults, casual gamers and enthusiasts alike, this uniquely customizable and social game rewards and challenges all players regardless of their skill level. The Viva Piñata gameplay experience presents a customizable, social and spontaneous world in which gamers play an absolutely crucial role. The Viva Piñata world is an evolving paradise teeming with fantastic living piñata creatures and vibrant plant life, all determined by the player’s choices and actions.

Viva Piñata allows players’ imaginations to run wild by providing them with expansive freedom and choice. Your choice of contents will determine which of the piñata species are attracted to your world, since they all have individual requirements. Sowing grass, digging ponds, planting flowers and growing trees all affect which of the unique piñatas you will see. It’s not just about plants, either; there is a whole range of ornaments and structures that could be decisive. Your reward for creating an appealing paradise is to watch the piñatas visit and eventually reside there, which is where the fun really starts.

Once you have resident piñatas, you can begin to personalize your loyal community. Piñatas can be individually named and given their own personally designed tag to put on display as a declaration of their home turf. And the customization doesn’t end there. You can make the colourful critters more distinctive by customizing them with all kinds of costumes and accessories.

The Viva Piñata community is a rewarding place to be, whether you remain within the boundaries of your own world or venture out into the real world or your friend’s piñata world via Xbox Live, the first and only global, unified online console games service. Getting to know and understand the personalities and requirements of your piñatas is essential if you want them to stay happy and thrive. Make your world their ideal paradise, and they’ll want to raise a family and expand your community. Players decide how much help they want from the local guides, shopkeepers and work force. Go it alone or get them involved - you choose. Via the Xbox Live online community, players can contact other gamers to lend a hand, lay down a competitive challenge or trade items.

Viva Piñata is a constantly changing world where anything can and does happen.  It’s not just new piñata species that are drawn to your world; untamed sour piñatas with bad attitudes and troublemaking ruffians do their worst to spoil your creation and must be dealt with. Maintaining harmony within a growing community isn’t always easy when rivalries, illness, injuries and even candy-spilling fights occur. If players turn their backs, who knows what their piñatas will do?

About Rare Ltd.
Rare Ltd., one of the world’s leading video game developers, was founded in 1985 by Chris and Tim Stamper. Based in the United Kingdom, Rare is the mastermind behind some of the most popular video games available, including multimillion-dollar sellers GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong 64. In November 2005, Rare released Perfect Dark: Zero and Kameo: Elements of Power for Xbox 360, the second-generation video game console from Microsoft.

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly Good!
The Xbox360 gamer experience seems to be dominated by first-person shooting/action games at present - in the search of something different and having heard good things - I turned to Viva Pinada.

Yes, its bright and colourful, and yes it's probably aimed at younger gamers - but I don't care! This is a great game, utterly addictive and very different from anything else on the 360 at present.

If you're looking for a bit of fun, bright yet brilliant graphics, hours of gameplay and something different from first-person shooters - then this game is a must!

Stonker
I was so embarrased that I wanted this game I got my mum to buy it for me!!! The when my mates found out, I was ripped to shreds. But do I care no, this game is stunning, the comlicated made easy, the easy made complicated. This will keep me going for a while.

Dont care what those war-game fanatics say, just buy it, you'll enjoy

Viva Pinata: childrens time-filler or multi-age blockbuster?
From the moment i first layed my eyes on viva pinata's case on one of my annual trips to Game, i immediatly thought: "When will Rare stop trying to make a quick buck with these pathetic games?" I've learned a valuable lesson since then: Never judge a book (or game) by it's cover.

But lets be fair, what man over the age of 11 wouldn't look at that game a think "Not a chance." All or most i think, but, somewhere in the back of head, a little voice was shouting "Go on, buy it, you know you want to!" And strangly enough, i did have the urge to buy it. Maybe it was curiosity, or maybe im just a little kid in a big body. So, after adbice from many people who said it was the bogs dollocks, i went out and bought a copy. And dy'u wanna know a secret... im glad i did!

I apologise that i havent actually mentioned much about the in-game content yet, but i thought that the story of how i bought it needed mentioning. Anyways, the game places you on the picturesc Pinata island, where over 60 different spieces of pinata loath around looking for a garden to settle down in. Your job, is to create that garden. The catch is, each pinata has its own uniqe preferences and personalitys. I mean, you cant encourage a pinata to come into your garden without discouraging another. Take the whirlm, the first pinata you get, it has relativly basic needs. As long as youve got a bit of grass they will show up. They dont have a big appetite and like to keep themselfs to themselfs. The Zumbug on the other hand, is hardy and extremely aggressive, getting into a fight with anything that moves before getting into a fight with anything that doesn't move. But the whole point of this review is to tell you that this game isn't just for children. In fact some might say (including me) that this game is to complex for children, what with keeping your pinatas happy and trying to beat back the constant attacks from the sour pinatas.

in fact, that would be a rather good subject to touch on... the baddies. After all, pinata island isnt just all sunshine and daisys. Sour pinatas are basically pinatas turned bad. They'll trot round your garden dropping sweets that make your pinatas ill until you decide to batter the with you handy little shovel, or until your night watcher scare them away. As you level up in the game, more and more sours will start to shouw up and try to ruin your day, all of which can be beten with the shovel. Ruffians however, are relentless masters of destruction and cannot be warded of with your shovel, the have to beaten another way. But the biggest son-of-a-glitch in the game is proffeser pester, the leader of the ruffians. He'll float into your garden, wave his magic stick and kill you most valuable pinata in a blink's time. God would i like to stick it ti him.

And one more thing... currency. You have to make money in this game to maintain your garden, chocolate coins can be collected and traded for seeds, pinatas, flowers, garden items, pinata assesories, garden tools and more. Basically, the more money you have, the more money you'll make. Simple as that.

If you want to know more about this game, contact me, my xbox live gamercard is blockedcurve.

Graphics: 9/10
Controls: 9/10 (can be changed from simple to advanced control schemes)
Gameplay: 10/10 (fun to play and EXTREMELY addictive)
AI: 8/10 (some clever pinatas, some dumb pinatas)
gore: 0/10 (nuttin, nout, no blood and guts in this one ladies and gents!)
Length: 8/10 (when you get to level 32, the story sorta stops but you can continue to level up if you wish)
overall: 9/10 This truely is Rare returning to their humourous, fun loving form, and they've got a solid game to show for it.