(360; $39.99; Rated E; www.vivapinata.com)
“Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise” really should have a retroactive effect on the original “Viva Piñata’s” score: if “Trouble in Paradise” is a 4.5 out of 5, than the original “Viva” should be about a 2 out of 5 because “Trouble in Paradise” is what the original “Viva Piñata” should have been when it was released last year.
“Trouble in Paradise” is not so much of a sequel as it is an improvement on all of the things that the original “Viva Piñata” got right, but also includes everything that it lacked when originally released.
Players will still create a garden and manage resources to attract brightly-colored, candy-filled critters to their garden. All the while, protective gardeners will still have to keep warring critters away from each other (the Sweetles do not get along well with the Buzzlegums) and ensure that Preztails are restrained from eating too many Mousemellows. But this time, maintaining gardens in different environments- like snow and sand- mean attracting different species of Piñatas which you can now trade and share with friends over Xbox Live. Co-op, either local or over Xbox Live, allows friends to tend their gardens together, and is great for the parent who wants a wholesome and fun game to play alongside a young gamer. Plus the addition of a “Just for Fun” garden which allows players to experiment without repercussions, is a perfect mode for the gamer (young or old) who just wants to fiddle without all of the deep resource management of the full game.
Tapping that collector’s vein to “catch ‘em all” which “Pokemon” did so well, “Trouble in Paradise” adds a new dimension to being able to add elusive Piñatas to your garden. By using the Xbox 360 Vision Camera, players can print out Piñata cards which have a unique barcode on them that, when held up to the camera, scans the card and adds that Piñata into the garden. For now, Piñata cards can be created by other users by using an in-game camera and uploading them to a community website, or given away during special events.
For now, all of the card wizardry is free, but I wouldn’t be surprised if these collector’s cards start showing up in retail chains. That is, if the “Viva Piñata” franchise can really catch on. It’s great in concept, but this is now the third title of the “Viva Piñata” franchise, which attempts to draw interest from its Saturday-morning cartoon series, and I’ve yet to hear anyone except for game journalists like myself actually talk about the franchise.
Nevertheless, for households with an Xbox and in need of family-friendly titles to play alongside your kids- Piñata Island is still where it’s at.
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