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In Association with Amazon.com -
Wednesday, January 07th 2009
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Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
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List Price: $29.99
Our Price: $27.99
Your Save: $ 2.00 ( 7% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Microsoft
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This item qualifies for FREE Super Saver Shipping with Orders over $25!
 Check for Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise at the following retailers:
Average Customer Rating:  
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Amazon Maximum Age: 20
Amazon Minimum Age: 60
Batteries Included: 0
Binding: Video Game
Brand: Microsoft
EAN: 0882224718561
ESRB Age Rating: Everyone
Feature: Teach single or groups of pinatas dazzling tricks using the new 'Trick Stick Tool'.
Is Autographed: 0
Is Memorabilia: 0
Label: Microsoft
Manufacturer: Microsoft
Model: 882224718561
Platform: Xbox 360
Publisher: Microsoft
Release Date: 2008-09-02
Studio: Microsoft
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Features
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Teach single or groups of pinatas dazzling tricks using the new 'Trick Stick Tool'.
Fully customizable gardens and pinatas.
All new ways to play including the tutorial-based player guide system as well as co-op, standard and 'just for fun' modes.
Xbox LIVE Vision camera support via the 'Pinata Vision' feature allows players to scan in game content and share it with friends online.
Game features more than 100 pinata species both tame and wild.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Return to magical Piñata Island in Viva Piñata®: Trouble in Paradise. Unfortunately, not all is well on the island, as Professor Pester and his gang of Ruffians have wiped out Piñata Central's computer records, posing a threat to parties everywhere. Rebuild the computer database and thwart Professor Pester's evil plot by sending piñatas at full candiosity to parties all around the world. Build and maintain your piñata gardens?using your creativity and imagination to attract, trap, protect, train, and manage more than 100 different piñata species.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: 12 year daughter old took to it after giving it a chance
Comment: We bought an xbox for kids for Christmas. Bought this game for 12 yr old daughter. She wasn't sure she would like it initially, but after playing it awhile both kids were laughing and having a good time. It looks a kinda little-kiddish at first, but then new "pinatas" show up - and they are cool.
If you have a girl who likes games like zoo tycoon (PC), Cooking Mama (wii), etc then this may also be a good choice. My 10 yr old son enjoyed watching his sister play, but I am not sure if he would have given the game enough chance if he had to play it alone till more "pinatas" showed up.
Thank you, Viva Pinata, for a "girl" game. :)
Customer Rating:
Summary: A fun game but...
Comment: ...a word on the "multiplayer" aspect (with two controllers): Player One will lead and Player Two merely gets to follow Player One around and plant seeds. Not very fun if you are planning to buy this game for siblings! Our children ended up taking turns and did enjoy the game, however.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Hate to be a naysayer, but...
Comment: I played the original Viva Pinata all the way through, which is a rarity for me to do with any game. I was strangely addicted to it and had about a dozen different gardens. I looked forward to the release of the 2nd version, Trouble in Paradise, assuming I would enjoy it at least as much as I did the previous version.
Perhaps I burned out on the game previously and didn't realize it, but I found myself becoming bored with this version early on. While there are new pinatas to catch, there just didn't seem to be enough, really, for the price. I liked the idea of having sand/desert style items as well as snow. However, I found the method of trapping the pinata in those locations a bit quirky. Why can't I have a garden there, instead of just visiting?
The thing I liked the most about the new version was the online play. However, I just don't know that many people who play this game to make it a worthwhile feature. As I said in the title of my review, I hate to be a naysayer, but I just don't think this game lived up to its expectations. Try renting it first to see if you really like it before actually purchasing it if you are unsure.
Oh, and the whole idea of collecting cards & scanning them in with your vision camera is bunk. I don't own a camera as I just don't see the need in seeing the people I am playing online. So unless I want to spend more money, that's just part of the game I will miss out on.
Customer Rating:
Summary: It is a nice pinata game.
Comment: (From PlayingWithMyWeiner.com:)
f you're my friend or my poor husband, you've heard me running around for months singing the following (to the tune of "La Cucheracha"):
Viva Piñata, Viva Piñata
It is a nice piñata game!
Viva Piñata, Viva Piñata
No two piñatas are the same!
Olè!
Before this week, though, it was a lie. All of my brightly colored papery pals were the same. Same colors, same Candyosity, same names. Never more.
Viva Piñata:Trouble in Paradise from Rare and Microsoft Game Studios builds on the original Viva Piñata formula of building a garden, attracting and breeding piñatas, and sending them off to children who enjoy their sweet sweet candy. Players who "dug" the original will like this one, because it has everything the first game has and more. New gardeners won't feel left behind: the game has an excellent and reasonably interesting tutorial system that will set you up with gardening basics. Besides, it's not that difficult a game.
That is not to say that VP:TIP is not without depth. As in the original, your job is to build and nurse a budding ecosystem literally from the ground up. Start with clearing enough grass or soil and you'll attract adorable little Whirlms in your garden. They'll soon attract Sparrowmints, who will eat the Whirlms and may themselves be eaten by a Buzzenge as a part of their Romance requirement. It's all a part of the great circle of life. Or something.
VP:TIP improves on the original in several ways. First, it simplifies the menu system, particularly the buying and selling aspects. Gardeners can now just highlight objects for sale and they are automatically marked, rather than having to trudge all the way to the village. On the retail side, objects are placed immediately in the garden right before the money (chocolate coins) changes hands. This saves you "travel time" and really helps in letting you see how you want to plan your garden.
Other improvements include the introduction of an actual storyline. Professor Pester, leader of the sour piñatas, has a plan to destroy this paper paradise forever. He's a man (a "straw" man?) with a plan, which both unfurls and unravels as you level up your garden. The Prof's intrusions can range from just sending Sour Shellybeans to eat up all your seeds to building stone walls that keep essential piñatas out of your garden until you can pay to knock the walls down.
I mentioned "no two piñatas are the same", and this time its true. Not only can you still name each and every piñata, and design a custom tag for it, but they also all have varying states of happiness. These states are known as the piñatas' "Candiosity", and are an indicator of how happy your paper pal is in your garden. The higher Candiosity level, the more your piñata is worth, and the more likely that she or he will stay in your garden and make lots of little piñatas.
The Prof's machinations, along with a more structured mission system (usually "raise a piñata with maximum candiosity and ship it somewhere around the world") really add to the adventure without taking away from the sandbox feel.
Rounding out the new features are opportunities to leave the garden, both in game and out of game. In game, you can use signposts to nip off to such exotic locations as the Dessert Desert and the Pinarctic region. You don't play in these gardens - you go there, capture new and exciting piñatas, and bring them to your home garden. Out of game, you can search other folks' gardens if they are on XBox Live, or use the Xbox Live vision camera to scan piñata cards (ala Sony's Eye of Judgement) and import new piñatas into your garden. Full garden multiplayer, both at home and via XBox Live, completes the set.
If this all sounds like a lot, it is because it is, which is one of the chief issues with the game. The problem is not that it is too deep, but rather that there is too much thrown at the player too fast with not nearly enough space to use it all. For example, in order to get a pair of piñatas to do their Romance Dance (mate) they need a home. Each species of piñata has its own type of home, and even the smallest of these, the modest Whirlm home, consumes a considerable amount of real estate. By the time you've built the Sweetle home you need to complete the final tutorial mission, you're out of room for more piñata homes unless you significantly tear up your little slice of heaven. Your garden size does increase, but the first bump isn't until level 12, by which time you'll really need the extra space.
The more things change, however, the more they stay the same. The developers obviously spent a lot of time lovingly crafting piñatas and items. Why, then, could they not manage to record all new bits for the speaking characters? As far as I know no one had a deep-seated attachment to the exact phrases spoken by shopkeeper Lottie Costalot as she swindled you out of your coins. In fact, most of her phrases (and the other villagers') were pretty annoying. There are some new spoken bits, but most of it is reruns.
All in all, though, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is a worthy sequel to Viva Piñata. The visuals have been upgraded, and the piñatas actually look like paper. The game controls better, and the new Romance Dance cutscenes are hysterical and adorable. If you haven't seen a VP Romance Dance, check one out on YouTube.
The bottom line is that if you don't like sandbox games or god games, you're not going to start liking them with Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise. If you do enjoy them, and particularly if you enjoyed the original Viva Piñata, you've got a lot of love coming in this title. Share it with your friends! Just beware of papercuts.
I'm giving Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise 4 Weiñatas out of 5.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great game.
Comment: I feel that if you're a fan of the original, you probably don't need this review. For those who are new to the Pinata games, it's a game where you tend to a garden in order to attract new pinatas to it. Gameplay focuses on growing plants and trees, keeping your pinatas safe and happy, and "catching them all". While it seems simplistic and childish, the game is surprisingly deep like the original. As your gardening skills get bigger, you receive various upgrades to your tools, the plants at your disposal, the size of your garden, and of course, the pinatas that are coming in to see what all the fuss is about.
One of the greatest things about this is how relaxing it can be to tend to your garden and watch the pinatas roam about. While there is a bit of comic violence in the game, it isn't enough to raise eyebrows and is perfectly suitable for most children 8+. Also, the game incorporates 2 player Co-Op so you can play with a friend or with your children. Hopefully this little review helps you get a decent understanding of the game and whether or not you would enjoy it.
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