Sadly under appreciated, Viva Pinata is as addictive as it is colorful for those who love "Sandbox" games.
Regardless of what you may already think you know about VP, if you haven't played it yet...then the notions of it being a "kids" game are a bit off.
First of all, if you like games like Animal Crossing, SIMS or Harvest Moon, you may already have it in you to enjoy this type of gameplay. Not to say that all those games mentioned are all alike, they each have a common theme: growing, and or maintaining your characters' well-being.
You start off with a shabby little dirt pile of a garden and work the ground to be able to manage something of beauty. You're given the bare essential tools you'll need to get your garden growing: shovel, seeds for grass and eventually a watering can.
While all this may seem like the beginings of unwanted work in what's supposed to be an entertaining game, it actually lends itself to be pretty addictive if you ask me. There's something about taking something broken down and making it into something that shines that's very rewarding.
Now you could probably go out and do some real gardening and quite possibly have even a greater sense of satisfaction...but who has the time for that? ;)
Besides improving the garden's vegetation and aesthetics, you of course...attract, mate and sell Pinatas. These are the natural inhabitants of Pinata Island (where the game takes place). These creatures are naturally roaming around different areas near your garden, and depending on what type of vegetation, amount of water, certain species of other Pinata living in your garden and certain flowers, you can have a variety of different animals living and breeding in your garden before you know it!
It's not a very difficult game to get into. In fact, it will move a long very quickly withing the first few hours of gameplay. But in order to really find those rare species of Pinatas, you're best best would be to pick up the Strategy Guide or look it up online. I don't normally condone (even though I own quite a few) using Guides until after the game itself is completed for the first time around. I like the ability to discover what the game has to offer on it's own. But for this game...if you really want your garden to flourish with as many types of plants and pinatas...you'll need some help.
The game/garden itself isn't limited to just growing plants and harvesting/mating pinatas. You'll also discover a town that has a number of little people that can help you on your way to Pinata fame and fortune.
The town there is pretty typical. It hosts a shop to buy or sell goods to decorate your garden. The shop keeper also has seeds to plan vegetables, fruits, flowers and trees to plant in your garden. You can also get seeds from a character named Seedos who lives in the village. There is also a shop to buy accessories for your Pinatas, a builder who can make homes and other structures for your Pinatas, a sort of tavern type place where you can hire help to water, protect and harvest your garden so that you can find more time to do other things with your Pinatas and not have to maintain all the work yourself. (which can get to be quite a handful after a while)
As in real life, certain species of Pinata don't live well with each other and will either fight for "territory" or will fall within the food chain of the game and be eaten. It's a natural occurrence and you'll get used to it. Although it's a bit difficult to try to keep them apart...and you'll more than likely spend the first few hours of the game trying to keep peace. At least...I did ;) Anyway, this game is full of adorable and brightly colorful characters and charming setting. But due to it's childish appearance, it will be one of those games that will be overlooked by most adult gamers. Word of mouth is really what has made this game slightly popular over time.
It's had a slight increase...but never really was as popular as it should probably have been. Even though it will never make the transition, due to it's more younger audience, this title would have probably done really well on the Nintendo Wii as apposed to the XBOX 360.
But if you're looking for something other than sports games, shooters or bad movie-tie in games...give VP a try. Rent it and see if you like it. I recommend it for anyone who has enjoyed the quirks of games like Animal Crossing and the SIMS series.