Pocket Pinata. (Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise)

Member Name: butters

Product:	Viva Pinata Pocket Paradise
Date:	24/02/09 (225 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Relaxing fun, value for money, brilliant controls.

Disadvantages: See review.

For those that don't know, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise is developed by Rare, who is actually owned by Microsoft. Since they're not in the handheld business though, and the touch screen goes perfectly with this game, the game was made for the Nintendo DS. 2 Viva Piñata games so far have appeared on the Xbox 360, and though this game isn't as good looking graphically, the DS version is actually still a full game, complete with loads of Piñata.

Before the review has even properly started, I know it will be pretty hard to describe what exactly you do in this game, because it's so original. It's technically a simulation game though you can't call raising a garden of Piñata simulating really. Because, as a basic description, that is exactly what you do-raise a garden of Piñata.
You have a small patch of land, initially dirt. You can plant seeds to grow crops, and put down grass in order to raise Piñata. In order for more Piñata to become available you must gain experience by attracting and breeding Piñata, and growing plants and trees. It all sounds so dull when wrote out like that, but in reality it is an incredibly fun game, with some nice humour and it is obviously made with the same intentions as Animal Crossing and Harvest Moon. Not specifically for the casuals, but a relaxing game none-the-less. Piñata in the game represent real animals, ranging from the Worm to the Bear, all of them brilliantly created with a lot of heart.

The aim of the game has been described above, and that is pretty much what the gameplay is too. You don't control the Piñata themselves; you have very little interaction with them. The aim is to make them appear, where they walk around the outskirts of your garden, teasing you because they won't enter. Then you must fulfil the requirements to make the Piñata visit your garden, where a colourless version of them will walk through the garden for a while until you meet the requirements for them to become a resident, where they will burst into colour and will never leave your garden.
It's remarkably well done and watching a Piñata go around the outskirts of your garden, just teasing you ant not entering can be extremely frustrating, though more in a humorous way than an annoying way. Obviously as you level up the Piñata requirements become a lot harder, or more time consuming at least, and the difficulty curve slopes extremely well. Although the start is maybe a little slow (especially when playing it through for the second time), it quickly becomes a relaxing game with progresses at a decent place, obviously depending on your ability. As you level up the Piñata will not only become a little harder to get but also more interesting, this definitely helps keep you playing the game. With 60 Piñata to get, the game will last you a good few hours if you are new to the series (12-15 hours at least) and though this time decrease on further playthroughs it will still last you a fair amount of time and there is enough replay value in there for you to play more than once.

What are the requirements for Piñata though and how do you fulfil them? Well, the requirements do change a fair amount, but generally they involve having a certain amount of plants or certain species in the garden. There are 4 different terrains you can have (dirt, short grass, long grass and water) certain Piñata need these as well which means you are constantly kept active with your gardening tools, planting seeds and buying objects to place in the garden to attract piñata. To buy of course, you must make money, which involves selling crops and Piñata. With 3 or 4 different Piñata walking around the outskirts of your little garden, you are certainly kept active having to alter your garden to accommodate for certain species, as you can not always meet every requirement at once. For example, a Horstachio (Horse) requires a large amount of grass, whereas a Chippopotamus (Hippo) requires a large amount of water. There's a day and night cycle in the game meaning certain Piñata will appear and disappear at certain times, and watching a Hippo walk out of your garden, not knowing when it will next return is frustrating when you realise you have to keep your garden to his requirements. It is this frustration that keeps you playing though, desperately wanting to acquire certain Piñata, in the type of addiction I used to get when playing the old Pokemon games and needing to capture a certain Pokemon.

Thanks to the stylus everything is controlled extremely easily. There are not too many menus in the game, as mostly you just have to choose some equipment from the HUD and use it with the stylus, but throughout, the controls are superb. If you want to plant a seed, you get out the shovel, use the stylus to take away some dirt, and then drag the seed, or whatever you are planting to the dirt, and pressing OK. It is easy to see who Rare wanted to put this series on the DS, because it is the type of game that touch screen controls are made for.

If you want a relaxing game, you can't get much better, though the game certainly has its faults. In order to gain experience points you must acquire and breed piñata, feed them foods for them to change colour, and grow trees and plants. Overall it is quite fun, though the breeding can sometimes get tiresome. When you gained one of a certain Piñata, you can pay someone to fetch others for you. So when you have a lot of money, it becomes quite pointless breeding, because Piñata can be acquired so easily. However, it is something you are forced to do when you are on the verge of levelling up (each level will bring you more Piñata) but there is nothing else to do except for breed. Breeding is the one time the game becomes frustrating in a bad way. If you learn to do it from the start, so it just becomes part of a daily activity to breed certain Piñata then it is not that bad. However, and this will be the case for most people new to the series, it's easy to just get lost in trying to acquire new Piñata, so you are left with large chunks of time where you can do nothing except breed, slowly watching the experience bar raise until the game becomes truly fun again. That is not to say the breeding is completely boring, it can be a laugh when you have other things to do. Piñata have requirements for breeding also. Also, breeding is one of the times the games humour shines through. Considering the premise of the game, it is mainly aimed at the young, though it does have some great innuendo to keep adults entertained. A lot of it may be childish humour, but it keeps you entertained anyway. When breeding for example, no graphic acts can be shown obviously, so there are provocative dances in mini-cut scenes which, whilst childish, have some funny innuendo.

There is slightly more to do of course and to keep the game from getting too relaxing Piñata can fight, and then there's "Sour Piñata" which you must keep out since they can make your piñata ill. The 2 dangers don't happen too often, just enough to keep you on your toes so you are left with an extremely pleasing game.

There is one problem that is worth mentioning, regarding Piñata. There's one Piñata that only appears in certain save files, which I find to be poor game design. Although you can trade between save files, it means some people must start again to get one Piñata, and it is down to luck whether he appears or not. Getting 99% complete and being one piñata down because of luck is quite irritating.

Overall though it is a brilliant game, and one any DS owner should look into. It costs £18 on Amazon and is easily worth the money because it is a brilliant game with only a few small annoyances. Although it is not like Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing, it has the same relaxing feeling, so if you're a fan of any of those two games then it's worth checking out.

85%

Summary: Great game on the DS.