Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is the Xbox 360

Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...

 sequel to the critically acclaimed life simulation game

Life simulation game

Life simulation games is a sub-genre of simulation video games in which the player lives or controls one or more virtual lifeforms...

 entitled Viva Piñata

Viva Piñata

Viva Piñata is a life simulation game developed by Rare, for the Xbox 360 video game console. The project was headed by Gregg Mayles and the team behind the Banjo-Kazooie series, based on an idea from Tim Stamper. Although rumors of the title circulated among fans for some time, Viva Piñata was...

. The title was officially announced on May 13, 2008 with a September 2, 2008 release date in North America and a September 5, 2008 date in Europe.

Plot

The second Viva Piñata game for the Xbox 360 invites gamers to return to the magical Piñata Island to continue his/her job as a gardener and to make yet another garden for the island. Unfortunately, not all is well on the island, as Professor Pester and his gang of Ruffians have wiped out Piñata Central’s computer records while attempting to steal the information contained within to overrule the entire island, thus stopping all parties' Pinata deliveries. As a result, all knowledge about piñata species and which piñatas are needed for which parties has been lost, leading to chaos and the slow stop of the island's way of manner. The player is tasked with assisting Piñata Central in rebuilding the database, achieved by enticing specific piñatas to inhabit the garden, filling them with candy, and sending them off to parties around the world and saving the entire partying world.

Gameplay

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise keeps the core mechanics of the original Viva Piñata in place, while supplementing them with several additions. As before, the game is primarily a sandbox title, with players maintaining a garden plot which they can decorate and customize as they see fit. The primary residents of these gardens are living piñata

Piñata

A piñata is a papier-mâché or other type of container that is decorated, filled with toys and or candy and then broken as part of a ceremony or celebration. Piñatas are most commonly associated with Mexico, but its origins are considered to be in China...

 animals who wander the area, eating, sleeping, and even mating with each other. By fulfilling conditions favorable to specific piñata species, players attract members of those species to the garden. In general, the larger and more exotic an animal, the more difficult it is to attract.

In order to give players more choices about how to play the game, the sequel now includes multiple modes:

• Standard Mode - The primary game mode, which includes challenges from sour piñatas, Ruffians, and other forces.
• Just For Fun Mode - A mode where players can hop in and immediately begin working on a garden without worrying about running out of money or having to unlock various items. However, certain more exotic piñatas are not available in this mode, nor are Xbox Live Achievements.
• Contests - Players can enter their piñatas in beauty contests and races, the latter of which requires piñatas to race along a course collecting sweets and avoiding loathers (Pester's evil red bombs).

In addition to the roughly 60 unique piñatas from the previous title, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise adds 28 new animals to the mix (26 tame, 9 sour), raising the total number (of which some are not fully distinct) to over 81.

Full listing of new piñata species

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Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC... odoculus Dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...  (3 types featured, resembling Diplodocus Diplodocus Diplodocus , or )is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur whose fossils were first discovered in 1877 by S. W. Williston. The generic name, coined by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1878, is a Neo-Latin term derived from Greek "double" and "beam", in reference to its double-beamed chevron bones... , Triceratops Triceratops Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. 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They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm.... kie Cookie In the United States and Canada, a cookie is a small, flat, baked treat, usually containing fat, flour, eggs and sugar. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common word for this is biscuit; in many regions both terms are used, while in others the two words have...  (Resembling a Horned Lizard Horned lizard Horned lizards are a genus of lizards which are the type genus of the family Phrynosomatidae. The horned lizard is popularly called a "horned toad", "horny toad", or "horned frog", but it is neither a toad nor a frog. The popular names come from the lizard's rounded body and blunt snout, which... ) Hog Warthog The Warthog or Common Warthog is a wild member of the pig family that lives in grassland, savanna, and woodland in Sub-Saharan Africa. In the past it was commonly treated as a subspecies of P... hurt Yoghurt Yoghurt, yogurt or yogourt is a dairy product produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. The bacteria used to make yoghurt are known as "yoghurt cultures"... Hooty Great Horned Owl The Great Horned Owl, , also known as the Tiger Owl, is a large owl native to the Americas. It is an adaptable bird with a vast range and is the most widely distributed true owl in the Americas.-Description:... Fruity Tutti frutti (food) Tutti frutti is a colourful confection containing various chopped and usually candied fruits, or an artificially created flavouring simulating the combined flavour of many different fruits... Jel Gel A gel is a solid, jelly-like material that can have properties ranging from soft and weak to hard and tough. Gels are defined as a substantially dilute cross-linked system, which exhibits no flow when in the steady-state... i Yeti The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology... Lemmon Lemon The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking... ing Lemming Lemmings are small rodents, usually found in or near the Arctic, in tundra biomes. They are subniveal animals, and together with voles and muskrats, they make up the subfamily Arvicolinae , which forms part of the largest mammal radiation by far, the superfamily Muroidea, which also includes rats,... Lime Lime (fruit) Lime is a term referring to a number of different citrus fruits, both species and hybrids, which are typically round, green to yellow in color, 3–6 cm in diameter, and containing sour and acidic pulp. Limes are a good source of vitamin C. Limes are often used to accent the flavors of foods and... oceros Rhinoceros Rhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia.... Moo Moose The moose or Eurasian elk is the largest extant species in the deer family. Moose are distinguished by the palmate antlers of the males; other members of the family have antlers with a dendritic configuration... joo Jujube (confectionery) Jujube , or jube, is the name of several types of candy, varying in description on a regional basis. The candies can vary in texture form being hard and resinous to something similar to firm loukoum or gummy candies.... Pe Indian Peafowl The Indian Peafowl or Blue Peafowl is a large and brightly coloured bird of the pheasant family native to South Asia, but introduced and semi-feral in many other parts of the world... ckanmix Pick 'n' mix Pick 'n' mix is a common method used to sell various small items. It is most often used to sell confectionery, whereby small sweets are displayed in tubs or bins... Pengum Gum -Natural gums:* Natural gum, any of a number of naturally occurring resinous materials in vegetative species* Gum anima* Gum arabic, used as food additive, adhesive et al.* Cassia gum* Dammar gum* Gellan gum* Guar gum* Kauri gum* Locust bean gum* Spruce gum... P Parma Violets Parma Violets are a British violet-flavoured tablet confectionery manufactured by the Derbyshire company Swizzels Matlow. The sweets are hard, biconcave disc-shaped sweets, similar to the Fizzers product from the same company but without their fizziness... armadillo Armadillo Armadillos are New World placental mammals, known for having a leathery armor shell. Dasypodidae is the only surviving family in the order Cingulata, part of the superorder Xenarthra along with the anteaters and sloths. The word armadillo is Spanish for "little armored one"... Pie Pie A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that covers or completely contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients.... ena Hyena Hyenas or Hyaenas are the animals of the family Hyaenidae of suborder feliforms of the Carnivora. It is the fourth smallest biological family in the Carnivora , and one of the smallest in the mammalia... Pololly Lollipop A lollipop, pop, lolly, sucker, or sticky-pop is a type of confectionery consisting mainly of hardened, flavored sucrose with corn syrup mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. They are available in many flavors and shapes.- Types :Lollipops are available in a number of colors and... bear Polar Bear The polar bear is a bear native largely within the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the world's largest land carnivore and also the largest bear, together with the omnivorous Kodiak Bear, which is approximately the same size... Ro American Robin The American Robin or North American Robin is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the flycatcher family... bean S'more S'more A s'more is a traditional nighttime campfire treat popular in the United States and Canada consisting of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker.-Etymology and origins:... pion Scorpion Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger... Sars Sarsaparilla is a perennial trailing vine with prickly stems that is native to Central America. Common names include Sarsaparilla , Honduran Sarsaparilla, and Jamaican Sarsaparilla... gorilla Gorilla Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies... S Skunk Skunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora... melba Peach Melba The Peach Melba is a classic dessert, invented in 1892 or 1893 by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London to honour the Australian soprano, Nellie Melba. It combines two favourite summer fruits: peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream.In 1892, Nellie Melba... Sweetle Beetle Coleoptera is an order of insects commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek , koleos, "sheath"; and , pteron, "wing", thus "sheathed wing". Coleoptera contains more species than any other order, constituting almost 25% of all known life-forms... Tart Tart A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes with custard.... ridge Partridge Partridges are birds in the pheasant family, Phasianidae. They are a non-migratory Old World group.These are medium-sized birds, intermediate between the larger pheasants and the smaller quails. Partridges are native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East... Tiger Tiger The tiger is the largest cat species, reaching a total body length of up to and weighing up to . Their most recognizable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes on reddish-orange fur with lighter underparts... misu Tiramisu Tiramisu, , , literally "pick me up", is an Italian cake and dessert.It is made of ladyfingers dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone, and flavored with liquor and cocoa... Vul Vulture Vulture is the name given to two groups of convergently evolved scavenging birds, the New World Vultures including the well-known Californian and Andean Condors, and the Old World Vultures including the birds which are seen scavenging on carcasses of dead animals on African plains... churro Churro A churro, sometimes referred to as a Spanish doughnut, is a fried-dough pastry-based snack that has disputed origins. Churros are also popular in Latin America, France, Portugal, Morocco, the United States, Australia, and Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands. There are two types of churros in Spain.... 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A number of the new species are specifically designed to inhabit the title's two new areas: the cool, icy Piñarctic and the warm, arid Dessert Desert. These areas are not part of the main garden, but rather can be visited for the purpose of capturing piñatas. This is done by baiting purchased traps with items which each species is attracted to, and then shipping any successfully captured piñata back to the player's garden.

Rare indicated that, with the sequel, they have "perfected the food chain", increasing the variety of items which piñatas will eat and the results which will occur when they do. This is intended to reduce the repetitive "instruct each piñata to eat every possible item" activity which was sometimes required in the earlier title. Depending on the piñata, consuming a given item may increase or decrease its "candiosity", or can even lead to the piñata performing a trick. When this occurs, players can quickly use the new "trick stick", which causes the piñata to learn the trick permanently so that it can be performed later on request. Other enhancements which improve the core game experience include the ability to cycle through garden residents using the bumpers, as well as quick access to seeds and fertilizer without requiring a separate trip through the menu and Costolot's store.

Garden

While the size of the in-game garden is not any larger than in the previous title, the numbers of items which can be placed in the garden simultaneously has been substantially increased. Players can move the cursor slightly farther outside the confines of the garden in order to view things occurring around the edges, particularly to view visiting animals who have not yet become residents.

Numerous new items and interactive objects are available as well, including toys for the piñatas to play with. Players eventually gain access to ice and sand terrain types, allowing them to provide "homes away from home" for any piñatas captured from remote environments. The water and weather effects have also been improved, whereas in the original game the rain would just hit the screen and fade away, now it is able to run down the screen, also when the snow surface is placed and your cursor is on it the rain will become snow. These same water and rain enhancements also appear in a more recent Rare title, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is an action-adventure/vehicle construction/platformer video game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was first announced at the X06 Media Briefing. Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is the third installment in the Banjo-Kazooie series and takes place...

.

Co-operative play

While the original Viva Piñata had a primitive system where two players could mutually control the single game cursor using different controllers, the sequel adds full drop-in/drop-out offline gameplay for two players and online co-operative gameplay for up to four players. This allows additional gardeners (with their own cursor) to join the game at any time to assist the primary player with gardening tasks. To encourage players to assist each other, the other players have immediate access to fully upgraded tools, as well as all actions and activities.

Xbox Live Vision support

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise makes unique use of the optional Xbox Live Vision camera accessory through a feature entitled Piñata Vision. In a manner similar to what is done in titles such as The Eye of Judgement, the camera is able to optically scan an image from a card and use the embedded matrix barcode to allow in-game content to be imported or activated.

The images themselves do not have to be purchased, and instead are primarily downloaded from the game's website. Players can also make use of an in-game virtual photo mode that allows piñatas in the garden to be photographed and their data uploaded. Other players can then download these piñatas in Piñata Vision form for use in their own garden. The computerized images can either be printed out as cards or directly displayed on a handheld device which is then held up to the Xbox Live Vision camera for processing. Rare is also considering making certain special cards available as part of a promotion with magazines or gaming websites.

Players can also use the in-game virtual camera to take pictures of their favourite piñatas and optionally, use Bart to "stuff" the pictured piñata onto a custom card. These can be then be sent to friends online to use with their own Xbox Live Vision camera in order to receive a copy of the piñata.

Development

When asked about the origins of the Viva Piñata sequel, lead designer Justin Cook responded, "The team wanted to make a sequel and Microsoft could see there was an opportunity to build on something unique to their platform". In a separate interview, Rare's Gregg Mayles described Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise as the "definitive version" of the first game. Explaining his feelings about the chance to add things left out of the original, he remarked "We thought, "It's going to be a real shame not to make another version," which is what we [would] consider to be the complete experience".

When discussing the improvements in the new title, Cook stressed that in addition to just adding "new stuff", a key goal included making the game more accessible to new players with the "Just For Fun" mode. Cook went on to explain his own take on the new features, "For me the biggest 'feature' is the improved player experience. This time you can do what you want much more easily (as long as the piñata will let you) and I'm afraid that means you're going to find it even harder to tear yourself away from the screen".

Reception

Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise received high marks from most media outlets, including several "Editor's Choice" awards from reviewers. In general, the improvements to the user interface and addition of co-operative play were highlighted, while the most commonly cited negative was limited innovation in the core gameplay.

GameSpot

GameSpot

GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

 scored the title 8.5/10, praising the greater variety of gameplay, but criticizing the voice acting. The review highlighted the party/celebration challenge system which encourages players to acquire different piñatas, providing goal-oriented motivation lacking in the previous title. IGN

IGN

IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

 also rated the game an 8.5/10 (the same score awarded to the original and to Pocket Paradise), indicating that is worth buying if one enjoyed the original and wanted to make use of the co-op features. However, the reviewer did note that the game hasn't radically changed from its predecessor, primarily providing more of the same. The GameSpy

GameSpy

GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...

 review commented favorably on the streamlined user interface and more user-friendly experience, while remarking that it was still a pain to have to wade through several levels of menus for some actions. Despite any such criticisms, the title still received a score of 4.5/5, along with an "Editor's Choice" award.

The harshest critique came from the Official Xbox Magazine

Official Xbox Magazine

Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released for E3 2001, with another preview issue for November 2001. The magazine is bundled with a disc that includes game demos, preview videos and...

, which described frustration at being unable to effectively control the garden's residents as well as frequent interference from destructive intruders. This, coupled with continuing issues running out of space within the garden, resulted in a score of 6.5/10. The review concludes, "Even if there were room to experiment, a few dozen animals aren’t sufficient to lure back veteran gardeners for long, and newcomers are bound to wonder why life on the island is so needlessly difficult".

Nonetheless, the 1UP.com

1UP.com

1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....

 review captured the general sentiment of the majority of reviewers by summarizing, "If you hated the original, Trouble in Paradise isn't going to change your opinion. If, however, you somehow missed out completely on the piñata party the first time around, I implore you to check it out now -- it's certainly much deeper and more addictive than its playful visuals would lead you to believe".

GameSpot

GameSpot

GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...

nominated it for Best Game No One Played.

External links

• Viva Piñata official website
• Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise on Rare's official site
• Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise at Xbox.com
• Viva Piñata Wiki - PinataIsland.info