Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise
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| Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise | |
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| Developer(s) | Rare Ltd. |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft Game Studios |
| Platform(s) | Xbox 360 |
| Release date | September 2008 |
| Genre(s) | Life simulation game |
| Mode(s) | Single player, Co-op |
| Media | DVD-DL |
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is the sequel to the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows critically-acclaimed life simulation game entitled Viva Piñata.[1] It was officially announced on May 13, 2008.[2]
The first official trailer is currently available on YouTube.
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[edit] Plot
According to the game plot, Piñata Island is once again under siege by Professor Pester and his gang of Ruffians.[3] While attempting to steal valuable information, the professor has instead managed to delete all of the data stored in the Piñata Central computer. As a result, all knowledge about piñata species and which piñatas are needed for which parties has been lost, leading to chaos. The player is tasked with restoring order by rebuilding the database, achieved (at least in part) by enticing piñatas to inhabit the garden, filling them with candy, and sending them off to parties around the world.
[edit] 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 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:[4]
- Player Guide - A mode intended for younger or newer players, where the fundamental aspects of the game are explained and the game pacing is relaxed.
- 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 the catch is that you can't get certain piñatas in this mode.
[edit] Piñatas
In addition to the roughly 60 unique piñatas from the previous title, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise adds 32 new animals to the mix, raising the total number (of which some are not fully distinct) to over 100.[5] New species include Camellos (camels), Custaceans (crabs), Hoghurts (warthogs), Pengums (penguins), and others. A number of the new species are specifically designed to inhabit the title's two new terrain types: ice and sand.
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.[6] This is intended to reduce the repetitive "instruct each piñata to eat every possible item" activity which was sometimes required in the earlier title.
[edit] 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 co-operative gameplay. This allows a second gardener (with their own cursor) to join the game at any time to assist the primary player with activities.[6] To encourage players to assist each other, the second player has immediate access to all tools, actions, and activities.
[edit] Xbox Live Vision support
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise makes relatively unique use of the Xbox Live Vision camera through a feature entitled Piñata Vision.[3] In a manner similar to what is done in titles such as 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 are not sold, but rather are generated from the game's website, and can either be printed out as cards or displayed on a handheld device which is held up to the Xbox Live Vision camera.[7]
[edit] References
- ^ Viva Piñata and Scene It? sequels are real!. Xbox 360 Fanboy (2008-05-12). Retrieved on 2008-05-12.
- ^ Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise confirmed, hits retail this September. Xbox 360 Fanboy (2008-05-13). Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
- ^ a b Alexander, Leigh (2008-05-13). Viva Piñata: Trouble In Paradise Will Use Xbox Live Vision Camera. Kotaku.
- ^ Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise - Game Detail Page. Microsoft. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.
- ^ Orry, James (2008-05-13). Viva Piñata sequel confiremd for September. Videogamer.com.
- ^ a b Eddy, Andy (2008-05-15). Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Hands-On Preview (Xbox 360). TeamXbox.
- ^ Grant, Christopher (2008-05-14). Peep this: Viva Pinata card. Joystiq.
[edit] 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
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