I think we'll burn

Monday, March 26, 2007

When I first saw Viva Pinata I'll tell you that I wasn't impressed. A game that ties into a kid's show based around an antiquated birthday party activity didn't do it for me. I don't think I've ever hit a pinata in my life. I don't much care for Mexican food and while I'll admit there's nothing wrong with the game graphically, Rare's previous two outings on the Xbox 360 were mediocre and just terrible (obvious disclaimer: I fiercely disagree with Gamespot on both counts).

But Microsoft did the sensible thing and released a demo of the game four months after the title shipped. As my mentor Squidward once bemoaned, "All the wasted years!" It turns out that Viva Pinata is very nearly my dream game.

Dream feature #1: you can plant trees. Take your shovel and dig a tiny hole in the ground. Then drop in a seed. Water it once or twice and it'll eventually grow into a big ole' tree and start dropping apples (or hazelnuts or fir cones).

Dream feature #2: you can scrap your entire garden, start over, and be far better off in every way because of it. I love replaying my games, but it really sucks that you lose everything and have to go through the "boring" parts of the game as a weakling again. Or, in those games where those rules don't necessarily apply, you've somehow broken a bond between you and the game characters, and they don't trust you anymore.

Not so in Viva Pinata. I built up a lovely garden with lots of Whirlms, Sparrowmints, Squazzils and Pretztails. There were plenty of houses and trees and a little pond. I made plenty of money by selling off a few excess animals here and there and tending to my trees and plants. But after a while I grew bored and wanted to completely redecorate the place. This is a tricky thing to do when the pinatas are running about (not to mention the trees... standing entirely motionless). So I switched to Sell Mode and turned everything I could get my cursor around into chocolate coins. Immediately I was fabulously wealthy (so much so that I unlocked an achievement on Live) and could leisurely replant and resculpt while a new set of animal friends nervously made their way back into my garden, anxious that their predecessors' fate would be their own.

There are other wonderful features, but they're not quite as important as the two above. You get questionable animal husbandry: all you need to make a new baby is two of the same kind of pinata. Thank goodness Rare decided not to model postpartum depression in this game or I would have one screwed-up garden. Yes, Mrs. Bunnycomb, your child is going to be sold into a life of slavery until he gets whacked in the stomach by an eight year-old. Just like all seventeen of your previous kids.

My ardor for Ninja Nonsense is cooling slightly. No prizes for guessing that they couldn't maintain the level of comic intensity witnessed in the first episode throughout the entire series. I'm sticking with it because I find Shinobu irresistibly adorable and Kaede to be a great balance between the "straight man" and a vengeful, angry high school girl. It still has its moments.

Taking a bath