Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that this complex ecosystem game is nothing like the animated cartoon series on Fox. This is an excellent simulation game that both adults and kids will enjoy exploring, and one that can be played together in Family Mode. Parents also need to know that the game creates some uncomfortable moments for young children. The shovel can be used to whack piñatas and other characters who inhabit this world. You can even cause a piñata to burst by whacking it repeatedly; but if you do, there are consequences. Also, like animals that aren't made of papier-mâché, some piñatas eat other characters, and if you want certain piñatas to stay in your garden, you may have to feed them those characters. Kids may also find it emotionally difficult to sell off piñatas they had raised, named, and nurtured. But it's necessary to make physical room for new, more evolved species; and selling them is a method of raising much-needed operating cash. While piñatas don't die in a recognizable way, they do burst open and are transported outside of the garden, leaving their inner candies on the ground for other piñatas to eat -- this is a little strange to watch. The game does have an online aspect to it for trading and exchanging piñatas over the Internet using Microsoft's Xbox Live service. Parents of young children should supervise or inactivate this online aspect of the game.
Parents can talk about how ecosystems work. They might want to encourage kids to try planting a variety of seeds to see what happens. Why do you think that some piñatas don't live together well? Is it because there is competition for food, even with other species? How is food supply important in an ecosystem? What do you think about the piñatas who leave sour candy around to make other piñatas sick? What did you do about them? How did you feel when you had to sell a piñata that you had raised? What did you gain by doing that? Was it worth it? Which piñatas were the most interesting to watch, and why?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Jinny Gudmundsen
In September 2006, the cartoon show Viva Piñata debuted on Fox's Saturday morning television lineup. Interestingly, the new cartoon series was based on piñata characters developed for a new Xbox 360 console game that hadn't yet released. Two months later, Microsoft released the console game, and while the characters look the same as those found in the cartoon, the video game barely resembles the show. The piñatas in the game don't talk, nor do they go on adventures. Here's a closer look at the video game.
VIVA PIÑATA is a rich, compelling ecosystem simulation game in which you become a gardener of an evolving plot of land. What you do with your garden will determine which of more than 60 vibrant piñatas visit or even take up residence in your garden.
Viva Piñata is a "sandbox"-type game, meaning that it's an open-ended game of exploration, with no specific way to win. You play to see what will happen when you do things within your garden. What you plant and where you plant it will greatly impact which piñatas eventually live in your garden.
While planting a garden to see who will visit may not sound particularly exciting, this game is fascinating to play. The engine behind the simulation is deep, complex, and subtle. For teens and adults, this provides a sophisticated gaming experience; you can experiment with the garden to attract the rare and unusual piñatas, amass gardening achievements, and meet other in-game challenges. But the game can also provide a fulfilling gaming experience for younger children who simply want to plant a garden and revel in the vibrant creatures that come and go.
You start with a barren piece of land strewn with junk, and your cursor becomes a shovel. By whacking the ground with your shovel, you are able to clear the ground, earn some currency, and plant some grass. As you create a garden, piñatas become interested in your plot of land. The first of these creatures to arrive is the Whirlms, black-and-white piñatas that closely resemble worms. If they like your garden and decide to stay, the Whirlms transform into a more colorful creatures.
The presence of Whirlms in your garden will attract the interest of other piñatas, particularly Sparrowmints, which like to eat Whirlms. Likewise, cultivating vegetables instead of flowers will attract vegetable-eating piñatas. And growing trees, creating ponds, and building specific kinds of shelters all bring about different results. The possibilities are nearly endless.
Once you have two or more of the same type of piñata living in your garden, you can try to mate them. This leads to a maze activity where you help one piñata find the other, and an animated dance sequence ensues. A character named Stokos delivers babies.
As your garden grows, and more and more piñatas live there, incompatibilities will arise. Some piñatas just can't live with others, and they will fight. In Viva Piñata, when a piñata "dies," it busts open to release its inner candies, and is then transported outside of the garden by a burst of light before it turns back into a black-and-white piñata to grow elsewhere. Sour piñatas also exist and cause trouble. Your best bet is to figure out what they want so you can convert them into regular piñatas who will live peacefully within your garden.
Overall, this is a fascinating game because it's constantly changing. The graphics are gorgeous, and the game play is easy to learn because the game provides a lot of guidance. It even offers a Family Mode whenever you plug in an additional controller, allowing for cooperative play within the garden. However, the pace at which new things happen is quiet fast, and at times makes you feel rushed. You will want to start numerous games so that you can try different things to attract different kinds of piñatas.
For families looking for other simulation games to explore, check out: Fish Tycoon, a game about breeding exotic tropical fish, Virtual Villagers, a simulation about building a society, Zoo Tycoon 2, a simulation about running a zoo, and Sid Meier's RailRoads, a simulation about running a railroad.
Reviewed: 01/24/2007
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Sexual ContentPinatas mate, but it's done as a maze game followed by an animated dance. |
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ViolencePinatas fight by shooting rocket-like things at each other. |
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Social BehaviorPlayers can do bad things to pinatas during the game, but there are consequences. |
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CommercialismTied into a cartoon series on Fox. |
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Educational ValueThis is an excellent way to teach children about ecosystems. |
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