Party Time!
Have you ever been tired of slicing and dicing through your enemies? Sick of the unending brutality of competitive gameplay? Do you just want to lay back and play a game where you can relax? I have the game for you today.
Viva Piñata is a game with a unique twist to the “cozy gaming” space. Developed by RARE and Xbox Microsoft in 2006 it stood out mainly by adding piñatas as living to a gardening simulator genre. Not only did these piñatas behave as real animals they had a whole food chain and even reproductive dances. Is the game still worth it after a 19 year hiatus?
Piñata Party
The game takes place on Piñata island, a vibrant and cheerful place where piñatas run around and coexist. The game begins with your trek down to a garden that has clearly seen better times, filled with dirt and broken constructions. It is your duty to clean up the space and reclaim the long lost fame that this particular garden had. With the help of a vibrant cast of characters that each help or even sell you houses for you to house your favorite piñatas.
The gameplay revolves around a mixture of first person point of view and third person point of view. On the first person pov you can move around the garden and select, view information of any piñata that belongs to you or is just visiting. The third person point of view just comes into play when you utilize your diverse tools to tend to the garden. With these tools you go around and cut tall grass, make ponds and make holes for seeds to grow.
So what’s the deal with the piñatas? They are the centerpiece of the game. Piñatas are basically animals with names based on types of candies. From foxes, to snakes and even a dinosaur and dragon. All of these piñatas tend to usually live amongst the surroundings of your garden. It is your job to grab the piñata’s attention and eventually (by fulfilling diverse requirements) tame them into staying and inhabiting your garden. The side objective is getting them to be as delicious as possible to send them to parties all over the world.
Music to my ears, Candy for my eyes
So what does it sound like while you’re out here gathering piñatas and making your garden as pretty as it can be? The music matches the time of day perfectly. In the very early hours of the morning you can hear a melody that makes the gameplay feel smooth and relaxed. In the night you get a sweet melody that makes you work in peace and see the night piñatas run around. When there’s trouble afoot the music never loses the relaxing vibe that has been established so far. All in all, the music matches the type of game you’re playing perfectly: a relaxing vibe and joyful tones that makes the game great.
On the visual side of things, it has a unique art style very expected of Rare’s games. The game has a lot of fine details on the trees, flowers and plants you can grow. Even the fruit have some sort of design to them! The game is a very curated work of art that shows how much love the game was made with. What about the piñatas? On the side of the critters we love, they each have a unique design. Despite some of them branching from the same families, they all have unique designs. Each piñata comes with an amazing color palette that can be altered with food. You can see that the paper they’re made of swings with their movements and the air around the game.
Welcome to Piñata Island
Viva Piñata and it’s sequel: Viva Piñata: Trouble in paradise are both great games that while underappreciated shine as one of the jewels of the cozy gaming space. The game really did its work well by taking time and love to each of their piñata. It gave each species a unique personality and identity.
While all may sound excellent the game does have its quirks. You see the games are both 23 years old. They don’t receive updates and even the versions you can play on pc have issues with playing them on a keyboard and mouse. A controller is suggested to play the games on the new hardware, since they were optimized for the Xbox 360. Another thing to keep in mind are the hitboxes. Sometimes while you try to make certain changes with the shovel or other tools you will not hit the spaces that you want and that may be upsetting to some players.
The game does not fall short on the vibrant and bright aspects of the game, you will have a favorite piñata by the end of your gameplay. Which if done properly really doesn’t have an end, you may try to get every achievement of every piñata. Decorating and redecorating is always fun and you have the option of as many gardens as you can fit in your storage device, at least in the sequel.
Viva Piñata!
All in all, Viva piñata and its sequel are both underrepresented games of the cozy gaming aspect. The games shine on the details that the game has and how unique the piñatas are in each game. A 19 and a 17 year old game that got a formula correct and the second vastly improved on it. The game shoots for a cozy and refreshing vibe, both which are easily accomplished by a combination of gameplay, soundtrack and art style. A game that may be lost to time, but is well worth a visit when you are in the mood for something to take you out of the routine and usual gameplay. Fall in love with the island, its quirky cast and the identity of every piñata I guarantee you will have an amazing time. If this does convince you the game can be played for free on the Xbox Game pass both for xbox and pc.
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