Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise MEGATHREAD

[jasonnc80]

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise

Developer: Rare Ltd.
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Genre: Family
Release Date: 9/2/2008
Console: Xbox 360
Xbox 360 Exclusive

$39.99

Features:

• 1 Player
• Players Co-op: 1-2
• Multiplayer Versus
• System Link: 2-4
• Dolby 5.1 Surround
• HDTV 1080p

• Xbox Live Vision
• Xbox Live Multiplayer
• Players Co-op: 1-4
• Leaderboards
• Voice Chat

Summary:

Return to magical Piñata Island in Viva Piñata®: Trouble in Paradise. Unfortunately, not all is well on the island, as Professor Pester and his gang of Ruffians have wiped out Piñata Central's computer records, posing a threat to parties everywhere. Rebuild the computer database and thwart Professor Pester's evil plot by sending piñatas at full candiosity to parties all around the world. Build and maintain your piñata gardens—using your creativity and imagination to attract, trap, protect, train, and manage more than 100 different piñata species.

• Customize your garden and piñatas: Plant flowers, dig ponds, even place sand and snow in your garden to make exotic species of piñata feel at home. Buy objects to change the weather, or get new toys for your piñata. And nurture the thirty-two new species of piñata, including sour piñatas that infiltrate and wreak havoc in the garden. Choose to tame the sours, or feed them candy to keep them sweet.
• Play with a friend: Family members and friends can now share in the joy of creating a garden by plugging in an extra controller. The second player has access to all tools, actions, activities, and can help by collecting magic. It's an entirely new way to play.
• Play multiple game modes: Use the Player Guide System to master the fundamental aspects of the game. Then, try the Standard Mode where sour piñatas, feuding species, and limited money call for you to exercise problem solving and creativity to build and maintain your garden. Or enjoy Just for Fun Mode, which allows you to build a garden full of colorful creatures without worries.
• Experience Piñata Vision: Plug in an Xbox LIVE® Vision camera and interact with the game through the use of printed cards featuring a unique barcode. Flash a piñata card up to the Vision camera, and the content will drop directly into the game.
• Show off to friends: Use the new photo mode to snap, print, and upload pictures of your unique garden or customized piñatas to show to friends. Photograph your piñata and turn it into a piñata card, then share it with your friends so they can scan it and put it into their own garden.
• Teach your piñatas tricks: Piñatas can perform dazzling tricks, if you teach them with the new trick stick tool. Watch as piñatas play together, perch on each other, and interact in new ways to make them even more appealing.

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/v/vptip/

Screenshots:

Videos:

Placeholder

Reviews:

1UP (A): Read full review

• 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.

IGN (8.5): Read full review

• Viva Piñata Trouble in Paradise is a satisfying experience and should appeal to gardeners of all ages. And although Rare is not presenting anything remarkably new, it has added nearly everything many gamers found missing from the previous game, thus creating the definitive Viva Piñata experience. If you’ve never played the original, this is definitely the version to buy. If you already own the first Viva Piñata game, then whether or not to buy the sequel depends on what you found missing from the original. If you’ve been dying to play online with friends or on the couch with your kid, then the multiplayer modes in Trouble in Paradise will be reason enough for a purchase. Otherwise, it’s really just more of the same, much of which could have been handled through an expansion rather than an entirely new game.

Gamespot (8.5): Read full review

• There's no trouble in this paradise: The second Viva Pinata is just as captivating as the first, with enough tweaks and new additions to make this great for everyone.
• Good:
  
  • Great rewards system  
  • Pinatas are super cute  
  • Tons of depth and replay value  
  • Cooperative mode helps ease inexperienced players into the game  
  • Very impressive visuals, both technically and artistically.
• Bad:
  
  • The same basic game as the original  
  • Voice acting is terrible.

Game Informer (8.25): Read full review

• Viva Piñata retains its child-like charm, but the content is layered with deep strategies and entertaining gameplay that can suck anyone’s life away.

Gamepro (4/5): Read full review

• Breaking open a copy of Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise is sort of like breaking open a real pinata: all sorts of syrupy-sweet treats come pouring out. But the sweetness in Paradise is soured by a lame gardening chores that ruin the taste of the hyper-bright visuals and cute gameplay. Still, when all's said and done, this is one party that's definitely worth attending.

Eurogamer (8/10): Read full review

• The whole is deep, compelling, personal and capable of so much incidental humour and charm: your first set of twins, the first time your sparrow catches fire, the first time you realise you've mated parent and child. Rare has said it will take a break from Piñata Island for now after six years of almost constant development. We only hope it's not a permanent vacation, because there are very few series that do such a good job of infusing compelling gameplay with infectious personality.

Will update as more reviews come in!!