Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise (DS) Review
Almost a year ago we saw the release of Diddy Kong Racing DS: Unusual due to the fact it was published by Microsoft owned company, Rareware. After receiving much less than expected reviews, fans wondered what Rare’s next venture on Nintendo’s handheld would be, and if they would even bother with further DS development. Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise is the second DS project by Rare and it manages to capture everything that made the original Xbox 360 title so great, while adding in a few neat features.
These new features don’t come without their obvious trade offs, though, and more about that in the review! For those who haven’t been made aware of the franchise, Viva Piñata is a series in which several creatures, who are actually Piñatas, inhabit a garden and do their best to impress the executives at Piñata Central, a processing plant that sends out Piñatas to parties for children to enjoy. Naturally, this leads to some competition between the Piñata and allows for a diverse range of personalities to develop throughout the species. Although Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise doesn’t follow any set storyline, much of the premise of the game is not only “catching them all” but also increasing the value of your Piñatas by sending them to parties.
Finally, Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise doesn’t quite translate completely from its console cousin. The first major difference is that whereas players could reach Level 102 gardener level in the original, it’s been reduced massively. That’s not exactly a bad thing, since in the original there really wasn’t any difference after reaching Level 50, the extra levels were just there for the sake of being there. Secondly, some key characters from the original are no longer present in Pocket Paradise – Leafos being a key mention. Several other shop keepers have, for some reason, closed their shops and given their duties to the already established characters in the game. Don’t worry though, Lottie from Costalot’s, Willy Builder, Gretchem Fetchem and the good doctor all return, albeit with no voice acting and only text based comments from the original game. Finally, the requirements to create variants as well as make the Piñatas resident have been streamlined and simpler, and the “romancing” minigames are no longer intact, Piñatas instead go to their houses and the egg just appears from Storkos, the game’s stork.
Some may see this as negative, some may see this as positive, but it really does do a good job at opening the game up to a wider audience. So, how does it play? Players control the bottom screen, with the top screen showing the percentage of land that is being used by specific terrain (IE Grass, Dirt etc.) and the clock. In addition, the top screen also displays alerts that detail events as they happen in your garden, as well as details for the currently selected Piñata, if any. The bottom screen is the garden itself, and is where players will spend the most of their time. Clicking on icons on the screen brings up menus that allow players to select tools and buy items from the store. Directing a Piñata is now done by clicking on the Piñata and dragging him/her to the area or Piñata that they want to interact with. It’s all very natural feeling, and the touchscreen really complements the gameplay. Players can also swap the screens around, so that they can interact with their Piñata’s stats, rename them and do other statistical related tasks. It’s all very streamlined and works perfectly.
The game also implements “certificates” similar to the Xbox 360’s achievements, although there are only 13 certificates whereas there were 50 achievements in the original. But how do you actually PLAY the game, I hear you all asking? Well, it’s simple. A majority of the gameplay in Viva Piñata involves conditioning the garden in order to entice certain Piñata to visit. Once they visit, it’s very important to meet their residential conditions so that they wish to stay in your garden. Once they stay in the garden, they become colourful, whereas in the wild, they only appear as black and white.
Once residents, players must meet conditions to make the Pinata “romance” in order to reproduce. Conditions can be anything, from growing a certain kind of plant to having a certain number of Piñata in the garden. For example, a Mousemallow (all Piñata names are a portmanteau of an animal and a candy) requires 1 turnip to be in the garden in order to visit. In order to become resident, however, the Mousemallow must eat the turnip.
What really makes the Viva Piñata gameplay great though, is that it effectively (to an extent) emulates a natural food chain. Using my previous Mousemallow example, a Syrupent may then appear since a Mousemallow is now in the garden. As a result, the Syrupent will visit, and eat the Mousemallow and become resident. Just like how a snake would eat a mouse in the wild. It definitely adds an element to the gameplay, deciding whether to shoo away Piñata by hitting them with your shovel in order to keep your cuter or perhaps better valued Piñata. Not to forget, players can trade with their friends (locally) their Piñata for money, or whatever they fancy. The soundtrack of Pocket Paradise is probably the most disappointing aspect, although this only comes from comparing it with the console versions.
There aren’t many musical tracks outside of the jingles that play when a significant event occurs, whereas in the console versions, new music plays for each time of the day that sets the ambience quite nicely. It’s a bit unfortunate to see such a lack of music, but it’s an understandable trade off. What’s provided, however, such as the sounds that complement the weather effects, is so whimsical that it fits the ambience of the game perfectly.
Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise is definitely one of those titles that almost any DS owner should have. It combines everything that made the original so addictive and enjoyable with several notable new features that should entice people who’ve essentially already played it. It manages to make everything portable without detracting from the experience too much. An absolute gem that should keep players entertained for hours – I eagerly await Rare’s future portable efforts.
