Never deny your love for the pinatas.
CONS: Very similiar to the first
--------------------------------------------------------
Viva Pinata is a series that cannot be figured what age group it is meant for. Sure, you would think just by the visuals alone that this game is indeed suited for the younger audience, but once you get your hands on it, you will see how deceptive this game truly is.
THE GRAPHICS are a powerhouse showcase for the 360's hardware. Everything in this game is simply gorgeous, as with the first game. Everything is so vibrant and perfectly shadowed that this truly is a treat for your eyes. In all honesty, this is definately one of the best looking games out there.
THE SOUND is up and down. While the sound effects and music fit perfectly with the game and its environments, the voice acting unfortunately does not. Not all sound terrible, but about 85% of them do.
THE GAMEPLAY is where it's at aside from the graphics. As I stated, this is where things start to reveal themselves to be more complex than you would imagine. Just like the first, you are tasked with maintaining a garden and doing things within the garden to attract more and more different breeds of pinatas as well as to level yourself up to earn new upgrades such as shovels or bigger gardens. The actual scope of the game such as doing things to attract pinatas, completing tasks to send pinatas to parties, breeding the pinatas to sell off their children is alot more complex than what a "kid" can actually handle. Though this is technically a "God Game" in which you control the fate of basically anything within the game it is rather easy for the most part considering the genre. But then again, it still has its moments where even you might start getting overwhelmed with the gardening and keeping the pinatas from killing, and eating each other. So alot isn't too different from the original, however the new changes they did inflict onto TIP is rather significant enough to make this the best in the series. Take for example the new environments you can vist to capture pinatas of different nature such as desert pinatas, or snow pinatas. Trapping and baiting them and sending them to your mailbox is rather addicting. Also, the newly added co-op (2-4 players, online or offline) is a blast and a welcome addition to an already addicting experience. Maintaning your garden and pinatas with the help of others is always a good thing, but be sure to grant newly met people limited permissions or they can completely demolish your garden. Plus, there is a new feature called "Pinata Vision" in which you use your Xbox Live Camera to scan Pinata Cards that will make instant changes in your garden. This is one of the most interesting features, and shows that there is many ways in which to use your camera.
OVERALL Viva Pinata: TIP is the best in the series, and is an addicting experience that should be missed by none. If you didn't enjoy the original, this will not change your mind, but if you enjoyed the original this will definately get you back onto your green fingers with enough new content to warrant another purchase to this garden.