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Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise and Pinata Vision Impressions
Posted by Brian Crecente at 2:00 AM on May 15, 2008
It sounds like Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise was designed to deal with one big issue the original title had.
"It looked like a kids game, but was quite difficult to play," said a Rare developer walking us through the game. "We kept the basic principal, you're in a garden and trying to attract animals to it."
But the team's done a lot to simplify the game and make it more accessible to a wider audience. Chief among the changes is a co-op mode that lets you play in the garden with friend. They've also added a fun mode which gives gamers the ability to buy just about anything in the game, removes the bad guys and turns the garden into an instant gratification sandbox.
Other tweaks include adding snow and sand and the sorts of pinatas that would like that sort of terrain. You can also now take pictures in the game and have them sent to a website which will recognise which animals are on display and categorise them automatically for easy searching. There's also an easy to use in-game animal finder which makes tracking down your pet pinatas much less of a chore.
The short demo wrapped up with a look at the Pinata Vision system. Using the Xbox 360 camera, gamers can hold up a specially created Viva Pinata image and instantly import it into the game.
"It doesn't have to be a card, it can be an image on your Zune or iPod that you would just hold up to the camera"
While the tweaks look like they could streamline gameplay a bit, Trouble in Paradise is still very much a Viva Pinata game for better or worse and I'm not so sure it's been simplified enough to attract the potential audience that the cartoon has created for the game.
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
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Krondonian
Posted 2:58 AM 15/5/08
@Tye-The-Czar: It's a sequel. I don't think that mini-game on really counted.
Krondonian
Pombar
Posted 2:56 AM 15/5/08
@Tye-The-Czar: It's a full-on Sequel.
Looks great, simplifications welcome.
Pombar
Bishmon
Posted 2:55 AM 15/5/08
@stoneagedan:
They are also keeping it at the same level. If I recall correctly, the press release said the same mode with the sours and the sickness and whatnot would return as 'Standard Mode', while the unlimited coins, no sours mode would be called 'Just For Fun Mode' or something to that effect.
Bishmon
qhue
Posted 2:53 AM 15/5/08
I'm okay with a 'sandbox' mode so long as there is still the hardcore mode for those of use who enjoyed the sleeper hit that it was.
qhue
Kinburn
Posted 2:52 AM 15/5/08
what were you focusing on to take the pictures? The macro setting might have helped or not being so close and just crop the photo after.
Kinburn
Tye-The-Czar
Posted 2:45 AM 15/5/08
I'm confused as to wether this is a sequel, a PC port, or a remake, oy. Clear me up, please?
Tye-The-Czar
stoneagedan
Posted 2:36 AM 15/5/08
While there's certainly plenty leeway for simplifying the menu systems and interface, they've kinda painted themselves into a corner - the original was a bit of a sleeper hit, and there's a lot of buyers who don't want it simplified to a kids level. Personally, I'd rather they kept it at the same level. I can see it selling relatively well as a straight sequel, but I just can't see a big kiddies market for the 360. They'll alienate that orginal group of buyers if they aim for a children's market that doesn't look to be on the 360.
stoneagedan
scarshapedstar
Posted 2:17 AM 15/5/08
"Principle", dude. Principle.
scarshapedstar
acaseofzombism
Posted 3:17 AM 15/5/08
I always had a problem with the limit on how much stuff you can have in your garden at anytime, sure you could have multiple gardens, but I hope this time around they increase your object budget.
Co-op sounds neat, but I set my status as "offline" when I play to keep my friends from knowing about my pinata habit.
acaseofzombism
qbix
Posted 3:12 AM 15/5/08
Pi ->ñ<- ata. I'll even take piniata.
qbix
Ryumeka
Posted 3:09 AM 15/5/08
I hope they fix up some of the loading times.
It seemed a bit uneccessary for it to take 3-5 seconds for a book to load up, when sometimes it can overlap the main garden.
Ryumeka
mugido
Posted 3:50 AM 15/5/08
Next time make sure you use the little flower icon on your digital camera.
On topic, doesn't really sound like anything has drastically changed that would make me want this game.
mugido
Necroscope
Posted 3:47 AM 15/5/08
If a game has to have a "fun mode", what does that say about the game?
Necroscope
Garro
Posted 3:30 AM 15/5/08
Man, when I heard that you could hold up your Zune to the xbox 360 camera, I immediately thought that you could create Zune pinatas. Then I went further and imagined taking pictures of my master chief, Aliens drone, Optimal Optiums, Arc Trooper, and Slave 1 toys and having a little Badass Land for Badasses.
When I bought the first Viva Pinata the EB chick started giggling... You know, I look like I'd be in the store for Doom Halo and Gears. But hey, this might be worth getting if I can get a friend for co op.
I do so love them fuzzy wuzzy pinata animals...
Garro
the-hypnotoad
Posted 4:13 AM 15/5/08
I'm a little worried that they gutted the depth that the original game had to try to make it more casual-accessible. I think they are trying to blame the UI for casuals not adopting it, which is crap. My 6 year old plays this game regularly and use the interface just fine.
The real issue was the disconnect between the theme and the depth of everything going on behind the scenes. So when a casual player can't get pinatas to stop fighting, or can't figure out how to stop the sour pinatas, or can't figure out how to make money, or how to stop the ruffians from breaking all their stuff, rather than digging in to explore the games's intricacies and various systems, they just decide it isn't fun and move on. (and forget about tinkering items or creating variants or evolving species)
Never mind that most of that is pretty easy to do, that type of player just doesn't play games that way (to understand and exploit the way the various underlying systems work.)
So unless they have decided to mostly fore go most of that stuff, I'm not sure there is much Rare can do to make it truly appeal to the demo that the cartoon would suggest. Maybe 'instant-gratification-sandbox-mode' will be enough. Guess we'll find out in September who this title is really made for.
the-hypnotoad
qhue
Posted 4:10 AM 15/5/08
Its not so much "fun mode" as it is "target audience of animated show" mode. VP is a pretty complex god-sim that happens to be in bright colors. Tweens can do really well at the game and enjoy the complex nature, but younger fans of the saturday AM show (I'm talking 5-7 year olds here) really aren't in a position to make the most out of a complex god sim.
qhue
okenny :)
Posted 4:42 AM 15/5/08
@Necroscope: Well it's actually called retard mode but you can see why they wouldn't actually say that right?
okenny :)
karasu is my homeboy
Posted 4:35 AM 15/5/08
@qhue: Exactly.
I was nervous when I read they wanted to simplify VP and make it accessible to all, but thankfully, it's just one specific mode, for the most part. I want more of the same deep, complex gameplay that made VP so deeply enjoyable.
I'll buy day 1, Rare, I promise! I'll buy 2 if you release it quicker :D
karasu is my homeboy
nmlss
Posted 5:14 AM 15/5/08
Hahaha, its "fun" to see all of you type 'Viva piNata'. I'll type it well once, so you can copy-paste the right title:
Viva Piñata
, with Ñ.
(Just joking, don't talking serious)
nmlss
hibikir
Posted 6:14 AM 15/5/08
The original just missed the mark. A garden simulator where you can name your animals, yet animals are also food for other animals. Not pets, not just livestock, but something in between that seems silly to one group and cruel to the other.
The main concept seems designed not to sell to anyone.
hibikir
Woylez
Posted 6:48 AM 15/5/08
Hopefully it has not been redesigned for simpletons. The 1st game was great and i didn't see anything wrong with it. Co-op is a good idea though.
Woylez
Cameroo
Posted 8:23 AM 15/5/08
From what I've read so far it sounds like they're going to keep the option open for the more challenging strategy aspects but use the sandbox and co-op option to make things go alot easier on the kid set? Thats not a bad idea. I really appreciated the original. Even if it did make my roommate, and brother groan loudly when they saw me play it. :P
Cameroo
Numerous
Posted 9:35 AM 15/5/08
@Numerous: -- would make me "mad" --
Numerous
Numerous
Posted 9:34 AM 15/5/08
Damn frogs, or fudgatoads, whatever the heck they were, keep eating all my bugs. Which would make me made so I'd smash them, which would make more appear.
I think I eventually let a couple in then walled them off. Did the same thing with the snakes to keep them from my mice.
Numerous
Samos42
Posted 10:31 AM 15/5/08
Sounds good. Not so sure about that Instant Gratification mode. I mean, what motivation will people have (other than actually having a challenge) for playing the Standard Mode when they can do anything they want to in the Instant Gratification mode?
Samos42
mcool93
Posted 12:43 PM 15/5/08
vision of judgement?
mcool93