Viva Pinata
Trouble In Paradise Preview

Two years ago the charming Viva Pinata was released to instant critical acclaim and despite it’s over colourful childish looks it offered a fairly challenging strategic experience. Rare are now putting the finishing touches on it’s sequel, Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise. Strongly based on the groundwork laid down in the original, Trouble In Paradise sets out to fix most of the flaws seen throughout Pinata Island, the first time around.

The main problem is that the original got incredibly tough after a while despite clearly being marketed at a younger audience. Luckily this time around they’ve separated up the game into what are essentially, adult and kid modes. Player Guide Mode, is catered towards younger players and therefore it lacks the intense challenge that Sour Pinatas, Ruffians & Professor Pester all bring to the table. Meanwhile this rendition’s ‘Standard Mode’ is simply that, the standard mode you played last time. The game will also feature a sandbox mode where you don’t have to worry about unlocks or money.

Trouble In Paradise will also bolster the roster of Pinata’s with over thirty new Pinata’s. These include Camellos, Custations, Pengums, Moojoos and much more. The way that some of the Pinata’s are caught has also changed. While in the previous game you where limited to your garden, you’ll now be able to venture outside into the Dessert Desert or the Piñarctic. Once there you can lay traps to catch these rare Pinata.

Paradise will also see the addition of co-operative play. We did see very basic co-op play in the first but the 2nd player rarely got to do anything interesting. Luckily this time around the second player will get nearly full access to the garden with their own cursor and all.

All of these seem like obvious advancements but the Pinata Vision feature sounds all too different. Pinata Vision basically lets you scan in printed out game cards by using the Xbox Live Vision Camera. Once completed that Pinata will then enter your garden. There are rumours and ideas floating around that they will use this to add special and rare Pinata to the game via magazines but at the moment all of this will be available at no extra cost.

Viva Pinata: Trouble In Paradise might not totally reinvent the wheel but it makes some interesting additions to what was already a great game. It will be, suited for both younger and older players and should have enough to get you addicted to collecting Pinata’s all over again.