Viva Pinata (Rare)

Several months ago, I broke down like quite the little consumer-lady-of-the-night and bought an X-Box. With it, I've gotten hold of several mind-blowing and bloody games that fill me with a terrible satisfaction. Hooray for killing!

However, recently, my wife was asking about games that she could play. X-Box isn't know for it's girl-friendly, cute, or even intellectual games (though some companies are making an effort). However, I took up the challenge of finding something for her, and I found this:

Viva! Piñata! by the UK's RARE Studios. I found it at a somewhat large video games store in Osaka's Den-Den Town, where everything electronic can be found - at least, if you look hard enough.

I brought it home where it lifted an eyebrow or two upon my wife's beautiful face. She thought it was cute! Success! And luckily for me, I can also play it - as it has multiple languages that are used based on your user settings.

The whole idea is to shape-up a tired plot of land and lure in wild Piñatas that you can raise, with the eventual use of selling them for parties. Every little Piñata is quite cute and have distinctive personalities that you have to take into consideration.

Playing

You start with a shovel and a plot of land. With that shovel - and other items that come your way - you slowly turn your dirt-farm into a working garden. You have neighborhood friends and specialists at your disposal that range from gossips to plant raisers, doctors and shop keepers.

The Piñatas!

Some Piñatas will wonder onto your land and stay of their own volition. For bigger Piñatas, you will have to lure them in by giving them their own space and feeding them vegetables or even other Piñatas.

Once they're on your land make them comfortable by feeding them, giving them candy, and leading them to a mate where they get it on, giving you a new baby Piñata. You can break a Piñata in order to gain some candy to give to others. However, I did it once, and nearly cried myself to sleep. I KILL'DED HIM! (ToT)

Be careful, as some Piñatas don't like each other and can get into fights. I haven't figured out a way to stop them yet.

Where I Am

Not very far. I've progressed quickly, however, ever since I've stopped playing, I haven't picked it up again. Only one day. I'm not sure if this is actually saying something about the game, of whether I like this type of game or not, or that I've been too busy/lazy to play - as it does take time and effort to work the magic.

The same can be said for my wife. Any time she gets "stuck", she drops the controller and never looks back. I bought her a Super Nintendo recently, with a copy of Dragon Quest 1&2 (which she was fiending for for several weeks). She played it for sixteen hours, had no idea where to go, and stopped.

I cried.

In The End...

It's a fun game that's worth a good, hard look, especially if you like games that require patience. If you have none, best not to start looking for it here. Might as well no dish out cash for something you're going to play only once and never again.