Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise

I couldn't disagree more with this review. Don't base a purchase decision on this review. Seek out some others. Extremely addicting and fun gameplay. Co-op gardening over xbox live is brilliant.

I've never seen that many weeds in my life. Did you just sit by and watch them grow? :O

I strongly disagree with the disappointing score of 6.5. As a huge fan of the first viva pinata installment, I was eagerly awaiting this new game. When I opened the box and started playing, I was not let down, I love this game! You say that the game is ruined by constantly battling weeds and ruffians, but isn't that just part of the game? It's true that I have had many a pinata slain by professor pester, and my first garden was completely overrun by weeds and had to be abandoned. Although, this only helps the player adapt and learn to manage his/her garden more efficiently. The game may be frustrating at times, but its all part of the game and you shouldn't penalize its score as harshly as you did just because you can't afford a decoy pinata. I'm still playing this game and I don't see myself stopping until I've found every last secret. That's the word, peace!

I don't even see how the reviewer had any problems with weeds. Were you just sitting around watching them grow? Even with all the things going on I've never had more than the 2-3 weeds in my garden from one sour coming in. I easily remove them and I almost always smash the seeds before they even start to grow. You obviously couldn't figure out the game. I'm offended by this review, I'm addicted right now to its awesomeness.

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one disagreeing with this review. I get the feeling this reviewer has not played the first game, which was underrated in my books. The thing about this game is you have to constantly be paying attention. You're allowed to be bored because there's always so much going on. And I know what he's talking about being frutrated with the garden getting full, but as soon as you start a new one which quickly bustles with action, you begin to forget about it. And I greatly enjoyed the whole Professor Pester business, because paying him off 500 coins every day did make me uncomfortable but It just made to long to have a limoceros and it was sooo satisfying to get one. As a returning Viva Pinata player, this game is great. And I also appreciate Rare's price decision because I guess calling it a sequel might be a bit of a stretch.

In you review I do not agree with it. As being a gamer who is married to a non-gamer. My wife took to this and enjoys this game.
The controls maybe awkward at first, but it is something you have to get used to like every game. Also as for your gardening skills they appear to only warrant Bad seeds and plants.
As you like most some people who review did not give this game it's full potential and played it till Hemlock over took you. One of the keys is to work out this struggle in your garden. Also you garden might have a limit, but that is why they have so much stuff and you have 7 other gardens you can make and each one can be different.
So for this review IMO you did not give this game it's full shot. If the person who reviewed this game would like to play in real gardens or needs help in there garden send me a request to help. If you really decide to pick this game up again and need help let me know. Also for you Non-Garners out that it ain't as bad as this review is. If your having problems and need to understand concepts I would suggest picking up the strategy Guide.

I'm in the "This is a way better game than a 6.5" camp. Especially considering the $40 price, I think this game deserves an 8+ score. Even if it were at the $60 price point, this would be well worth it.
As for the Professor Pester issues that alot of people have, I highly suggest putting effort into getting a Limeocerous pinata to live in your garden, and you will never have to deal with him again.
I don't really expect this game to be reviewed again, but it deserves MUCH more than the score and half a review you gave it.

Ok I'm not going to attack you or anything but I disagree with your review strongly. I don't know how many hours I've put on this game, it may or may not have been as much as you but so far I love it. I don't understand why you have all those weeds. I've never had weeds in my garden, if one comes I'm always able to get rid of it easily. I do agree with you on Professor Pester..he is one of the worst characters ever put in a game but I've sent messages to rare to have him visit less. I do agree they could have added more, but I love the hidden goodness. Trying to get the new and easier to get wildcards is really fun. There are now three wildcards per pinata and they're tough. I think you must be playing the game wrong and you need to revisit it to try and play it a good way. Also, why is the review so small? Most reviews are a lot more than that...that wasn't a personal attack I'm just wondering if you actually played it fully and really took the time to enjoy it. So I hope you didn't get offended but this is bringing down the metacritic score and probably scaring people away from buying this great game which will stop Rare from making a vp3. Thanks.

Greyman7: Thank you very much. That was a refreshing change of pace from the "you disagree with me, therefore you're a jerk" ad hominem nonsense.

Spork,

I, for one, believe your review seemed pretty even-handed. A sequel should be better, faster, more powerful than the original without derailing the core of the gameplay experience. It may seem unfair to hold a sequel to a higher standard than the original, but why bother playing (or paying) if it's more of the same?

I also think that we, as consumers, and you as reviewers and consumers, need to hold games and developers to steadily increasing standards year after year, generation after generation. High quality, original gameplay must be king or we're doomed to Dante's ninth circle of videogame hell; shovelware, license-crap and rehash-a-thons.

But, everyone has their opinion (some very fervently held). The rating you gave it is described as "decent", not exactly an all out thrashing of the game. If you'd given it a really high rating you'd probably be accused of placating your Microsoft Masters (bwa-ha-ha).

I'll close by thanking you for giving your honest, professional and considered opinion regardless of what other reviewers were saying (as if that should ever, under any circumstances influence any review of anything).
Whether I agree or not with you will wait until I've tried the game. Once I've decided - I promise not to tell you.

Dear Spork,

I love how you decided to defend your review from Carpe Lucror without even bothering reading what he wrote:

Carpe Lucror wrote:
First off let me touch on the images in your review. Your garden is sick, covered with weeds. This intern makes your piñatas pissed, which is why they don’t “listen” to you.

He clearly meant to write:
...This IN TURN makes your pinatas pissed...

But you decided to interpret that as a stab at you being an intern, and as such, unreliable! (It didn't make any sense obviously)
I think there is some self confidence issue here :)

Also, I haven't played VP:TIP yet, but all the other reviews are a lot better than yours, so you must be having some issue with the game that nobody else had, I would have a look on metacritic if I were you, and analize what makes your thinking so different (you might find you could be not right!).

Regards

Carpe Lucror:

It's obvious you disagree with my review pretty vehemently. Such is your right.

Couple quick things:
- I'm not an intern, I'm a full-time freelancer. I fail to see how an intern's opinion would be any less valuable than your own, but you're of course welcome to disagree on that point.
- I played Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise for at least twelve hours. I stopped tracking my play times at that point. I suspect it was many hours more. I was actually a fan of the original. I kept playing, kept thinking that I was just missing something. I eventually decided that I wasn't, and scored and wrote accordingly.
- My responsibility is to tell readers whether I think the game is worth their time and money. I always keep in mind the many hours of blood, sweat, and tears that developers put into a game, but that respect does not extend to pretending problems don't exist, or that I feel differently about a game than I do. As with any form of critique, reasonable people are entirely capable of disagreeing without one of them necessarily being corrupt.
- The screenshots show weeds, because that was much of my experience with the game. I had trouble with pinata responsiveness even when the garden was completely free of them, and my pinata were all happy.
- I knew about the Vision Camera thing. That doesn't explain why it turns on and off constantly. This was listed as a QUESTION, not as a "major negative." Also, I've since played the game on the retail unit, and found that getting the camera to even read the cards is needlessly difficult. I wish I'd had a card from the publisher to test this functionality, but was not provided with one.

Believe it or not, I was enthusiastic about reviewing this game. I do not EVER accept a review if I'm just "meh, I GUESS I'll play it." I try very hard to give every game a fair shake, and write and score accordingly. I don't claim to be perfect; I do, however, strongly assert that I go out of my way to do the job as honorably as I can.

Feel free to disagree with me. I just do my best to tell it like I see it, as honestly as possible.
-Cameron Lewis

I agree with a lot of what you said.

Dear OXM:

First and foremost, I would just like to say WOW. Up to this point I have subscribed to your magazine, podcasts and reviews for years, blindly. I thought that in this time and age with life being so busy, one could rely on a true unbiased opinion of OXM to lead gamers in the right direction when it comes to game reviews and news. Granted, if we all had the time and money, we would gamefly or blockbuster loads of games and build our own opinions, but unfortunately we all don’t .

After reading your four and a half paragraph, poorly reviewed article on Viva Piñata: TIP, I am ashamed of myself for putting my faith in your opinions. I have come to the conclusion that you only rate games 8 to 10 if they meet the Mainstream Xbox, FPS… Blood.. Gore… Violence genre.

Please, Don’t insult my integrity by stating that they are GROUND BREAKING, with new, NEVER SEEN before videogame features…

You say VP:TIP is an expansion of VP Classic. But yet you dare not say anything to the contrary when it comes to Halo 2 or 3?

Viva Piñata and Rare have been through a lot together, catching a lot of slack and doing poorly overall the last 2 year in sales, part due to reviews such as yours:

Viva Piñata is a sandbox game in the vein of "The Sims" and "Zoo Tycoon". There's no real way to "win". Your reward for playing is increasing your level, unlocking new content, and, of course, earning achievements. [Jan. 2007, p.80]

With those words, you have told the mainstream gamer that VP is a child like game. Possibly pointless, since there is no true “finish line”, and probably an easy 1000 points to boost their gamer score.

Today you have rated VP: TIP just as badly or worse. Now thousands of gamers that read you magazine and follow you blindly will never give VP the chance it deserves.

I understand that you have many games per week to play and review, which unfortunately doesn’t allow you enough time to fully submerge in the game, allowing things to get overlooked.

First off let me touch on the images in your review. Your garden is sick, covered with weeds. This intern makes your piñatas pissed, which is why they don’t “listen” to you.
Just like “The Sims” if you have pissed off your AI, they wont do what you want until you take care of their needs first.

Same goes for your workers. Thanks to the Emancipation Proclamation, those “workers” are workers, and not slaves. If you want them to work hard, and do their job, hit the B button and give them an honest day’s wage! You’ll get a sun over their head, and a whistle in their walk.

Second, let me touch on the vision camera. If you haven’t heard, Rare created a Brand new, never seen before feature which allows the Vision Cam to work like a checkout lines barcode reader. This major add-on along with a pipeline to vivapiata.com is a feature comparable to Halo’s stat feature on bungie.net. The reason why it turns on and off is that it is always scanning for a card to read. If you do not want this popup window annoying you, just put the camera under a pillow, face a wall or unplug the thing. This is a simple resolve, not something that needs to be added to the major negative list on your review.

Finally, I want to talk about the “difficulty level”. Once again, I point back to your lack of time to fully play this game and your need to experience everything so that you can meet a deadline. Stop and read all the tutorial pop-ups. Believe it our not, they tell you everything you need to do to play at your current level. If that doesn’t help they have added system link and Xbox Live coop ability so that you can get friend to come in and help.

In my opinion, VP and VP:TIP is a breath of fresh air when it comes to video gaming. VP:TIP not only is a sequel, it is everything VP: Classic should had been and more. Plot, Coop, AI, Great music score, wonderful graphics and the best ergonomic and intuitive user interface I have seen in a videogame yet. Due to Rare’s love for hiding features in games (aka Easter eggs) Viva Piñata players will be tied up with playing this game for Many months, possibly years to come.

Unfortunately you saw this many multilayered interwoven “onion”, sniffed it and said “Eww, smells like that other onion 2 years ago” and didn’t take the time to peel away layers to find dinosaur bones, hidden artwork, piñata breaking fun in the credits and lord knows what else we haven’t stumbled across yet.

Please take more time to play the games you review, because you have lost the faith of a lot of OXM fanboys due to this horrible review.

Sincerely,

Dave Rosowski, aka PINATAcast
(The guy who proposed to his now wife using Viva Piñata, September 2007)

P.S. to whom ever played VP:TIP to get information for the review, Try the game again, but this time click on “JUST FOR FUN”, its probably more your speed. Its ok, some people really need the ally bumpers when they bowl. =)

Shameless plug: "The Viva Pinata Song" has been re-released over at Palette-Swap Ninja:

http://www.myspace.com/paletteswapninja

It was $39.99 mate.

and I disagree with this review.

I loved the original game and earned 1000 Achievements... but, having reached level 37 in TIP, I would have to say it is more of an aggravation than a pleasure. The cursor is very difficult to control precisely -- which becomes an additional problem when there is a outbreak of fast-spreading weeds. Prof. Pester is much more aggressive in attacking one's most valuable pinatas. The use of the Vision Cam is another frustration. (Nintendo's use of cards in the GameCube's Animal Crossing was much simpler and effective.) The Helpers are so lackadaisical it only reminds one that good help is hard to find these days. It still has charming pinata characters... but Rare could have done much better in the game-play department.

@ bahama mama: yeah, because that extra ten dollars makes such a huge difference. OK sarcasm aside, it seems like some of the problems are unchanged from the original game. I eventually got over those last time out, what really interests me are the newly streamlined menus. UI fixes and new pinatas are reason enough for me to buy the game, that is of course after I've bought everything else this fall.

This should have been $30 expansion pack.