Viva Pinata: Party Animals

PAX 2007 Preview

Last year’s Viva Pinata was a modest hit, garnering critical acclaim but not quite becoming a smash with the public at large. However, Microsoft has not lost faith in the series, as they’re readying a new title in the franchise, Viva Pinata: Party Animals. Party Animals won’t be a sim as its predecessor was, but rather will present the player with over 50 mini-games done in a party fashion, similar to Mario Party or Fuzion Frenzy. The game will also be done in the tongue-in-cheek humorous style of the Saturday morning cartoon show, complete with the same characters competing against each other in competitions unique to the franchise. Fans of the original game or of party games in general should keep an ear to the ground for Viva Pinata: Party Animals.

At this year’s Penny Arcade Expo event in Seattle, a playable demo of Viva Pinata: Party Animals was on display at Microsoft’s booth. The demo build of the game showcased the humorous tones of the minigames. For example, there was one mini-game that had you tapping the A button to drink soda as quickly as you could, then alternate between two of the face buttons to get him to shake around, and then he’d let loose a huge belch to blow a sailboat across a pond (the goal being to be the first one to get your boat across the goal line). The Ruffian Tumble was another fun mini-game that required you to bonk into the heads of other Ruffians in order to knock free pieces of candy, with the one picking the most up being the winner.

Other games in the demo were “Hungry, Hungry Pinatas”, where you had to tap the A button quickly in order get your Pinata to eat the most apples, a Mario Kart-influenced racing games, and “Stomp Raisants”, where to point is to, well, stomp raisants. The games were of fairly decent length, and could get pretty fun and frantic within the right atmosphere. By winning mini-games, you earn the most candiosity, which is the game’s point scale.

Graphically the game looks a lot like the original, which isn’t bad since the original was a very good looking game. Some details, like the light refraction from the ice hazards in the racing level, looked quite impressive.

Viva Pinata: Party Animals is a fun collection of mini-games that will appeal to its younger target audience. While it’s hard to say whether or not the rest of the mini-games will maintain the momentum set by the demo, the game is certainly off to the right start.