Viva Pinata: Party Animals

Last year’s Viva Pinata was probably the most underappreciated game of 2006, offering addictive and fun gameplay and quirky graphics. Unfortunately, the game failed to find much of an audience and is widely seen as a commercial failure. However, Microsoft must still have some faith in the franchise, as they are prepping to release Viva Pinata: Party Animals.

A spin-off developed by Krome Studios, Party Animals offers a multiplayer party game approach to the franchise, as opposed to the single-player sim style of the original game. The end result feels a lot like Mario Party, but the games are a bit more substantial you can play the game online. Considering the lack of good party games on the Xbox 360, Viva Pinata: Party Animals should be fun for fans of the franchise and of the party game genre as a whole.

In Viva Pinata: Party Animals, you start off by selecting the type of game that you and your friends would like to play: Short, Medium, Long or Custom. This will determine the number of events that you play and how many races you run (more on that one later). If you’re facing off against the computer, you can tweak the game’s intelligence and keep the games close. After selecting your game type, you can then move on to selecting your avatar. You can be one of eight different pinatas and you and your party can be on their way.

The game requires you to race to the mini-games in a Mario Kart-styled racing game. Using the trigger buttons, you can control your pinata’s speed, as well as use special items that you acquire on the track. You can also hit speed boosters that will let you gain some footing on your opponents, but be careful not to hit walls or obstacles, as they will slow you down.

The mini-games are pretty fun and diverse, with games running anywhere from pin-the-tail-on-the-carousel-donkeys to a dancing mini-game and even a pinata whacking race. The game’s are done quite simply and are easy to control, keeping within the game’s casual family mindset. You are given the controls right before each mini-game as well, a la Mario Party.

Playing the game alone is not the way to do it, since the computer controlled AI is extremely easy to beat. Luckily, Party Animals benefits from some robust multiplayer elements. Aside from being able to play against three friends on the same Xbox 360, you’ll be able to easily take the game online and play against many opponents.

Graphically, the game is done slightly more in the style of the animated Saturday-morning cartoon show than its predecessor, which is a good thing for the younger audience. The characters have a bit more animation and personality to them this time around, and is nearly a dead ringer to the cartoon. Soundwise, the game has a ton of personality as well, with some goofy voice acting and latin-themed music, all done well in the style of the TV show.

Viva Pinata: Party Animals is shaping up to be a fun family game with some varied mini-games and nice multiplayer elements. Look for it at the end of the month.