Why You Should Be Playing It:
I just want to expand on the praise I gave Viva Piñata in my review back in November. This is one of the most addictive, funny, fun, and satisfying games on the market right now. There is so much to see and do and it is amazing how you can completely customize your experience.
I have torn down my entire garden and rebuilt it a dozen times just to try and make it look nice. I have named all of my piñatas and dressed them up like people I know. I have done silly things like create a herd of a dozen elephants and let them roam around. Why? Because they make funny sounds and having a bunch of them roaming around is hilarious. I have made a huge pond with only a tiny island in the middle, and then I put 25 cats on that island. Why? Because it was funny looking. Viva Piñata is one of the few games (other than sports) that I have bothered to get all of the achievements and 1000/1000 gamerscore points. And even after I played for 50 hours to get that final achievement, I still go back and mess around. That really says something.
How Did Microsoft Screw Up The Marketing?:
Microsoft completely blew it with the marketing for Viva Piñata. The colorful, cute, goofy look of the game certainly didn’t help, but that is something you get used to and really appreciate more and more as you play through it so it isn’t really a problem once people get the game into their hands. Trying to actually get people interested in the game in the first place is where the problems lie.
#1. The Lame TV Show: Why on Earth would you make such a stinky, lame children’s TV show based on a game that really isn’t meant for kids? The TV show is nothing like the actual game, but gamers are going to see it and have the same extremely low expectations for the video game. Bad move.
#2. The Intro and Preview Videos: Every preview video for VP was highlighted by the same “kids show” feel and humor of the TV show. It is hard to get people excited when the preview videos look so stupid. The intro to the game itself is the exact same way and it is downright embarrassing to fire the game up in front of people because of it. Although, it seems like bad intros are a Rareware trademark. Remember the DK Rap in Donkey Kong 64?
#3. The Collector’s Edition: The limited edition version of Viva Piñata is absolutely horrible. Instead of a metal case or a nice special case like most LE versions of games, it is a goofy looking plastic clamshell thing that is a pain in the butt to open and actually get the game out. Plus, it looks horrid on your shelf next to all of the other games. I know for a fact that a lot of people didn’t buy the game at launch and waited until December when normal DVD case versions of Viva Piñata were available.
#4. It Is Not A Kids Game: First of all, the gameplay is a bit too complicated for a kid to play. The things you can do in the game probably aren’t appropriate for young kids either, since you can kill your piñatas with a shovel, the other piñatas eat the candy that falls out like cannibals, you are constantly trying to get your piñatas to breed, you can breed parents to children, you can cross breed a pig and a swan (not as hot as it sounds …), and there are scary sour piñatas that always try to destroy your garden and kill your piñatas. Yeah, I want my kid playing all of that. And yet, it looks like a kids game and was marketed as a kids game. Good job Microsoft.
The Bottom Line
The sad thing about all of this is that once you get the game and get past the lame intro stuff, it is amazingly good. It is just too bad that to get to the rich, chocolaty center you have to plow through so much crap. As of the end of December, Viva Piñata has only sold about 140,000 copies. That isn’t a horrible number, but this was by no means a low-budget development process so they still have a ways to go to make their money back. Sales in December were double what they were in November, due certainly to word of mouth and the fact the regular DVD case version was available. Hopefully, this trend continues and the game sells well in the long-term. But it wouldn’t have had to come to all of this if Microsoft had marketed the game properly in the first place.
