You've never needed to be a hardcore gamer to enjoy Microsoft's Viva Piñata video-game series, and with all the fun, easy-to-grasp features packed into the game's latest edition, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, you'll be hardcore about bringing the whole family along for the experience.
Rare Ltd., the development team behind Viva Piñata, has returned for Trouble in Paradise, but this time around, it's expanded the game's features well beyond those of the original piñata garden. Here, we find Professor Pester and his gang of Ruffians wiping out all the computer records behind Piñata Central, so when you take the controller, you're tasked with helping to rebuild the piñata database by sending piñatas at "full candiosity" to parties all over the world. In other words, where Viva Piñata made for a fun solo adventure, this one's loaded with all sorts of social, multiplayer-friendly features that let you rope friends, family and friendly strangers into the game.
Using Xbox LIVE, you can invite up to four players into your personal Piñata Island journey, contact other gamers to trade items and piñatas you pick up along the way, and compete in various sporting events. You can also invite friends and family into a game simply by plugging in an extra controller this time. The game also packs a ton of awesome customization features, including "Piñata Vision," which allows you to drop piñata cards -- which you make by taking printable photos of your prized piñatas during gameplay -- into the game by flashing them at your Xbox LIVE Vision Camera, as well as 32 new species of piñatas (some good, some bad) that can make their way into your personal piñata garden.
If you're not familiar with Viva Piñata, or if you're trying to introduce an especially young or green gamer to the series, the learning curve's also been lowered significantly with Trouble in Paradise. In the new "Just for Fun Mode," you can jump right into the action without any of the bad guys or piñata health problems that might befall a more advanced game, and using the new Player Guide System, you can have a veritable hand-holding through the entire game. Not to worry, though: It's such a blast overssing your piñatas that you'll become an expert by way of addiction.
Exclusively for Xbox 360 and rated "E" for everyone, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is available at major offline retailers, as well as online for $39.99 via Amazon.
