Forgive me if I missed the whole point of Rare’s 2006 title: Viva Piñata, but this game is officially given the toughNAME title of Most Overrated, Underrated Game Ever.

Players are given a small garden with the goal being to attract piñatas. Piñatas are wild animal like creatures who look like actual piñata’s. They range from rodent piñata’s, to swimming piñata’s, to flying piñata’s, just about any storybook animal you can think of. You attract these animals to your garden by fulfilling certain requirements, such as providing food which they eat, or by building a home for them to come live in. As your garden grows you get access to more piñata’s and learn how to do things such as mate piñata’s and how to ward off evil piñata’s.

Originally, I thought nothing of this game as it seemed quite childish and certainly not a game appropriate for my age. But the game was released to raved ratings and calls of being a very underrated game. Curious, I decided to pick it up.

The game has a very easy learning curve, easy controls, and a solid save system.

Graphically, this game is quite impressive. It obviously goes for the childlike look with bright coloured animations and cute looking piñata’s. There isn’t much to say in regards to positives, as the graphics clearly show the developers achieved what they were aiming for. Negatives are also hard to tackle because the actual playing area is so small. In terms of actual faults there were almost none. Framerates issues, textures problems, you’ll find none of those in Viva Piñata. Plants, animals, and the environment all look stunning, but with the low amount of objects that are seen, this issue should definitely be looked at objectively (with hopes of not confusing you anymore, I’ll leave that part to the actual gameplay section). Overall the visuals in this game were beautiful, and any negatives would only be personal taste.

Audio, like visuals, was done very well. All piñata’s had unique sounds, and environmental sounds such as an apple falling from a tree and hitting the ground were a definite positive for this game.

The act of playing the game is where my queries starting popping up.

Players are thrown into the garden party action right off the bat with little to nil tutorial given. Earlier on I enjoyed the game as I built up my garden and garnered more and more piñata’s. But the unfortunate thing here is what you experience in the first 20 minutes of play is no different than the rest of the game.

Sure more piñata’s come, and small options are given in which you can alter your garden, but nothing really changes. How about a change of scenery? Or the ability to have a larger garden? With no actual goals this game presents no actual challenge to most gamers. I won’t go into much detail, but a game requires certain aspects which make it an actual game. As you progress you come to realize Viva Piñata is nothing but an open ended, never ending, waste of time.

If you can bring yourself to get into the game, then the longevity of Viva Piñata can be rewarding. I say through gritted teeth that this game can get addictive.

But like all reviews, a full 10% will be knocked off the final score because it is singleplayer only. That’s not entirely true as you have the option of sending friends certain items, but this is equal to a game with only leaderboards as it online functionality. I haven’t the slightest idea what multiplayer could be, but the fact that you will get as many hours out of this as any other singleplayer only game is the real reason why 1 point was taken off the final score.

I had a decent time getting 400/1000 achievements. You earn a lot early on, and some will make you play longer just trying to earn them. I feel positively about the achievements, but it doesn’t take away from the fact that this game is no where near the must buy list, and not even close to the rental list. If you remember any of this review, remember this one thing: Viva Piñata is not worth you money, and definitely not worth your time.