Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise Rare Retrospective
More and better. That seemed to be the way forward with a sequel to Viva Piñata, following its warm reception from critics and fans. A combination of new ideas, improvements and advances spurred on by player feedback went into the creation of Trouble in Paradise, with the same core team at Rare still wearing the gardeners’ gloves.
The introduction of a small zoo’s worth of brand new Piñatas went without saying. The expansion of the playing area into Piñarctic and Dessert Desert regions came about naturally as themes emerged behind many of the 28 new species: Camellos, Pieenas, S’morepions and Vulchurros were denizens of the desert, while Pengums, Polollybears, Robeans and the elusive Jeli would only be at home in the shivering snowfields.
Co-op and family play was an issue that the team wanted to build on from the original Viva Piñata, resulting in VP: TIP‘s Couch Social mode allowing a second local player to chip in, and the ability to visit and help out in other players’ global gardens via Xbox LIVE. Just For Fun mode gave younger or less experienced players a chance to mingle with dozens of Piñatas in a risk-free area without having to meet all those pesky visiting and residence criteria, though of course plenty of secrets were held back to be discovered over the course of the main game. Anyone with an Xbox LIVE Vision camera could also populate and improve their gardens by scanning special Piñata Vision cards, or even take a snap and create their own cards for friends.
Game focus was tightened this time around with a clearer storyline and ‘mission’. The intro showed Professor Pester and his clueless Ruffians attempting to hack the Piñata Central database only to erase huge chunks of it instead, leaving Piñata Central desperately in need of replacement records. Which is where the island’s gardeners, including the player, came in. Of course, the sandbox gameplay was still just as open-ended for those who preferred to forge their own path.
Falling from the tree fully ripe in September 2008, Trouble in Paradise fulfilled the needs of Piñata enthusiasts while sowing a double dose of challenge. The weeds were fiercer, the Sours more varied and your masked arch-rival reached new levels of badness – the clue was in the title, but Pester’s troublemaking could be overcome and paradise restored by any gardener fully committed to the cause.