Video Game Review: Viva Pinata: Party Animals for XBOX360

I first fell madly deeply in love with Viva Pinata about a month ago when I bought the original Viva Pinata title for my computer. The moment I unwrapped an XBOX360 Elite for my birthday, my brain immediately screamed 'Holy hell, how cool. I can now rock it with the pinatas without having glitches!' I wasn't expecting an XBOX360, let alone an Elite. The moment I got it though I knew where I was heading. To Best Buy to get the newest Viva Pinata game. Viva Pinata: Party Animals.
 
I didn't necessarily WANT the game, because I had heard that it was a Mario Party type family game; and lets be honest...gamers have seen their fair share of party games. Seeing how the graphics on the original Viva Pinata were so glorious though, I figured, hey, why not?
 
Luck was in the stars for me on my birthday though, because my brother actually bought me that game. How ever did he know?! (Could it be that I have a love for girly colorful games? I'm sure.)

Anyhow, I popped the disc into my console, and let er' rip.

Viva Pinata: Party Animals starts off with excitement. Music that gets your little heart pumping, and ready for any action the game could throw your way.

First you choose your Pinata. Some of these characters may look familiar to you from the original title, which is cool. For the most part though they are your main characters from the Viva Pinata cartoon.

I choose the donkey looking pinata and I was ready to go and compete in the Party Animals Championship Challenge. These challenges will consist of racing, and other fun filled mini games. If you play well you will be dubbed the top pinata...and everyone wants to be number one!

Game play:
 
I truly wasn't thinking that Viva Pinata: Party Animals would deliver much. I assumed it would throw me the same frikkin bone that Mario Party threw at me. But hot damn was I wrong.

I found myself racing through colorful environments filled with awesome loop holes, twists, turns, and action galore. The racing games immediately reminded me of Mario Kart type racing. Where you go around the track, and hope to come in first. In Viva Pinata: Party Animals, the collection of candy will allow your character to run super fast, pour honey down on the track for other pinatas to slip in, fly, and so on. The candy basically helps you get ahead. Like in Mario Kart, throwing turtle shells at the enemy helped you cruise ahead of them.

I was very impressed with the racing aspect in Viva Pinata: Party Animals, and truly I do not think I could grow bored of it. Especially if you have 4 controllers, where you could go head to toe against family and friends.

Another mini game that I found myself thrown into was beating a pinata. Whomever hit the swinging pinata till it broke first, wins the challenge.

In all there are well over 50 mini games for you do indulge yourself in. Some mini games will be all out fun, while others will fail to impress some gamers.

I think the worst part about the game play is not being able to skip through that annoying mole pinata things voice after an event ends. Other than that though, the game is a lot of fun.

Graphics:
 
If you have played the original Viva Pinata for the XBOX360 you already know what the graphics have to offer. In Viva Pinata: Party Animals everything looks relatively the same, only with a different type of game play.

Colors are lush, environments are beautiful to look at, and should be fully appreciated.

Music:
Music plays in the background, and depending on the mini game the music will play at a normal beat, or speed up to get the adrenaline rushing.

Controls:
 
The controls may trick you at first; especially when you first begin to race. You do not use the analogs to make your pinata run, you actually use the buttons located at the top of the XBOX360's remote. You steer your pinata with the analog. This can be a bit annoying for the first few seconds, but as soon as you get into the game, you don't even notice it.

Other mini games call for different uses of the controller, so pay attention to the bottom of the screen before you hit start to begin a challenge. The bottom screen will give you a short description on what buttons to use in the mini game.

Re-Play-
 
Viva Pinata: Party Animals offers re-play value galore. With over 50 fun mini games you are likely to come back to playing this game time and time again.

LIVE:
 
Got no friends? Yeah, me either. This is where XBOX LIVE comes in to play.

Viva Pinata: Party Animals can be played online with other Viva Pinata: Party Animals players.

You can go head to head with another player if you have XBOX LIVE set up.

Truly this is the type of game play that was meant for LIVE. Tons of fans are still pissed about the lack of online play in Mario Party 8 for the Wii. When I learned I could battle other players from around the world on Viva Pinata: Party Animals, I was stoked!

Overall:
 
Viva Pinata: Party Animals is most definitely the funnest party game I have ever gotten my gaming fingers on. With fun filled mini games, high speed action races, and gnarly vibrant graphics... the game colored me impressed!

Recommended?
 
Highly.