Genre: Simulation
Developer: Rare
Publisher: Microsoft

Years ago the term "fur-shading" was coined to describe a method of rendering animals to make them look truly furry. For Viva Pinata, one could describe a variant of this technique called "pinata-shading"; the creatures you tend to during play really look like pinatas. As well, the game world is extremely sharp, vivid, and attractive to gamers of all ages.

The soundtrack to Viva Pinata consists of the kind of goofy, funky, light-orchestra music you hear in children's cinema. This specific selection is catchy, although not particularly memorable. The voice acting is clearly geared towards children, but isn't so over the top that adults will get annoyed.

The gameplay in Viva Pinata should be familiar to anyone who has played a simulation game before. Notably, it is most similar to Sim Life, Theme Park, or Zoo Tycoon. You job is to lay out and maintain a garden while attracting animals (Pinatas), keeping them happy, and making them reproduce. Unfortunately, the user interface and control scheme do a lot to mar the solid underlying game mechanics.

Viva Pinata is a good game with a poor technical implementation. The camera sits two feet above the "ground" and right on top of the action, making it difficult to see very much of the garden at a time-- the developers should have used an overhead/isometric view. Simple tasks that need to be performed over and over are painful due to horrible menu layouts and not enough shortcut keys. Between the camera and poor control scheme, a very simple and enjoyable game is made artificially difficult and, sometimes, needlessly frustrating.