Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise Preview

You've got to collect-em-all. Wrong game, but same principle.

Wanting to make sure the game is accessible to all, Pocket Paradise includes a number of tutorial exercises split into four episodes. Once these are completed the main garden is unlocked, which is where you can begin your quest to find the many Piñatas hidden in the game. A further eight episodes are unlocked as you improve your garden, although you can skip over them if you like. The core to the game is making sure everything in your garden is working to improve the life of something else, and it's this balancing act that makes Viva Piñata so addictive.

You can obtain certain items by using the Piñatas. The Taffy fly for example excretes fertilizer if you make it eat an apple, with the fertilizer depending on the colour of the fruit it eats. You can also use the shops to buy items, Piñatas and houses for your Piñatas. Costalot is like the game's general store, offering seeds and other miscellaneous items. Willy is your man for any building work that needs to be done (Piñatas wont Romance if they don't have a house), and Gretchen can deliver you a Piñata if you aren't able to lure what you need by the usual means.

Viva Piñata is a game that you can play at an easy pace for the most part, but from time to time things get a little heated. Your garden can be invaded by Sours (evil Piñatas up to no good) and Ruffians (think of a typical teenager) who will pick on your Piñatas. When they enter your garden the alarm will sound (as it does when your residents get into a fight) and if you're in time you might be able to batter them with your shovel.

A blue bubble in the lower left corner of the screen indicates if a Piñata Challenge is available. Here you'll be given a task, such as collecting three Pretztails and rounding them up in a crate. The crate is sent off and you're given a reward in return. The crate system can also be used to share Piñatas with friends, either wirelessly or on the same game cart between game saves. In this way you could have two games running simultaneously, sending certain required Piñatas across to another game.

Willy jokes aren't necessary, but feel free to add your own.

A playground mode has been introduced which will allow gamers to play without pressure. You can define the area's layout before you begin, so there's no need to terraform the land before you can do anything. Being the game's sandbox mode the visual style is that of a beach setting, giving everything a very relaxed feel. Some options are missing, such as the use of fertilizers, and you'll only see Piñatas you've found in the main game, but for casual play it seems like a great addition.

There's so much depth to the game that it simply can't all be covered in a single preview. Suffice to say that Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise on DS is looking brilliant and is everything I, as a huge fan, wanted from a handheld version.

Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise is due for release later this year and should sit very nicely with the Xbox 360 sequel.