Viva Resetti!

Jeez...I don't even KNOW how long it's been since my last post.

This job really takes it out of you -- I'm up at 6 every day, and don't get home until 6. That leaves 12 hours in the day to eat, sleep, and hunt down oversized boar. Much to my dismay, that really doesn't leave much time to blog, so this sucker is getting updated on a "when the time allows" basis. In my case, I didn't go to work today (feeling under the weather), so you all can benefit from my awesomeness.

Some news:

Was in talks with Midway to do some testing for Stranglehold...probably some time next week. Best of all, it's in the evening, so I won't be missing work.

Also got in touch with Matt from HVS, who seems..."cordially detached." No new projects means no new job, but I'm going to be on his ass like underwear.

But in a strange change of pace, (There was a pace?) I'm actually going to do a review.

Every now and then, there's a game that either gets more attention that it really deserves because it has a certain element to it or name (See: Fable, Ace Combat, ExciteTruck), or gets no attention when it really deserves some. When I see the latter, I really get worked into a lather (I and I can rhyme rather...well).

So, that having been said, I want to talk about Viva Pinata for a little bit:
The game functions a lot like a "breeding sim." You start out with a patch of land, and try to lure animals/pinatas onto it by making it enticing (carrots, lots of grass, animals to eat...etc). Once an animal has decided it likes your plot of land (and there are listed conditions for this), it will become a resident. From there, you use what animals you have already attracted to attract bigger and better animals. Somewhere in this mess is the fact that you breed these animals over and over again, with ANY member of the same species through a sick "mating dance" game.

Apparently, when pinata reproduce, they listen to disco.

So...really, it's a sick sort of farming sim with a cutesy angle. But there's a way to WIN. A lot of people tell me that this game is an Animal Crossing-type game. But it isn't.

Animal Crossing has no goal. The ASSUMED goal is to get everything, and even then, you have nothing to show for your RIDICULOUS labor. In Viva Pinata, your goal is to fill your garden, however you want. The difference is that in filling your garden, your surroundings change IMMEDIATELY. And unlike Animal Crossing, where you can just choose to do nothing, Pinata actually has gameplay that forces you to be active.

More on this later.