The original Viva Piñata was a critical darling, but a commercial failure. With the release of Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise, Rare hopes to perform alchemy, turning VP’s praise and awards into retail figures that can compete with the likes of The Sims and Animal Crossing. Did they make gold or just get a lot of goop? It appears Rare felt niggled by the few complaints critics had with Viva Piñata. A previously difficult menu navigation system has been stream-lined via the control pad, allowing for quick taps in various directions to select your tools, a greatly appreciated hot-key-like design choice that reduces your time in menus; the graphics engine has been tweaked and spit-polished to achieve it’s colorfully super-saturated potential; they’ve added 32 new piñatas, which takes the piñata count over 100; and best of all, with in-box co-op, you and a friend can garden until your little piñata heart’s burst: as you can see, all of these minor issues from before have been thoughtfully repaired, but a few fixes - no matter how well done - do not a sequel make. ...
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