Shake it, Shake it, Shake it, Like a Party Animal

Being a parent is a difficult job. It requires you to put your children’s needs before your own. It means that sometimes you make sacrifices for them, even when it is a difficult and painful thing to do. I have been busy spending my afternoons being a good parent. And by that I mean I have been playing Viva Piñata: Party Animals with my kiddos and letting them beat me. I say letting them beat me because obviously I wouldn’t lose to children under the age of 12 at any video game, much less one that features cheery bright paper mache animals doing silly things like burping. Seriously, I got mad skillz yo. I may have been acting like I was trying my hardest but I really wanted them to be able to savor the sweet taste of victory. I don’t care what you say, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Viva Piñata: Party Animals features more than 40 mini-games and a dozen foot races for some crazy party game fun. The colors are bright, the characters are adorable, and everything is simply ridiculously cute. This game is definitely made for a younger audience but parents will have fun playing it with their children as well. Up to four players can battle it out, either on the same console or over Xbox Live.

Before we go any farther, you should know that I don’t read instructions. I don’t believe in them, plain and simple. One of my basic life philosophies is that directions are for noobs. I can figure it all out by myself. Yes, it may take several frustrating hours but ya know what? I will figure it out. All by myself. Sometimes. That being said, many of the mini-games in this title are confusing at first and require a handful of play throughs before you fully grasp the basic concept. I was surprised at how complicated the control schemes were for some of the games (the races utilize pretty much every button on your controller) and a few of the mini-games are downright not user friendly at all. Perhaps your eight year old will be brighter than I am. You can hope at least.

While the majority of the games will take some getting used to, Viva Piñata: Party Animals really is fun for the younger crowd. There are some cute burping games that will have everybody rolling on the floor while playing. When those come up, I always belch right along with my character. It seems to help me do better. BURP. My four year old managed to pwn his older brothers a few times (much to their chagrin) and this title has been my eight year old’s game of choice lately, whether he is playing with other people or by himself. It’s simple enough that little ones will be able to get the hang of it (with some parental assistance of course) and challenging enough to keep the older ones interested as well. The best thing about this game is that none of the players are ever eliminated in any the games. In similar party games like Fuzion Frenzy, sometimes people are eliminated and then left to watch everybody else finish the game for minutes at a time. On Viva Piñata: Party Animals, everybody finishes each game to completion. No one loses interest from having to sit out which is a nice feature. Especially if you are always the one in last place. *cough

I would say this game is a must have for families that enjoy gaming together and have children between the ages of 4 and 12. Older than that and they may think it is too babyish. Younger than that and they will not be able to master the controls. In between that however this is the perfect game. In the land of a hundred shooters, Viva Piñata: Party Animals is wonderful, entertaining, innocent fun. And if your children regularly beat you as they do me, just tell yourself that you let them beat you on purpose because you are a good parent. Yup, it’s not about winning but about quality family time and being a good parent. (I have been practicing while they are sleeping though, they’ll be getting a serious pwning in the near future, maybe.)