Viva Pinata Party Animals | 
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| From: Microsoft
Category: Video Games
List Price: $19.99
Buy New: $6.49
You Save: $13.50 (68%)
New (45) Used (11) from $5.00
Rating:  7 reviews
Sales Rank: 2283
Platform: Xbox 360
Genre: Action Games
ESRB: Everyone
Media: Video Game
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Age: 5 - 20 years
Operating System: Xbox 360
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 0.1 x 0.1 x 0
MPN: 4CU001
Model: 4CU-00001
UPC: 882224520997
EAN: 0882224520997
ASIN: B000UKZ208
Release Date: October 30, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Huge variety of exciting mini-games | | • | Engaging gameplay for people of every age | | • | Bright, detailed and inviting graphics | | • | Great online play - up to four players can play in one room, or join a game on Xbox Live |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
It's party time! Compete in a variety of zany battles and races in the social party game Viva Pinata: Party Animals. Control the fame, fortune, and destiny of all your favorite characters from Viva Pinata: Fergy Fudgehog, Paulie Pretztail, Franklin Fizzlybear, and Hudson Horstachio. Viva Pinata: Party Animals includes more than 40 mini-games and a dozen foot races for players to compete against one another. Collect candy and special bonuses in all sorts of exotic and hazard-filled locations. Appealing to young kids or those just young-at-heart, this unique social party game rewards and challenges all players regardless of their skill level. The game is especially designed for interaction among friends and family. Pushing the advanced capabilities of the Xbox 360, the game offers a vibrant and engaging gaming experience. It's the perfect game for parents looking for fun new ways to connect with their kids, or friends just looking to share a few laughs. Friends and family members of all ages can party together in one place or from around the world via Xbox Live, and take the party global!
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...
 Broken Controls and I have no friends! October 16, 2008
The first thing to note about this game is that the camera angles and controls are awful. I didn't try playing it with other people because I am lame and have no friends, but playing alone was rediculous and boring. If you are a solo gamer who is a fan of regular Viva Pinata games I still dont reccommend this. If you have a Wii get a Mario Party game if you want to play something with friends or your kids. If you need a party game for your XBOX 360 get Rockband instead.
Although It's Viva Pinata, It's Not That Great August 24, 2008
What this game offers over the original Viva Pinata game is that it includes the actual characters from the Viva Pinata television series. You get variations on characters -- their alter egos, if you think about -- in both male and female versions, such as Fergie and Francine, as examples. The voices are a perfect match, and the pre-race and post-race commentary is exactly what you would expect from Viva Pinata.
This game, however, gets very repetitive, very quickly. After the first hour into the game, it became fairly obvious that there isn't much to the game. For the most part, you pick a "length", and that decision determines the number of races and challenges that you must complete. Once you complete a race, you complete one or more challenges, which are mini games that mostly involve button-mashing. Honestly, the "short" length is just the right length, with any other length getting extremely tedious. The game randomly picks the challenges, so you have no control over the sequence. In fact, during a medium-length game, I had to play the same challenge twice between two races. This gave me the opportunity to practice, of course, but the game should be able to track the challenges between races to avoid duplication and subsequent boredom.
From a control perspective, this game is a mixed bag. The races are easy to play, although my 7-year old daughter complained about the controls being too difficult for her. The mini-game challenges are a completely different story. Before each challenge, there is a summary screen that explains the controls and goals for the selected challenge. The game makes an effort, at times, to display on-screen control tips during the challenge (especially during any challenge that involves drinking soda and burping). But some of the "run and smash" challenges are difficult to control, and aiming in many of the shooting and smashing challenges is tough. At times, things are so frantic, you can't keep track of your own score and you don't even know if you're getting it right. Sometimes I'm surprised when I win the challenge.
What I like about this game are the achievements, which are quite creative and somewhat challenging to obtain. Although after an hour, you might unlock 20% of the achievements, there are quite a few that will require some creativity to unlock. It's not just about winning, all the time.
If it weren't for the multi-player (offline and online) aspect of this game, I probably would not recommend it. Fortunately, it has good replay value because of its multi-player modes. I would not recommend it for children younger than 9 or 10, since the controls are not always intuitive. It's a fun game with a few issues that make it less than perfect.
OK Game August 6, 2008
I honestly only bought the game to support the Viva Pinata name. I love the cartoon and I loved the fist game and I can't wait for the next Viva Pinata to drop in September. This game is all right but it gets old fast. Not much variety here. I think you will have more fun if you play this game with some people rather then playing the computer.
 Fun family game January 13, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I bought this for our family for family game night. We all enjoy it and have fun. Our children find it very entertaining. Easy for my 5 year old. Sometimes he wins even though we're "not letting him win". It's also pretty funny. Children find it amusing to throw a dart on the donkey-like pinata's behind and several other minigames. My 2 year old loves watching as well as playing a couple of the easy games such as an apple eating game and anything that requires only pushing buttons. This game is fun for all ages!!!!
 Great potential, but big flaws December 11, 2007
8 out of 12 found this review helpful
A mini-game tournament starring the Viva Pinata characters is a cool concept. Too bad the execution failed.
1) The mini-games that you want to play cannot be played at any time. You have to be lucky that the tournament selection will pick that mini-game in some long sequence of mini-games. They focus around racing tracks too much. These are fine by themselves, but it would have been nice to have a choice of not including them. What is really needed is to customize your own tournament line-up! Even allow duplication of your favorites.
2) They should have allowed the users to pick any animal -- not just four.
3) The voice commentary is really bad. They are depressing (as if they know this game is bad) and very repetitive.
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