Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise is an excellent, pint-sized recreation of the original Viva Piñata, an under looked Xbox 360 treat that’s since spawned spin-off titles and an animated series. The game is certainly one of Rare’s (Banjo-Kazooie, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo) best efforts in recent years - a super-addictive gardening sim in which you attract and breed colorful piñata creatures.

If that sounds like a delicious mix to you, you’ve probably already played the original title to death, and you can just run out and buy this game for a handheld fix – it captures all the magic in a portable form. If you’re utterly perplexed by the idea of a gardening sim starring animated party decorations, let me break it down: the game blends some of the strategy and control elements (not to mention the garden aesthetic) of Pikmin with the character dynamics and commerce/economic aspects of Animal Crossing, with a healthy side of SimCity world building. Oh, and lots of romance – yes, romance.

The game starts players off gently, introducing you to the basics of caring for the various piñatas (based on real-life animals, all with cute names like Bark Bark – which is, you guessed it, like a dog), tending to and building a successful garden, and learning the ins and outs of your tools – planting, cleaning, watering, etc.

Soon after, you’re left with a big empty garden to perk up in order to attract piñatas. Some are into certain plants or seeds, others like to eat the herbivores, and still others create, um, waste that helps fertilize plants. Further, you’re tasked with helping the little fur balls reproduce by means of “romancing” which requires certain conditions to be met. An early example – Whirlm breeding requires two happy little Whirlms, a certain percentage of grass, and a Whirlm house, and then they can get it on. Don’t worry, parents – there’s nothing explicit here. New baby piñatas come into the world via a stork-like character.

As the creatures and their motivations become more complex, the game goes from peaceful and relaxing to chaotic and maddeningly addictive. There’s a deep, strategic game underneath the cutesy exterior. Players can tackle the game as an economic sim, ruling the garden with an iron fist and selling away all valuable commodities – including baby piñatas and family houses. Or they can take the “earth mother” approach and protect their beloved creatures, getting rid of most of the carnivores and keeping harmony in the garden. The choice is yours, and it’s incredibly fun and rewarding to learn all the little tricks to attracting rare piñatas.

There’s also a free play area called the playground in which players can sit back and chill with any unlocked piñatas, should the main game get too hectic. This is a great way to play around with piñatas that you never get time with in the main game – those with zookeeper instincts will appreciate the change of pace. Finally, gamers can send and receive piñatas via a sharing feature (a la Pokemon) introducing a limited multiplayer aspect to an otherwise solitary experience.

The controls could make or break this game and thankfully they work beautifully. Players use the touch screen for just about everything (though making use of the D-pad to zoom around the screen also helps), and most commands are entered through tapping and dragging the stylus. It’s intuitive and works incredibly well – though there are times when the screen is busy that pixel-perfect precision is required to say, tap your Bunnycomb and not the flower he’s practically standing on top of.

In terms of presentation, the game looks and sounds fantastic. The graphics are crisp, colorful, and just detailed enough for a sim style game, though they do look clunky when you zoom in on specific features. All the cute/weird “romancing” videos – along with other video from the franchise - is squeezed beautifully onto the tiny DS cart, adding a certain panache you don’t often see in handheld games. The music and sound cues are excellent, with unique sound effects for every animal and event you can encounter – which is incredibly helpful to the gameplay.

In fact, the aesthetic is very Rare – with a lush color palette, brightly colored characters, and goofy, funny dialogue everywhere you look. If you’re allergic to all things cute, you may have issues here, but I’d recommend persevering until you’re hooked. And you will be hooked – this game taps into both nurturing and competitive instincts, and even the most hardened gamer will be racing to build the most prosperous garden of magical creatures after an hour or two.

As a Viva Piñata first timer, I was totally at home right from the start. The game is pure, well-paced fun, with a great deal of variation and customization available. If you’re the type of gamer who likes to create and build rather than say, blow everything up, you’ll be in heaven with this title. Even red meat gamers will be addicted – it’s just that good.

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