July 5th, 2008 by Daniel Duncan

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise is closing in on us. In 63 days, this latest installment in the Viva franchise will be landing on store shelves awaiting your loving embrace. To celebrate its upcoming release, we’ll be taking a look at the past of the franchise each day leading up until its US, Canadian, and Latin American release on September 2nd and its European release on September 5th. So without further ado, let’s examine Day 2…

Day 2: A Tale of Many Glitches

One of the biggest and most disappointing issues with Viva Pinata was the staggering amount of glitches that shipped with the game. With so much going on at one given time, a glitch here or a glitch there is bound to ensue; however, Viva had more than its fair share and at times it could be rather aggravating or, in some cases, quite hilarious. Even moreso the former though, unfortunately.

There have been reports that the game refuses to save, characters disappear, the console will freeze, Pinatas acting in a strange behavior, and many many more. Generally, with the Xbox 360 console, when such glitches are overwhelming the masses, a patch will soon surface from the developer to correct the issue. It seems as if ignored their fans in this particular cases and failed to deliver. I can see why it would be difficult to correct such issues when everyone is apparantly experiencing a variety of difficulties that differ from those of another, but surely there was something that could have been done, perhaps?

As for my Garden, I’ve certainly had my fair share. Leafos has somehow become invisible and continues to remain that way. The only way I know for a fact that she is still there is when I accidently browse across her whilst moving through the Garden. A mysterious blue flyswatter in one place protrudes from the ground which cannot be removed. I’m assuming this was part of the rubble that must be cleaned during the tutorial at the beginning, but I’m not positive. And probably the most aggravating yet most hilarious is what I call the ‘Invincible Chewnicorn’. That tale is deserving of its own day in this ‘64 Day’ special, however.

Despite all of its glitches, Viva Pinata still remains to be one of the best titles to grace the 360 console. I can’t even begin to fathom how much better it would have been though if it had been perfected or at least shipped with less bugs (the cause of a glitchy game). We know that BIGsheep is trying to resolve the bug issue with Trouble in Paradise, so let’s hope his endeavor is a successful one so that we can cheer praises to a nearly glitch free TiP.