Viva Piata: candy coated crack

360 Fanboy blogger, Dustin Burg, laid his hands on Viva Piñata a few days ago, and my rental copy showed up yesterday. Having finished blogging for the day, I popped the game into my 360. I did nothing else for two hours straight. I only stopped because my wife came home and we were going to dinner. When we got back from dinner (coincidentally, it was Mexican food), I showed Viva Piñata to my wife.

Now, we play a few games together -- mostly dungeon crawlers and puzzle games -- but for the most part, I am the gamer of the house. Still, she loves The Sims and it shares many similarities with VP. She started playing at 7:00 and did not set the controller down until nearly 11:00. The urge to do "just one more thing" is a quality that Viva Piñata absolutely nails. Whether it's meeting the mating requirements for a species, building that house, or just planting seeds, you will always have something you need to attend to. Once you've done that, you'll remember that other thing you wanted to do, and so on and so forth. So, let this be a warning for those who haven't picked this up, and those who want that perfect game for the casual gamers in your house: Viva Piñata will claim your soul and your 360. Remember that before you hand the controller over to someone else "just to try it out."