It is rare to find a demo that leaves you satisfied at the end. Many end with cliffhangers, hoping you’ll buy the game. With Viva Piñata: Party Animals, the mini-games created a satisfying experience in just a short demo.

I wasn’t sure whether or not I would like Party Animals. I have never played Viva Piñata, but it was one of my sister’s obsessions. I have been hesitant to start the game because we have similar taste and I don’t want to get distracted from my schoolwork. When I heard that there was a party game using these characters, I thought it would be worth checking out the demo.

In the first few minutes, I was impressed by the amount of character packed into the game. Each piñata animal had its own personality, through exaggerated body language and careful character design. The mini-games were summarized and scored after each round with voice-overs imitating sports commentators. It was cute and clever.

After playing two other party games for quite some time (Rayman’s Raving Rabbids and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz), I have to admit that this game won me over with its charm. While the games themselves hardly seem innovative (from a Mario Kart race clone to sailboats powered by burps), they are certainly fun covered in the Viva Piñata theme. The humor is not quite as gross as Rabbids, yet it still seems to have a good balance of humor to appeal to younger boys and girls.

However, I would not limit the audience of this game to children. My coworkers were playing through the demo one day and had a blast. While neither grown man would likely admit to enjoying a kids game that much, I saw first-hand how much they became immersed. The game became a way for them to compete and tease each other to a greater degree than they do in real life. Also, the stakes were quite low, keeping the fun level high.

I really enjoyed the limited demo experience I had with Viva Piñata: Party Animals. I plan to rent this game later. I was glad that I was able to gain an understanding of the strengths of the game from the demo. I would recommend this game for children and encourage curious older gamers to consider trying the demo.  

I have the privilege of living in university-owned housing, meaning we have a ridiculous amount of fire drills. From smoking in the stairwell to hanging coat hangers on sprinkler heads, the silliest actions can cause everyone to evacuate the building at odd hours of the day. So I thought it was no big deal when the fire alarm scared me half to death last Sunday afternoon. I grabbed my DS Lite and a handful of games, heading out for what I hoped would be a normal 20-minute exercise in patience.

I wasn’t able to touch my DS for the first 20 minutes I spent outside. My mother called on my cell phone and I felt slightly disappointed, as homework awaited me inside. However, we did not get let back in after 20 minutes. I started up the DS and played a little Mario Kart. I really wanted to play Elite Beat Agents, but I didn’t want to disturb the other residents nearby with some of the mediocre covers of decent songs.

Unfortunately, Mario Kart was a lot less fun outside. I was doing okay for a while, but the bright California sun was washing out my screen, even on the brightest setting. I think part of it was due to the relatively low contrast of the game, since most of the colors are equally bright. It got practically unplayable when I was racing in Luigi’s Mansion. I couldn’t tell a shadowed door from a solid wall, getting me turned around entirely and causing me to come in at 5th place.

At this point, I was slightly miffed because I was in first place for the cup before. I still did win the cup (as it was on one of the easiest difficulties), but decided it was time to switch games. I played Super Mario Bros. for a grand total of seven minutes. That was the amount of time it took for me to get a game over and accept that, despite my ineptitude with Mario, it was really hard to see because of the low contrast issue.

I then moved on to Brain Age. I’ve been playing that game for a while and I really enjoy using it to take short study breaks. I love listening to the happy music and solving puzzles. I never really understood Sudoku before playing it in this game but I now it's one of my favorite puzzles. However, my mother called back in the middle of my play session and I turned it off, as you can’t really pause easily in that game.

I was getting pretty anxious now, as we had been outside for nearly an hour and I was getting cold. Also, people had begun sneaking back in the building at this point so there weren’t that many of us left outside, preferring not to commit a federal crime by re-entering the building. I turned to Elite Beat Agents, hoping that my recent favorite would help me feel better. Unfortunately, this was also a bit hard to see and I was self-conscious about the music. Finally, I turned off the DS and stood around like everyone else.

While my DS did help to stave off my boredom for a while, I felt that my anxiousness regarding the fire drill prevented me from truly appreciating any of the games. Also, the sun made it difficult to see many of the bright, happy games (like the Mario games). I have certainly played my DS for an hour at a time, but I find that many of the games lend themselves to shorter play sessions. If I learned anything that day, it’s that the DS may not perform the best outside, but it is certainly handy when you’re stuck outside your building.