NOTE: This review is intended for parents of disabled children and specifically focuses on what parents of disabled children need to know about this game both in terms of content and accessibility.

Viva Piñata, a game in the budget-priced Platinum Hits series for Xbox 360, is an overwhelming success for parents on nearly every count. The basic premise is that the player tends to a garden and, as the player improves the garden, piñatas will begin to visit and decide to live there. As more piñatas visit and move in, the player gains access to better tools which offer more ways to improve the garden to attract more piñatas. The game is brightly colored, the tamed piñatas are all very cute and look very friendly, and it’s a very gentle game overall.

It’s a simple concept, but it is not a simple game – some piñatas will almost always fight each other, some piñatas will only visit if a piñata they eat for food is present, some piñatas will only live there if they’ve eaten a resident piñata, and so forth. Players have to balance how much of their garden is dedicated to certain types of terrain – some piñatas will only appear if a garden has a sufficiently large pond, while other piñatas require a certain type of tree or plant.

And as if managing the challenges presented by attracting piñatas and making them residents weren’t enough, Sour Piñatas (essentially bad versions of piñatas) will visit the garden and cause trouble for the residents and Ruffians will stomp through the garden and make a mess. As players progress through the game, they can tame the Sours and place items in their gardens to scare the Ruffians away, but at early levels, it can be frustrating to deal with them.

In terms of content, parents need to know that the piñatas sometimes fight each other, that piñatas sometimes eat each other, and that players will need to play mini-games so their piñatas can have baby piñatas. There is no explicit content or violence (successful romance mini-games only show two piñatas dancing to a jukebox), and players will sometimes need to hit Sour Piñatas and Ruffians with their shovel, but the most graphic violence that occurs is a piñata exploding into confetti and candy.

With the content addressed, here is what parents of disabled children need to know about the game’s accessibility.



Accessibility Issues

First, there is no option to turn on subtitling because all dialogue in the game is accompanied by identical onscreen text – in short, subtitles are enabled by default with no visible way to disable them, ensuring that a child can’t inadvertently turn it off and parents won’t have to look through the game manual and search online forums to figure out how to reactivate it.

Viva Piñata also features extensive, written information accessible through the game menu to help players with information about both basic and complex tasks. While Comic Sans isn’t an ideal typeface for subtitles, it’s both legible and readable, and the text is typically large black text on a white background for maximum contrast and ease of reading. Parents of children with hearing concerns should not experience any issues.

Parents of children with a form of colorblindness may experience some issues – Viva Piñata uses red and green for certain menu options, but also provides other visual cues to differentiate between the two colors. Often, the game will note that players need to use the green A button on the Xbox Controller to select an item and the red B button on the Xbox Controller to go back. This is a common interface for the Xbox and is actually the same scheme the console uses in its menus. In this example, while red and green are used for meaning, the green option also includes the letter A for the A button, and the letter B for the B button. In another example, the game uses a layout much like a clock to accept or reject an option – the green arrow to accept the change also has a checkmark on it and points to 12 o’clock. The red arrow to reject the change has a large X on it and points to six o’clock. While any use of color for game information can be problematic, Viva Piñata has also included other visual cues in those situations that do not rely on color to communicate meaning.

Parents of children who have motor function disabilities or other concerns about precision will likely experience some difficulties, particularly in the romance mini-game, which requires a player to navigate a piñata through a maze of balloons. Making contact with a balloon will cause it to pop and at advance levels, will end the mini-game if even one balloon pops. Some of the piñatas move very quickly in the mini-game and can be difficult to control even without motor function concerns. Furthermore, even selecting a piñata roaming in the garden can be difficult as they move around. While children with motor function disabilities or other precision concerns could most likely play the game at relatively basic levels, more advanced levels would likely require assistance.

Parents of children who only have use of one hand may find the game somewhat accessible. Viva Piñata includes two controller schemes: simple and advanced. Simple assigns turning and moving to the left stick; players move the stick left or right to turn, and forward or back to move. The Advanced scheme uses the left stick to move in any direction and the right stick to control what the player is looking at, consistent with most video games. Players with use of only one hand are likely to experience similar difficulties as players with motor function disabilities or precision concerns, especially in the mini-games, but should be able to manage their garden. It’s worth noting here that terrain in the garden must first be turned from dry ground to soil, which is achieved by holding a button down to smack the ground with a shovel. It is possible to move the shovel while turning the ground to soil, but it requires both hands. While players can accomplish the same task by moving the shovel, then turning the ground to soil and repeating, that method is a time-consuming effort which is likely to be frustrating for both parents and their children. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be a toggle option for the shovel (i.e. pressing a button to start smacking the ground with a shovel, then pressing the same button to stop).

Finally, Viva Piñata relies largely upon a system which saves as players exit a gaming session. It is possible to save and continue, but most saving is triggered by leaving the garden.

To summarize the above analysis:

• Parents of children with hearing concerns should find the subtitles suitable.
• Parents of children with a form of color blindness may experience some challenges, but Viva Piñata generally includes visual cues that do not depend on color to convey meaning in addition to the color-based menu options.
• Parents of children with motor function disabilities, precision concerns, or who have use of only one hand are likely to experience varying degrees of frustration, particularly with mini-games but also with some aspects of managing the garden, and should be wary of buying this game before trying it out via renting or borrowing it.

At A Glance

Precision: Mini-games require precision; moving piñatas in the mini-games can be difficult even without precision concerns. Selecting piñatas in the garden can also be difficult due to their movement. Recommend rating of 3 out of 10.

Deaf Gamers: Subtitling enabled by default with no visible way to disable it. Subtitles are large black text on a white background for high contrast and easy reading. Recommend rating of 10 out of 10.

One-handed: Mini-games will likely present similar challenges to gamers with use of only one hand. Some aspects of garden management, most notably turning hard ground into fertile soil, will be significantly more difficult. No toggle options appear to exist to make such tasks easier. Recommend rating of 3 out of 10.

Subtitled: Subtitling enabled by default with no visible way to disable it. Subtitles are large black text on a white background for high contrast and easy reading. Recommend rating of 10 out of 10.

Color Blind: Uses red and green at the same time for some menu options, also includes alternate, non-color-based visual cues like buttons and checkmarks. Recommend rating of 5 out of 10.

Checkpoint / Save System: Saves are mostly triggered by leaving a gaming session, but it is also possible to save progress and continue. Recommend rating of 10 out of 10.