About the game, let me just say that other than Blue Dragon, I find this is the most aestictically pleasing game I've seen on the Xbox 360. Yeah, yeah some people may say that the games on the system that involves space marines are technically superior, but eh...I just don't feel the art direction in those games. What's also nice is that this is the first Rare game that has character designs that isn't totally beaten with an ugly stick or in this case, an ugly shovel.
Also note that before I've heard the great impressions about this game that led me to rent it, I thought this game was going to be a combined Harvest Moon/Animal Crossing/Pokemon for the 4-10 set. However, it is much more complex than that. I blame Microsoft's poor job marketing of the franchise, which includes contracting 4Kids to create the show. I've seen an episode of the show on Marketplace and it's pretty much your insipid, Saturday Morning affair. There mush have been some wires crossed between MS and Rare as the game itself a bit too hectic for the show's demographic. There is also the deal with your pinatas, which you could grow attatch to, dying due to being ripped to shreds by Sour Pinatas, being a victim of the food chain, or losing pretty badly to a fight between other resident pinatas in the garden. Yeah, I'm sure that will go well with Susie-6-year-old who usually adores her never-dying Nintendog.
Now, when you start your first garden, you are greeted by Leafos who is there to guide you on how to create a garden and give you helpful(or unhelpful) tips on how to spuce it up and attract pinatas.
You are first given the shovel and is instructed to whack the hard ground and break the debris for plants to grow there. She then gives you the grass seed packet and you notice that there are black and white, worm-like pinatas called Whirlm moved into your garden. After placing the using the seed packet for the first time, the Whirlm change color(complete with a real-time cutscene of doing so) and they become your first permenant resident.
And then, the game goes hectic from there. Allow me to demostrate briefly of how the first few hours of the game would be like.
Oh boy, I got my first pinata, a Whirlm. Oh look, I unlocked an achievement. Now Billy Buider is coming to the garden and is going to build a house for my two Whirlms so they can mate. Now I'm mating both Whirlms buy playing a crappy mini-game and seeing a mating dance cutscene. Achievement unlocked! Now Leafos wants me to name it, oh look another achivement. Now Leafos want me to give it a designer tag. Another achievement unlocked! Oh look, my gardner skills have leveled up and she's given me some more stuff. Oh look a Sparrowment intro cutscene and it is coming into my garden because of the Whirlms. Oh, Seedos is coming to give me a flower seed to plant. *Plants* Another Achivement! Wow, there are some more species intros and they are coming into my garden! Oh crap, one of them is eating another of my pinatas! OH NO! a sour pinata is here, and its making my other pinatas sick. Oh no! my plants are dying, I need to water them! OH NO! My piantas are fighting. WAIT, I'm getting more stuff! I'm being introduced to more people! I'm gaining more levels! SLOW DOWN GAME, SLOW DOWN!
After that, the game's slow down though you still need to pay close attention to your garden. There are nasties who can come into your garden such as sour pinatas and the Dastardos. The sours can barf up, sour candy that makes your pinatas ill when they eat them, and they can ruin your garden. You can either whack them with a shovel and kill them, or tame sours into new and nice resident pinatas though certain requirements and this is usually the only way to get certain species in the guarden. The Dastardos are more nasty as they are immune to the shovel and do bigger damage to your garden. And since they are human, you can't tame them.
There is also the danger of species conflict, which is some types of pinatas which fight with each other no matter what. For example, I thought it would be cute to have Buzzlegums(bees) and Raisants(ants) in my first garden--only to find out that they constantly fought each other, and I had to constantly call the doctor because the loser was ill. >_< Thus, I sold all my Raisants since they weren't the ones making the honey and I got a decent profit. My other garden has the ants, but no bees.
Some species will only come to your garden or breed if they consume other species. The Surypent(snake) will become a resident only if they eat a resident Mousemellow(mouse). Hope you'll be prepared not to play favorites with your lowly Whirlms.
The more levels you gain as a gardener, the more species will appear, and new options will be available such as better tools, better plants, bigger garden spaces, etc.
So this is an enjoyable game and I reconmend you sims-lovers out there try it. Pity that this game is bombing though, but I gues it really didn't feel at home with the usual 360 fare. =(
