AMN's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.

What the Game's About
Imagine if a developer set out to marry the two concepts behind Mario Kart and Mario Party. That's what Krome Studios, the developer behind Viva Pinata: Party Animals, has done. Despite its name, Party Animals is nothing like its older brother, which released a year ago to mostly positive reviews. Whereas the original Viva Pinata was grounded in simulation mechanics – breeding pinata characters and taking care of them – Party Animals is a racing/party game and is aimed at young children.

What's Hot
For a kid's game, it's not bad. If that's what you're looking for, rejoice. The racing levels are decently fun; controlling your on-screen character is intuitive and easy. This is a title that little kids will smile while playing. When you're done with the super short single-player mode, you can hop online, which is lag-free, too. As far as bright, colorful and happy video games targeted at little kids go, Viva Pinata: Party Animals is not necessarily "bad," but it's not very "good," either. You could do worse. In fact, it's better than at least one racing game we've reviewed this year, so far.

What's Not
If you wouldn't describe yourself as a "child," then Party Animals isn't for you. The cute-and-happy thing is a little too in-your-face for anybody old enough to understand that only something sinister lies behind the rainbow-colored pinatas. On a serious note, the game's ultra shallow. There's a small number of racing levels, and you can't even pick which you want to play. Instead, you must play through them in the same order over and over, which quickly becomes a borefest. Like in Mario Kart, you can use and abuse power-ups, but the ones in Party Animals are rather underwhelming. In between races, you're treated to (or tortured by, depending on your age) challenge events, which are mini-games. Unfortunately, these are more often than not pretty shallow and very rarely entertaining for more than a couple of seconds. The only thing more repetitive than the mini-games is the voice-acting, which will drive you mad. We never want to hear "I've just been told our TV ratings are better than ever" ever, ever again.

Final Word
Viva Pinata: Party Animals is a moderately average kid's game. It's a bright, colorful racing/party game that can only appeal to the youngest of gamers. The biggest thing holding Party Animals back from being more appealing is the limited number of options in the game. You can play the mini-games individually, but they're probably the worst thing here. The racing levels are the best part about the title, and you can't even choose which levels you play. Even little kids will probably be turned off by the lack of options -– unless they don't mind literally playing the same over and over.