10 Awesome Video Games That Should Have Been Terrible

7. Viva Piñata

You've probably seen the lurid game case for Viva Pinata before, but gave it little thought because of its confusing box art; a grinning multi-coloured horse and a slew of inscrutable imagery including a beehive, a carrot patch and some strange creatures you've never seen before. But then you see that Viva Pinata was made by Rare (y'know, the developer you haven't heard from in ages who used to make great N64 games), and maybe your interest perks up a bit, even if it is in the context of 'What the hell are Rare playing at?' Quirky farming simulation is the answer, in which you control a range of gardening tools in your bid to create a paradise for papier mache animals. Describing Viva Pinata as a kind of Harvest Moon on psychedelic drugs probably wouldn't pull you towards it either, but it really is rather fun. Your job is to create pens, grow crops and generally terraform the garden to be as attractive as possible to the local pinata creatures, which will then flock to your little eden and make it their home. As the animals get frisky in the way that pinatas do (just go with it), you'll need to play mini-games to help them reproduce, and will also need to make the difficult decisions to cull certain animals (by beating them with a shovel until they explode into confetti) to attract bigger, better pinatas. It's a weird premise that just sounds too bizarre to be much good, but once you embrace its weird world - supplemented by a unique visual style and soundtrack by the great Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie, Goldeneye 007) - you'll quickly fall in love.