As the subtitle implies, Trouble in Paradise isn’t all polychromatic utopia – ruffians and sour pinatas are back in full force, frequently countering your hard work with their mischief. From making your pinatas sick, to messing up your landscaping and even breaking up pinata romances, sours are designed to disrupt your work and thwart your progress. It sounds annoying, but the ability to turn the sours good and ban ruffians from entering your garden makes it a welcome challenge. Like the original, it’ll take time to sort them all out, but once you do you’ll never have to deal with them again if you don’t want to.

A handful of minor features have been added, all of which are easily ignorable. You’re now able to teach your piñatas tricks with a special wand, which is rather silly, because it’s still more enjoyable to simply watch your pinatas stroll around the garden peacefully than wave a stick at them to make them dance. Another feature that encourages pinata interaction is the addition of toys and train sets you can buy for your pinatas can play with, but it just doesn’t seem like natural pinata behavior. Can’t pinatas just be pinatas? All they really want to do is nap and eat and romance each other.

It’s slightly disappointing that TIP often feels more like an expansion than a new game, but deep down we’re relieved that the core gameplay we loved so much from the original has been left intact. If you didn’t like the original Viva Pinata, you won’t like Trouble in Paradise, and if you only mildly enjoyed the original, the new content won’t be enough to interest you. But for more serious pinata fans, as well as newcomers to Pinata Island, Trouble in Paradise is nearly flawless.

Sep 15, 2008