Wherever there's a piñata, you can pretty much be assured there's a party. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly the case when Microsoft released Viva Pinata on Xbox 360 two years ago. While critics offered sweet words for the papier-mâché simulation, it commercially took a few hits. That isn't stopping a sequel from building on the first game's inventive approach in the hopes of attracting more players to the party. Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise may not offer any wild differences from the original game, but it packs in enough new tasty tidbits to make it look worthwhile.

Expect Professor Pester to reprise his role as piñata party pooper in Trouble in Paradise. The fiend has taken out Piñata Central's computers to prevent piñata from being properly sent out to parties around the world. Preventing Pester from purloining the island's adorable piñatas and ruining parties the world over requires you to cultivate a garden to attract the most beautiful varieties. Once they're in your space, you can package them up and send them to parties, saving them from a cruel fate at the hands of Pester. Naturally, you also make a bit of cash for saving your piñata pals, which can go back into beautifying your garden to encourage new piñatas to make it their home.

The goals in this sequel are the same, just beefed up with a slew of new piñatas, items, and environments. 30 new piñatas accompany 60+ originals including the Sparrowmint, Custacean, Crowla, and personal favorite Bispotti. Most of the new piñatas are directly tied to the two new locales: the freezing Pinarctic and sweltering Dessert. As you'd expect, creatures like the crawly hard-shelled Custacean make their home in the sands of Dessert. Enticing these new piñatas means tailoring sections of your garden to encourage a move. Dropping a spot of sand over the rich soil in your yard is a good start. Additionally, these new patches of land enable you to grow new plants; sand, for example, opens the possibility for raising cacti which in turn draw the attention of desert-dwelling piñata.

Keeping your piñatas entertained, especially when your garden becomes populated by dozens of needy creatures, can be challenging work. Helping you out are new toys which can be purchased and placed in your yard. From musical instruments to assorted trinkets to a train that encircles your garden, dozens of toys are available to ensure piñata happiness. Even better, the new trick stick enables you to teach piñatas tricks. Pictures of your piñatas pulling off cool tricks can even be uploaded to a personalized page on Xbox Live and shared with other players.

Beyond these additions, the game doesn't really alter the fundamental gameplay as presented in the original. Your primary objective is to attract as many piñatas possible by cultivating a garden appealing to a wide variety of species. This requires preparing tracts of land, growing different plant varietals, and keeping sour piñatas out. Drop-in, drop-out cooperative play enables a buddy to join you and help with garden chores. Your friend is likely to experience the same annoyances regarding the camera, though. Despite claiming improvements to the camera system, we experienced the same troubles in paradise as were apparent in the first game. It's awkward to control and difficult to position for a good view of your garden. You simply never feel like you're getting the best view of the action.