If you're unfamiliar with the Viva Pi ñ ata series, it's essentially... well, it's a gardening simulation. That, we know, makes it sound like the most boring game since, erm, Ticket Inspector Sim, but it's really not. The point is to entice an eclectic range of pi ñ atas into your garden where they will eat, sleep, frolic and...well, Rare calls it 'romancing'. We'd be tempted to go with something else. Although there isn't an end point to the game as such, the general aim is to have as many different types of pi ñ ata pass through your garden as possible. See, it's fun! The control system has been put together to enable you to play through the game using only the touch screen. Should you want to, you can bring into play the DS's old school D-pad and face buttons (with the option to switch them round if you're a leftie). Basically, you use the stylus to navigate the garden (with the help of a map - you wouldn't think you'd need a map for something as small as a garden, but it's a big help) and navigate the menu, performing tasks as you go. Once you're into the main garden you're confronted with a blank space to make your own - or terraform, if you want to get technical. You can dig, create water features, plant, and buy in items such as houses for your pi ñ atas and other assorted garden accessories, to make the garden the kind of place you'd sit on an evening drinking G & T. The point of all that hard graft is to make your garden appeal to different species of pi ñ ata (of which there are over 60, including seven brand spanking new species). One type of pi ñ ata, for example, might require a certain amount of grass to be laid to visit, but also at least two buttercups to be planted to stay. If you want one, out comes the grass seed and you'll have to head off to the shop for buttercup seeds. If you want to get your buttercup to grow faster, you'll need to get some fertiliser on there. To get fertiliser, you'll need to get a Taffly to do its business after eating the colour of fruit that matches your plant. You can see how it all rolls out ... If that all sounds horribly complicated, fear not. Your journal, complete with all the information you could need, is never more than a tap of the stylus away. If you're looking for a deep, rich and cuddly experience to share with the little 'uns, Pocket Paradise is a fair bet. Every now and then, a game will turn what you thought your console was about on its head. You thought your 360 was a machine for shooting aliens, racing cars and kicking footballs around, didn't you' Well, thanks to Rare's Viva Pi ñ ata series, it's for gardening and raising cutesy cardboard animals, too. Like the first game, Trouble in Paradise is all about tending your garden and creating a masterpiece. If you get it right, with the optimum balance of plants, flowers, veg and features, you'll find all manner of bizarre little critters such as Preztails, Fudgehogs and Squazzils. As more creatures come to your garden, life will get more and more complicated as a complex ecosystem emerges, just like the dog-eat-dog world of the real garden. New to Trouble in Paradise are a handful of new features. First up, we have the addition of two new areas - the Dessert Desert or frosty Pi ñ arctic. Players can head off to these areas to snare pi ñ atas they won't find naturally in their garden, such as a Pengum, Flapyak or Vulchurro. Also new to the game is co-operative play for up to four online or for two locally: ideal if you don't want to tend your garden alone. Also thrown in for good measure is Pi ñ ata Vision. This makes use of the Xbox Live Vision camera to bring new pi ñ atas to your garden. In a nutshell, if you get your mitts on one of the cards you'll be able to flash it at the camera, which will scan it and introduce the new guys and other features to your garden. Gardening has never been so cute!