I love this game. For some background I am always easily addicted to sim games especially animal crossing. But I haven't been this addicted to a game in awhile. I bought this and GOW and have been playing pinata non-stop. GOW is great and I am on chapter three but I figured I would write a quick review for those of you on the fence.
Graphics 9/10:
Gorgeous. Sure they are a little over the top cutesy but they are perfect for the game. The emotions of the pinatas are easily conveyed. Fear, curiosity, and of course romance

The camera is easy to use and has very little trouble always giving you a good picture of what is going on.
Controls 8/10:
The controls are spot on for most of the game. They due suffer in two areas 1) Flying creatures 2) Quick Options. Targeting flying creatures can be a little tricky and if you tell two flying creatures that are far apart to romance it is like herding cats. It is usually better to tell them to a spot close to each other and then romance them. Quick options... what I mean by this is basically hot keys. There are too many menus and too much clicking around waiting for shops to load. I wish I could buy a lot of items put them in a sack and use them as I need without always going back to the store.
Sound 7/10:
Non-obtrusive with great pinata sounds. It does loose a few points for not really having much of a soundtrack but the pinata sounds are spot on.
Gameplay 10/10:
This game has tons of depth. Here is the basic flow until you get to the more advanced pinatas.
-Create enough of a certain type of land to lure a pinata to your land.
-Satisfy their resident requirements, usually along the lines of eating some seeds, fruit, or a pinata.
-Get two of them together and satisfy their romance needs, a house, some food maybe and latter on special items or pinata accessories (like a dog collar for the BarkBarks).
Once a pinata has been romanced you can buy these cheap little romance candies so that you do not need to keep satisfying their romance requirements. These things are key and I didn't use them until later in the game. Use them immediately they are cheap (6 coins) and save you a ton of time and money.
The trouble comes in the form of sour pinatas and the evil tribal humans. The sour pinatas can be turned into good pinatas if you satisfy their requirements. Once one of them is good you can use the Tower of Sour to keep them out of your garden forever. The evil tribal people are a little harder. Whack em with a shovel and fence them out but so far I don't think there is any way to get rid of them forever.
This game is a game of balances, new creatures will eat old (dang snakes eat mousemallows) when they first enter and there is little you can do about it. But once they are residents they live in mostly harmony, except for the occasional fight.
There are tons of seeds, fruits, vegetables, pinatas, pinata accessories, buildings, helpers... too much stuff to name.
Tips:
-The pepper trick for money posted above works very well. If you want to raise pinatas for profit I recommend bunnies and then barkbarks.
-When you see rotten candy, smash it with the shovel instead of selling it back for -30 coins.
-Focus on getting two creatures to master romancer status before you move on to more.
-I am not sure how to get variants of pinatas but it seems to be related to the value of the romancing pinatas and random luck.
-When you see a sour pinata immediatly check the encyclopedia for information on how to turn them good (if anyone knows how to get medicine let me know, for the crow)
If you have any interest in this game pick it up now. It is one of the best for the 360 and just a blast to play.
Sorry for ranting just needed to get it out there that this game kicks butt.