Trash Panic offers a new interesting puzzle experience doing something not really done before.
This broken trash is meant to be biodegradable, if you put the right broken pieces of trash on each other, or no ecologically destroyed by fire. But, if you were to start playing straight away without going to the help section, the biodegradable option is less apparent, more so when the fire option is much easier to preform and has a greater impact in clearing the trash can.
The games biggest issue is it's difficulty level. I would not recommend playing the main game straight away. There is a easier mode in the main menu section which is a good place to start, but the difficulty soon increases also. The Mini Games, that are available, require you to have a understanding of how the game is played and even then the challenges are as difficult, or maybe more, than the main game.
Another issue for the game is it's loading times. For a PSN game, its loading times can be longer than some disc based games. What makes it more annoying is that there's no real loading screen, it's just a white screen with no indication of what is happening.
Despite the long loading times, the graphics are not all that impressive. The characters/mascots of the game are detailed well, the back ground are fairy reactive to what's going on with the trash can, but for the most part the backgrounds are fairly simple and this is shown more when there are big explosions in the trash can. The music for the game fits fairly well for it, more so when you understand that it's a Japanese developed game.
if your willing to put the time into Trash Panic, I'm sure it will become more evident on how to play it. Even whilst writing this I have thought that perhaps to get some trash to biodegrade I should try leaving the lid shut for a period of time to see if that will work. I do recommend reading the manual in the help section as it does go over a few things. For those looking for a challenging Puzzle game that introduces a new mechanic this is good for that. But it does have it's faults and these are large enough to make the puzzle features less than impressive.