Trash Panic has a simple and amusing concept.  You’re presented with a conveyor belt full of items that you need to fit, one at a time, into an enormous trash can.  In order to make all of the trash fit, you have to burn, disintegrate and compact all of it without letting the can overflow.  If too many whole objects fall out of the can you fail the level.

While that sounds like a quirky stress reliever, the problem with Trash Panic is that it’s a little too difficult for its own good.

The game has five levels, and I couldn’t make it through the third on normal difficulty before giving up.  Being held up by the steep learning curve is unfortunate, because the game scales like Katamari Damacy – giving you larger and more ridiculous objects to deal with and bigger ways to explode and digest the rubble as you progress.

That sounds like a good time, and it is at first, but it takes a more dedicated player than myself to enjoy all of it.  I wasn’t hooked enough to struggle through the difficult and repetitious parts to benefit from the fun of the increasing scale.

Trash Panic is available for download on the PlayStation 3.

Tags: Rob's Short Reviews, Trash Panic