Peggle

I have decided that my new life’s goal is to become Grand Master of Peggle, that is how addicted I am to this game. And maybe I’m not really in a good position to review it because of this addiction; I’m bound to say that it’s incredible if I can’t stop playing it, right? I’ll just have to put my feelings aside and try to convey the masterpiece that is Peggle from a more neutral standing.

In short Peggle is a cheap, extremely simple game based around only one game mechanic, hitting pegs with balls. The concept is simple, there are blue and orange pegs positioned around the game board which you fire balls at, from of the top of the screen. The main “Adventure” mode has 70 levels that all have the same objective; the removal of every orange peg from the game board. This may sound easy, however, when combined with the limitation of having only 10 balls at the start of each level and the fact that each level is design to have areas that are particularly hard to reach, Peggle can become a very challenging experience. Once the last orange peg is hit, the incredible event of “EXTREME FEVER” occurs. This is a combination of the best use of classical music I’ve ever heard and the end of the level; the final ball falls into one of five possible buckets, giving you the corresponding points.

If this was all that the game was, it may have gotten dull after a while, however Peggle is spiced up by the inclusion of 10 different characters, each with their own special ability. On
striking a green peg, these abilities are unlocked and drastically help in whatever way that may be. “Super guide” shows you where the ball will go after the first bounce, while “Fireball” just blasts right through multiple pegs without bouncing at all. These really make a difference to the gameplay and add a layer of strategy to what would be a rather simply game.

Once you’ve finished the “Adventure” mode, which isn’t an easy task, you unlock the “Challenge” mode; this is where the real game begins. The challenges vary from reaching a certain score in a level to clearing every peg, including all the blue pegs, not just the orange ones. Some of these get very, very hard, making the title of Grand Master of Peggle, bestowed to you on completion, an extremely difficult task to achieve.

So Peggle has a lot of stuff to do but even playing the adventure mode never gets old, it’s a casual game that’s fun to play for five minutes when you’ve got some time to kill. I do warn you, what may start as a “I’ll just play it for a minute” can very easier turn into 2 hours of your life disappearing. Although completely different from Tetris, I can’t help but be reminded of it, mainly due to it’s addictive nature; you can always have “just one more game”.

Graphically, Peggle looks like a flash game with a bigger budget, and that’s not really a problem for the type of game it is. The art style is nice and the multiple characters that you can play have well defined personalities. Since the game isn’t graphically intense, it means it can pretty much run on anything. If you have a netbook for example, it’ll run fine on that – although installing it maybe detrimental to your lecture notes… Sound wise, the game has a lot of charm. The background music is soothing (good for when the game itself is stressing you out) and the sound effects used are excellent. The intro music will get stuck in your head for days, which is probably a bad thing…

Although released in February 2007, my addiction to this game made me want to spread the Peggle-love to the rest of the world, hence the very late review. There’s actually a sequel out now, Peggle Nights, which I haven’t played but I’m sure is just as good, considering the formula used is exactly the same. Due to it’s age, however, Peggle can be found for a very reasonable price and is available through Steam, making it very easy to get hold of. Overall, I can’t recommend Peggle enough, get it now and watch the rest of your degree slowly slip away…