When I read that Peggle was listed as one of the top five most addictive games, I had to check it out. Afterall, I play Bejeweled and I've broken a million points. How difficult or addictive could this be? In one word. Very. It's challenging. More challenging than you'd think; and more skill than luck is involved.
The premise of Peggle is simple. There are colored "pegs" on the game board and you bounce a ball off them, scoring points for every peg you hit before the ball drops off the game board (much like pinball without the flippers). The goal is to clear all the orange pegs at each stage with the number of balls you have - you start off with ten. Blue pegs are regular pegs which yield points when hit and one random blue peg turns purple before each ball you launch. These purple pegs are worth about ten times more points than the blue ones. There are also green pegs which are special power-ups, depending on the stage (or character) you are playing. Apart from this, scrolling along the bottom of the screen is a ball basket. Dropping a ball into it gets you another ball to use.
You can also boost your point score with "Style" points, which are awarded in certain conditions. Points accrue for such feats as "long shots" or "super long shots" where you strike a colored ball (other than blue) from a bounce off another. Some game boards have walls of bricks and getting the ball to roll along them can also gain you "slide points."
Other unique conditions such have having the ball bounce off the ball basket before falling into it will also yield style points. One particularly useful style point is timing that shot - when your orange pegs are behind blue - to hit one peg then catching the ball with the ball basket. Not only do you get another ball to use, you get extra points! Shooting the ball directly into the basket is a total freebie. 5,000 points and you get a replacement ball. Useful for the high point challenges.
I've been play the web version - it's free, and sometimes, I view some interesting commercials, like the latest wrinkle cream. I suppose I'm getting to that age where I need it. I miss the BMW commercials. Those were more fun. Anyway… the free web version gives you the first stage - Bjorn the Unicorn. His power-ups are the "Super Guide" which shows the direction of the first bounce, and I love this power-up for the "long shots."
The other stage you get is Kat Tut - where hitting the green peg slows down the ball basket, making it easier to catch the spent balls. There aren't that many power-ups in each game board. Some are more useful than others.
Depending on the provider site you are playing on, your experience might be different. MSN provides both Bjorn and Kat Tut to play with, and each progress through the 10 boards, and a Challenge stage with six boards - each with a different challenge, such as gaining 350,000 points while clearing all the orange pegs and clearing all the orange bricks with only 3 balls. Other providers require you to play through one character or stage before progressing to the next. Or you could download the "one hour play" version or other trial versions from providers like Big Fish Games and PopCap themselves.
What's the hype about Peggle anyway? Let's see… colorful game boards, orange pegs flash briefly, tauntingly at you before you launch each silver ball, "Style" points and the challenge to get them, animated pegs which increase the challenge… are you carom, billiards / snooker / 3-ball player? It's all about angles. But here's the "Wow!" factor. When that silver ball is headed towards that last orange peg on the board, the "ball cam" takes over. The camera zooms in to the action. A drum-roll hikes the tension. It's a hit! The soundstage explodes with the "Ode to Joy" Chorus of Beethoven's Ninth in the original German.
Freude, schцner Gцtterfunken,Swirls of colored lights play around your triumphant silver ball as it continues bouncing around before dropping into one of the bonus pits of 10, 50 or 100,000 points and fire-works explode from the pit.
Conversely, it could be a very near miss and a thousand voices chorus, "Awwwwww!" but we don't have to get into that or the number of times I've experienced that.
The full version of Peggle opens with "Morning" from Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite and offers ten different stages (or characters) - each with ten game boards to play on. Each has their unique power-ups - some more fun or useful then others. Claude the Lobster gives you flippers like those in a pinball machine. Yeah! Light up the pegs around a green peg?? Phhhbbbttt… Lord Cinderbottom, the dragon turns your mundane little silver ball into a ball of fire that disintegrates all the pegs it touches.
Luckily, the full version also provides a quick-play mode which allows you to play any previously completed version but lets you choose any power-up. "Teh Win!" A duel mode to play against the computer AI or a friend, and a Challenge mode - a total of 75 total challenges and an option to capture an instant replay of a particularly good shot.
The full version also has a "color blind" assist mode (which is found on some web versions) which provides additional visual cues by adding a triangle to the green pegs and a plus to the purple pegs.
When I first started playing Peggle, I wondered at the hype. Then it got more challenging with each game board. Peggle isn't a game that grabs you by the throat and tells you to take it home with you. Instead, you have to give it time as it seduces you and calls you by your name, "You know you want to play more. There's better to come. Much better." Do I recommend it? Absolutely.
Not as quickly or initially rewarding as say, Bejeweled or its many variations, Peggle provides a fun challenging experience with great re-playability. Remember what I said about more skill than luck? I played it on my laptop one day, and could not wait to get back to my gaming PC with my highly accurate gaming mouse and mousepad.
The former head of developer relations for the Stratics Network, Carolyn Koh has years of experience covering the MMORPG genre. Carolyn first started playing games such as Pong & Moon Buggy on the 8086, and arcade games like Ms. PacMan, Centipede, Red Baron and Joust before graduating to text muds through University computers and Doom on the LAN in the Engineering department after office hours. She claims she didn't frag the guys. Carolyn enjoys reviewing casual games and children's games for us. She also maintains a staff blog commenting on the emails crossing her desk that touch on the gaming industry in one form or another.
