Wave goodbye to everything you once loved. Peggle is your life now. (Peggle Deluxe (PC))

Member Name: RayWhitney

Product:	Peggle Deluxe (PC)
Date:	07/10/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Addictive gameplay, lots and lots to keep you playing, fun and amusing presentation.

Disadvantages: I hope you don't have anything planned for the rest of the year.

Video game developers PopCap Games are to puzzle game enthusiasts what Elvis Presley was to music, what Tom Baker was to Doctor Who, what biscuits are to tea. That is to say they are seriously awesome. They are the minds behind such classics as Bejeweled, Bookworm, Feeding Frenzy and Zuma. With its super addictive qualities, Bejeweled alone makes them more powerful than twelve Decepticon US senators. Peggle is one of the weapons in their all-conquering arsenal. Let's hope it has mercy on us.

Peggle is inspired by the Japanese game of 'pachinko'. The concept behind pachinko is similar to pinball, except the machines stand vertically and they have grids of pegs littering the playing area. The metal balls are shot into these pegs and with any luck, their random bouncing around will lead them to one of the 'jackpot' pockets. Peggle retains the pegs, but now the challenge of the game is to hit all of the orange pegs to clear each level. This requires a great deal of skill, luck, psychic ability and screaming at the monitor.

So, let me show you how it all works. You will start a level with ten balls. You fire your first one using the cannon at the top of the screen (mastering your aim with this is vital to success) and it will throw itself into the grid of pegs. Each level has a different peg layout - some easy, some hard, and some with obstacles and hidden secrets. Most of the pegs are blue and hitting these will only clear them and give the player a small amount of points. Twenty-five pegs will be orange, and clearing these is the only way to conquer a level. One peg per shot will be purple, and hitting this will provide a points boost. Two pegs per level are green, and hitting these will activate special powers which we will explore soon. There is a moving pocket at the bottom of the screen, and if your ball lands here you will gain an extra shot. If it doesn't, then the ball disappears into ball Heaven.

Most players will start with the Adventure mode, a 55 level experience which takes you through intensive courses with the ten Peggle masters. These comical creatures include a unicorn, a cat, a hamster, a magic rabbit, a dragon, an owl, a talking flower, an alien, a pumpkin and a lobster. They have some great dialogue, but even more useful are their special powers (which are activated with the green pegs mentioned above). These can save your bacon, so use them wisely. The unicorn gives you a guide for your shots, the dragons turns your shots into burning balls of burning fire, the alien creates and explosion, the lobster gives you pinball-style flippers and so on.

Peggle is deceptively simple, and it takes mere seconds to lure you in. The beauty behind it is in perfecting your shots. There are plenty of bonuses to be won for being an expert aim, a lucky blighter or a combination of the both. You will be rewarded for pulling off nifty moves, and the Replay function will allow you to relive them indefinitely. Or show them off to your mum, or whatever. If your mum's not in, then the feeling of playing on its own is satisfying enough.

Once you've cut your teeth on the Adventure mode, you'll want to progress onto harder stuff. Luckily, Peggle offers a lot more for the dedicated player. The Challenges are Herculean, but for me they were even more addictive than the main game. There are several types of challenge if you're up for them, and they include clearing a higher number of orange pegs, clearing ALL pegs, earning over 400,000 points in a level and so on. They're tough cookies, the lot of 'em, but they add a whole load of replay value.

If you're the competitive sort, then Duel mode will please you. You can face off against a real-life humanoid or a computer simulation of one, and you each take turns earning points on the same board. This mode is tough as you must predict your opponent's moves if you want to make the best of the situation, and you will be punished if you fail to hit any orange pegs. If you have Peggle on the Xbox 360, you can also take part in a Peggle Party, where up to four players duel against each other at once. This mode is tedious and not as fun or rewarding as it feels like it should be, but it's good if you've got lots of buddies to banter with while you're waiting for people to take shots.

Peggle is a great game for the casual gamer and the hardcore. The casual gamer will appreciate the well-developed points system, the bouncy, happy graphics and the addictive qualities, while the hardcore player will lap up the huge range of challenge on offer. Everything about the game reeks of fun - from the celebratory use of 'Ode to Joy' as your victory music, the cheeky and tense sound effects, the wise-cracking and congratulatory weirdo characters, and so much more. It should be insanely frustrating, but it's been so expertly put together that you will forget about your frustration instantly as the lure for points and peg clearing overcomes you, over and over again.

On the PC, you will be able to find a copy of this for between £4.99 and £9.99 in most gaming shops. If you are a Steam user, you can download an exclusive trial version called Peggle Extreme, which is based on the games featured in the Orange Box. There are plenty of expanded trial versions out there on the web so check out PopCap's website or something similar to give the game a go. If you are an Xbox 360 user, you can download Peggle for 800 Microsoft points (roughly six or seven pounds) via the Xbox Live Marketplace. Check out the demo before you do so. DS users can also pick up a copy, which includes extra unlockable bonus content (based on the semi-sequel, Peggle Nights). Whatever format, I would recommend you try Peggle out.

Summary: Original games are hard to come by these days, and it's even harder to find them done this well.