TyReview

Peggle came out on the PC a long time ago and most recently arrived on the xbox live arcade, much to the delight of my girlfriend and I. I had been waiting for it to finally arrive for quite some time, and Popcap delivered about as much as you could expect them to. But does it stand the test of time and the conversion from PC to 360? Is it still as fun as playing on a PC?

You bet it does. For the uninitiated, Peggle is a game built around the removal of pegs on a game board affected by gravity. Using your ball shooter at the top of the screen, you point in any allowed direction with a guide arrow that points in the gravity-affected direction the ball will bounce. Every peg the ball touches on its way down to the bottom is highlighted and then removed after the ball hits the bottom of the screen. Points are accumulated for trick shots that are either earned by chance or by strategic aiming, as well as the amount of pegs removed before a given shot hits the bottom of the screen. A cuddly creature, chosen out of a selection of 10 after the adventure mode is completed for the first time, gives you a specific powerup that is gained when one of two special green pegs on any given board. You start with 10 balls, and free balls are obtained by accumulating more than 25,000 points in one ball’s lifespan, as well as if a ball hits the bonus bucket at the bottom. You win a level by clearing all the (usually 20) orange pegs in a level, “ace” a level for earning a specific amount of points in the level and get even more points for clearing every single peg on the screen.

There’s more to the game, but that’s pretty much the basics. If it sounds dull, it certainly isn’t once you give it a go. Some say there’s no skill involved with the game and that it’s mostly based around luck, but they likely haven’t tried to beat any of the challenges the game has or perfect clear any levels. The scoring system is very well structured and high scores are difficult to achieve past a certain amount.

The transition from PC to the 360 included several changes, almost all for the better. The controls are much harder when compared to the precision of using the mouse to aim, but the transition to gamepad is more than acceptable and even preferable when you just want to lie in bed playing a relaxing game with your wireless controller. The joysticks control your aim and slowly accelerate in any given direction, and the movement can be slowed down with the press of a button allowing precise aim for difficult shots.

The 360 version also includes leaderboards for both specific levels, an adventure mode run, and even single shots. This is all great and a wonderful addition but for the simple fact that some levels are simply better suited for points than others if you know how to aim. The last level in particular takes up every top spot for the best shot leaderboards because of the relative ease of scoring points in the multi-millions using a particular trick. This is unfortunate, but leaderboards are a great way to have continued fun after beating every possible inch of the game for those who get that far.

The 360 version also includes online multiplayer for the “duel” mode in previous versions of peggle, which is a wonderful addition to a game that was already extremely easy to recommend to others. A duel is where you and another player take turns on a level, ball by ball, competing for the top obtained score. Huge penalties are included for not hitting orange pegs in this mode so as to keep exploits from being as effective, like trying to score the last shot, earning the fever bonus at the end of the round which can be as high as 50,000 extra points.

In addition to the online duel mode, there is a new multiplayer mode called a peg party for up to 4 players online to separately, on their own game board shot after shot, compete for the top score on a chosen level. Not only is this version of multiplayer in my opinion much more fun and exciting than duel, everyone has equal footing and equal chance to beat their opponents score. There are ranked versions of these modes for the hardcore out there who want to wait for other ranked opponents in order to compete for top rankings, but “player” games with a game browser are also available for those who are just as happy keeping it more casual.

Rounding out the adventure mode (a level-by-level romp through the entire game with pre-selected critters and a combined score at the end) is a quick play mode where you can select any level you already beat in adventure mode and choose your own critter, and a challenge mode. There are 50 challenges in the game, each revolving around some sort of alternate win condition (clear all pegs, clear more than the normal amount of orange pegs) or clearing multiple stages or the like. These can be extremely hard at times and provide for hours worth of additional content and an achievement centers around the completion of all challenges. Very great addition to the content although some of the challenges seem uninspired. You can only have too many challenges that involve clearing a couple more orange pegs than normal before it gets repetitive. Thankfully, you can do any challenge in the game without clearing previous ones, so you can just skip the repetitive ones and come back later.

The one downside to this whole package aside from the lack of some sort of mouse control option that was never expected in the first place is that this is just the original version of Peggle for the PC. Despite the additions, the sequel to Peggle was already released a while ago (Peggle Nights) and none of that content is here. I can understand the decision however, because Peggle Dual Shot recently released on the DS with both versions worth of content and exclusive levels that sells for $30 while this XBLA release is only $10. It still is kind of a bummer, however, since the reasoning behind the cheaper price and staggered ports is likely due to a marketing strategy to make the most profit based on XBLA projected earnings.

All in all, this is a purchase that is more than worth the price of admission and better or equal to anything else the XBLA has to offer. If your choice of platform does not matter to you, however, and online multiplayer is not a factor, you should without a doubt consider buying the PC version at it’s currently heavily discounted price on steam or through retail outlets or the fancy new DS version for some portable peggle on the go. Every version is worth a look, and you wouldn’t regret it. This is casual gaming at its best.