And I play my 360 on repeat, to be honest. But there was one of those connections between my girlfriend and Pop Cap Games' addictive little game, originally on the PC, that makes me shake my head in disbelief. I'm the gamer in this relationship. How could she be more addicted to a game than I?
At first glance, the game is a very simple design which ultimately is its most beautiful feature. The main focus of the single-player is the Adventure mode. Here, you'll be introduced to Peggle's cast of characters, each of whom bestows a different magical power for use on his or her level. You'll unlock the power by hitting one of the few green pegs strewn throughout the board. So, for example, while you're playing through Bjorn-the-male-unicorn's level, you'll be able to use the Super Guide power, which shows you where your ball will bounce after its initial impact. When you're going through Splork's levels, you'll be able to use the Space Blast, which just blows away a ton of pegs in a given area. There are considerable differences in how the powers behave, so not only will they add some variety during the Adventure mode, but later in the game you'll be able to pick your favorite power to use on any map, giving you a chance to vary your strategy.
You can easily go through the Adventure Mode in a night, but not necessarily because it's easy. It's more like that book with the killer plot, where you need to keep reading, even though you know sleep is necessary to live. But you tell yourself, "I can sleep for 2 hours this time. I just need to finish a few more levels. I need to hear the chorus of cheer again and see that magical rainbow one more time."
Yeah, I forgot to mention the game has a wicked sense of humor. Little comments come up on the screen, a magical chorus sings when you hit the last orange peg on any given stage, rainbows are being strewn across the screen and the characters themselves are part of the fun. Where else are you going to play as a rabbit with a magic top hat?
To add more gameplay value, when you beat the Adventure mode you can jump right in to the Challenge mode, a series of levels that get more difficult with some additional requirements. These range from the inclusion of more orange pegs, to having to clear the entire board of all the pegs. These challenges add a lot more fun and replay value to an already great game. But I haven't even mentioned playing online!
Multiplayer Peggle has to be the most fun and/or most frustrating part of the game. I've never had a game do that before, and I've played Halo 3. But what do I mean by that? Well, you can play against people in ranked or unranked matches or play locally against someone. The problem comes from other players out there in the land of XBOX Live. I warn you, you will keep on playing, even when someone cuts out mid game because you are schooling them with your unmatched skills. It's happened at least 30 times already and I doubt there's always connection issues. But even with that little nagging fault, it's not the game developers fault that they made a game so simple yet so intense that people feel like it's a 'do or die' situation every time they battle online against someone else.
Would I recommend playing Peggle? Oh, most definitely. It's the best value on the market today and that's coming from someone who loves his arcade games. It's only 800 Microsoft points and I would have spent double that. That's how great the game is. But if you don't believe me, download the trial game. You'll get hooked the moment you start playing those few levels and by the end of it, you'll be entering in your credit card info because you need to know what happens next.
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