Peggle Nights

Peggle Nights is about what you'd expect - more Peggle. It's a fun and satisfying little puzzle game that will get you addicted if you let it. It has about the right mix of easy to learn and challenging to master that any simple game of its type should. I was a little disappointed by how similar it was to the original, though. There's one new character with an accompanying new power-up, a couple new techniques to earn bonus points, a new "aced" score for each level (I only achieved it a handful of times in the 60 adventure mode stages, and it felt rewarding each time), and that's about it. It sort of feels like it just should have been added content for the original game instead of its own retail product - which it actually was on some platforms. I did enjoy the writing more, as learning the secret ambitions of each character that they can only explore in their dreams was cute and occasionally really funny. And if you enjoy Peggle, it's the same fun experience. It just isn't the true sequel it could have been.

Peggle Deluxe

My first Peggle experience came when they released a demo for the game as a part of The Orange Box, with levels themed around the different games in that package. I enjoyed it, but not enough to put up the asking price for the full game. Earlier this year though they had a deal for the game plus its sequel for only ten bucks, and I decided to give it a shot.

As far as a casual game that's pretty much leading the charge for its genre, it's pretty good. If you haven't played it, there's a board with a bunch of different colored pegs on it. You aim and launch a ball from the top and try to get it to hit as many orange pegs as possible before it reaches the bottom. Pegs disappear shortly after you hit them. You start with ten balls, and you can get more by catching them in a moving container at the bottom or reaching a certain high score in a single shot. The two green pegs temporarily give you different powers based on which cartoon character you're currently using, and the roving purple peg bumps up your score. It's pretty simple, but can be heavily addicting.

The basic adventure mode takes you through all the different levels, five at time for each of the characters before the final five let you choose. There's also other modes that challenge your skill or let you play human or computer opponents. There's enough variety in the levels that you never really get bored, and it's fun to screw around with the different abilities. The physics on the ball can be really entertaining and the feeling of just nailing a ton of pegs in one shot is pretty satisfying. I generally prefer more purpose and meaning in the games I play, but Peggle is definitely a nice diversion.