I picked up the demo for Peggle last night off of Xbox Live and after burning through the first few levels, I knew it was definitely a “must by”. As a casual game created by the unofficial kings of casual gaming, Popcap Games, Peggle is simple in concept and easy to learn. It’s as if an American pinball machine and a Japanese pachinko machine had sex and the resulting offspring was put on the internet for adoption.

At the beginning of each game round, your presented with a board filled with pegs and bricks laid out in different designs. A cannon mounted to the top of the board is loaded with ten balls that you shoot aim and shoot in effort to clear the board of all the orange pegs. It’s not as easy as it sounds due the board being filled with blue pegs and bricks that are intended to slow you down or block your shot. The game mechanics can be both incredibly frustrating and exhilarating at the same time, depending on which direction your ball bounces after it hits it’s first peg. Thankfully, aiding you in your endeavor to clear the board of pesky orange pegs are a selection of ten different magical powers. These powers run the gamut from simply providing an aiming line that shows you where a ball will bounce after it’s first impact to creating a randomly generated explosive peg that can take out multiple pegs around it when struck.

Graphically, the game is adorable…disgustingly so in fact. The game’s mascot is a goofy looking unicorn, and he’s brought along nine of his cute friends for the ride. Each of the different animals acts as both a sort of a boss character and a teacher. These characters often give you advice via annoying popups that range from sounding like your parents that last time they tried to make you think they were “cool” to sugary sweetness that’s just one step above baby talk. To be honest, the game’s cast is so disturbingly cute with their huge eyes and strangely vacuous smiles, that I just can’t shake this nagging feeling that they’re going to sprout fangs and glowing eyes the minute I turn my back to the screen. =^_^;;= Still…I can’t help but like the game. It’s too much fun and it does have a great sense of humor about it that just keeps me saying “Just one more round and then I’m done…”

I’m really enjoying the game so far and the 800 MS point price tag ($10) isn’t really that hard a price to swallow for a game with alot of content. Despite it’s casual gaming tag, this game requires as much skill as it does luck, but it still manages to maintain a relaxing stress free enviroment. As soon as I finish it, I’ll post a full review, but I doubt there’s much more to this game then what I’ve already talked about.

Later,
LC1