Peggle

Peggle peggle peggle, peggle… peggle. Oh wait, that’s not words is it? That’s just me saying Peggle over and over. This is problem with Peggle. You may find it hard to locate many reviews of the game for the same reason as you won’t find many reviews of crack cocaine or what it’s like to fire yourself into space. Once you’ve played Peggle, you’re gone, lost to the world. You’re in an ecstasy so utterly consuming and sublime, the feeling of drowning in warm butterscotch oozes over you and there’s no way back. Peggle is a nonpareil example of addictive, super simplistic gaming.

Peggle’s is based on Pachinko machines, a kind of flipperless pinball. Pachinko parlours are hugely popular in Japan. A ball is fired and must hit as many pins as possible before falling away into the trap below. It’s extremely straight forward and requires little skill and this of course is the basis for its popularity. Like Uno, Peggle is a game where chance plays a far higher part than skill in the outcome of any round. With both games you could play with your eyes shut and still do very well. Dave Jones, creator of the Grand Theft Auto series expounded the theory that you should be able to play a game with one button. The use of any further buttons should require great justification before implementation by a developer. Peggle epitomises the theory in practice. Pick an angle, press fire and then watch your ball bounce around. The entire time it bounces you’ll be willing it with your mind, you’ll be praising yourself for a lucky hit and chastising yourself for a poor shot despite having almost no control over what is happening.

As your ball does its thing you’ll want it to touch as many orange pins as possible. Once these have been tagged and disappear the level is finished and you’ll move on to another with a different patter of pins. Blue pins get in the way, don’t earn you many points and use up your balls. Purple ones give a point boost. Green ones allow you a special power such as showing your line of trajectory or giving you a multiball. These special moves get more complex as you work your way through the levels. Specials such as Zen ball, where your angle will be adjusted to maximize your shot, or Fireball, where you’ll cut straight through the pins instead of bouncing off them, help you complete the later more taxing levels.

As well as the expected Arcade mode and Quickplay, you’ll be able to play on Live in a two player Duel or with three friends in Party Mode – effectively a ball bouncing chat room. This type of relaxed group play has proved hugely popular on Live with games such as Marble Blast Ultra, Uno, and Texas Hold ‘Em. Those who’ve already lost their lives to Peggle on their PC years back won’t get much more out the the XBLA version but it’s good to note that the console title does live up to it’s older brother and the addition of multiplayer could prove tempting to those who managed to kick their terrible addiction long ago.

Peggle is genius. There is a marmite element here though. Not everyone is drawn to simple games of chance there are some weird individuals out there that actually require challange, complexity, motivation and narrative to enjoy a game. The majority of us norms though could starve to death, unable to stop Peggling for long enough to eat or drink. On this basis I must recommend that you don’t buy Peggle. Save yourselves, think of your families, your career, fresh air. Are you really willing to give all these up for a tiny bouncy ball? You are? Fair enough. See you on Live for a Peggle tonight?