For the last few days, I’ve had a fever of 104 degrees. In attempts to kill time between Nyquil induced spells of unconciousness, I’ve played a little Afro Samurai, a little Amped 3, and a ton of Peggle: Dual Shot.
I really like the first two on the list, but I could only play a little at a time due to fever. And yet, if I’m awake, Peggle is always an option. It’s just that good. Hell, I’m playing it as a write this.
Let’s pretend that you’ve never heard of Peggle, haven’t already had it on PC for a year or two, and don’t know what the deal is.
Peggle is a game where you clear a board of pegs. To win players need to hit all the orange pegs, though there’s lots of blue pegs, a few green pegs, and traveling purple pegs as well.
There’s a ball launcher at the top of the screen. You aim, and you fire. Whatever your ball hits lights up and disappears, guided by physics. Simple as that, really.
Green pegs give special effects (an explosion that lights up all nearby pegs, or a guide that shows the angle the ball will take after the first bounce). Purple pegs give bonus points, and five of them result in the ball entering a bonus area where you can rack up a higher score by collecting gems AND earn an extra ball. And players get the shot back automatically just for getting to the bonus underground, which can result in two free shots easily.
It’s hard to describe Peggle beyond that. The concept is very simple, and there’s a multitude of brilliantly designed levels each with unique challenges. The artwork is top notch, with very nicely rendered backgrounds, though the foregrounds are low-resolution, both for the sake of framerate and likely processor power to keep the physics as accurate as possible. The sounds are simple but effective, audio cues indicating when you’ve done something special (as well as text), and clearing a board results in Ode To Joy playing just as ever. The game seems like random chaos at first, but after some practice, the patterns become more and more clear. Soon players will consistently get extra shots and long range hits that seemed impossible when they started.
The writing for the Adventure modes is highly amusing (even moreso for Peggle Nights, which is the sequel to the original and included in Dual Shot), there’s a massive amount of master challenges once Adventure mode is complete, quickplay options, and a duel mode played by passing the DS between two players (sadly no wireless option, but old-school hot seat certainly does the job). The game has an undeniable charm and ease to pick up, with an apparent simplicity that quickly gives way to real depth with practice and mastery. It’s a spectacular game on PC and Xbox Live Arcade, but DS might be the perfect platform for it. Peggle in your pocket, wherein you can go for a challenge wherever you are. On the bus, waiting in line, sitting in a theatre seat 50 minutes early so you don’t get stuck in the very front row for Watchmen, whenever, wherever.
Peggle:Dual Shot gets 5 out of 5. It’s too bad it doesn’t have wireless dueling, but it comes with tons of challenges, a good amount of exclusive levels, and both Peggle games on one cartridge. It’s a hell of a value, even if Marina, my favorite master and the addition to Nights, wasn’t included.
