| | | Pop Cap is best known for their Bejeweled series. The latest of those that I tried seemed strikingly underwhelming; the downloadable game Peggle, on the other hand, impresses right from the start: bouncy responsive menus welcome you into the game, and the gameplay constantly rewards you with congratulations and pyrotechnic bonus displays.
In the game, you fire a bouncing ball from a rotatable turret set in the top of the screen, sort of like you shoot balls from a turret at the bottom of the screen in Puzzle Bobble (see entry 1046). The ball cascades and bounced down through formations of pegs, similar to a pachinko machine. The pegs are actually what you're trying to hit, and once hit, they are removed from the board before you take your next shot. Pegs come in different colors and shapes (and even move around in some stages, so I am told), and the colors at least signify different bonuses to be had from hitting them. The more pegs you can rebound from in a single shot, the more points you get. You have a limited number of shots, but big points can earn you more, and if your falling shot lands on an Arkanoid-like paddle (see entry 748) moving back and forth at the bottom of the screen, it is saved for another go. Once you clear all the pegs from a board, the game fetes you with a massive display of fireworks.
That's Peggle as far as I played it. The graphics are charming, the gameplay is addicting--like Puzzle Bobble, but far deeper since you can ricochet the ball around--and I'm told it has various other modes like challenge modes and even several multiplayer modes. |
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