Peggle Review: Can a PopCap Classic Fit in your Pocket?

Since its original release on Mac and PC back in early 2007, Peggle has quickly become one of the most successful and popular casual games of all time.  Taking over the gaming world one console at a time Peggle has become available on nearly every gaming platform known to man.  The iPhone is no exception to PopCap’s infectuous breed of fun.  Now in the AppStore, has Peggle’s latest iteration survived the jump to Apple’s all-in-0ne device?

For the most part, the answer to that is a resounding yes.  Peggle recreates the source material perfectly, level by level, offering a package as robust as the original which still sells for 4x the price.  Peggle veterans will find that everything they loved from the original is perfectly intact, from the addictive play mechanics to the wacky personalities.

Those of you new to Peggle (where have you been for the last two years??) will be pleasantly surprised by the fresh gameplay concept.  Peggle has it’s roots in games like Pachinko and Plinko, but is still entirely its own beast.  Each stage in Peggle is made up of dozens of pegs and squares.  Some of these are blue and some are orange.  The object of the game is to fire a ball from the top of the screen and remove all of the orange pegs.  The idea is simple enough and may even sound a tad boring to the uninitiated.  But Peggle is one of those rare games that’s equal parts luck and skill.  You’ll need to line up your shots perfectly to take out some orange pegs.  Other times its all about trying to figure out where you can ricochet the ball to reach those hard to get to pegs.   You’ll even find yourself weighing your options between clearing out some useless blue pegs or trying for that trick shot with the few balls you have remaining.

Each level plays host to a set number of stages, and during that level you’ll have the pleasure of meeting a Peggle Master who will give you a special power if you can hit the green peg.  These powers lend a lot to the strategies you’ll use.  Once you feel you’ve mastered the game, there are a number of different scoring possibilities out there that you can use as incentive to revisit a stage and conquer it all over again.   Completing the game will open up a totally new set of challenges.  Things like “clear this stage using only three balls,” “get such and such a score,” etc..  There’s a mountain of content in here for $4.99.

But the iPhone isn’t the Mac, and that means that certain tweaks to the gameplay had to be made in order to survive the transition.  Like all non-keyboard and mouse editions of Peggle, this version lacks the precision of the original.  Lining up shots, while still mostly accurate, has a few small hiccups that can be annoying at times.  You’ll aim with your finger and then remove your finger and press “FIRE” to shoot.  The only problem is that removing your finger generally causes you to nudge the shot a little.  Why they couldn’t have just taken advantage of the multi-touch surface to allow you to hold your shot with one finger and fire with the other is beyond me.  Still, the team at PopCap did an admirable job of modifying the controls to compensate for this.  Now, in addition to simply lining up the shot and firing, you can zoom in on your target area as well as use a dial to fine tune your shot.  It’s a few extra steps then you might want but you’ll find that you won’t need to go this route most of the time.  Unless you’re trying to pull off tht impossible shot, you’ll likely be good with a post-nudge firing.

Despite the small ripple of discomfort that occassionally pops up in aiming, Peggle on the iPhone offers an incredible amount of content and all of the fun and charm of the original.  Whether you were already in love with the original or have never heard the word before in your life, Peggle is pretty much a must buy for anyone with even a passing interest in video games.

Peggle is available now on the iTunes AppStore for $4.99.

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