E3 Peggle 2

[Damaris]

Oneday I was looking for games for my laptop. I came across a game called Peggle, which is a puzzle game where you shoot pegs as different characters called peggle masters. Once I checked it out, I downloaded it and then opened it up. The first time it opened up, an error message popped up. I tried opening it up many times and that same error kept appearing. "I'M DONE MESSING AROUND!" I screamed in fury. Then I opened it up again after restarting my laptop.

When the loading screen came up, the happy-go-lucky music was replaced with static that lasted until I clicked on the 'click to play' button. After clicking the button, the main menu appeared. The sky was dark, the sun had a terrified expression, the grass had blood stains, and Bjorn was staring at me with a demonic smile and pitch-black eyes. Bjorn's text balloon read "Welcome to Peggle, Do You wanna die?". I clicked on adventure and this is what happened, Bjorn said in a text box, "Hello, I'm Bjorn. I like murdering players who play my game, i hope you're ready, 'cause we're gonna have a lot of fun!". Then the game began. The pegs appeared like usual, but Bjorn didnt give any lessons to learn. When I was about to hit an orange peg, Bjorn yelled "DON'T SHOOT THAT PEG!!!!" in a demonic voice, no text box. Then the game shot at a blue peg. I growled at what I saw.

"YOU STUPID UNICORN! YOU RUINED MY SHOT!" I yelled. "Tut, Tut." said Bjorn. "You were making a mistake." I was starting to heat up and growl in intense fury. Then Bjorn growled at me like a gargoyle. Then Jimmy Lightning appeared and said, "Why did you download this, WHY?!" and he also cried. I felt bad for the skateboarding beaver, so I made my next shot while Bjorn's back was turned and this is what happened, after I hit an orange peg, Bjorn stabbed Jimmy, then Jimmy started screaming in pain and terror. After all that stabbing and screaming, all the orange pegs were hit and Bjorn charged at the screen and stabbed the screen, the 'try again' popup appeared and Jimmy's carcass hit the popup and hit the ground.

Then Bjorn's face appeared over the whole screen and he spoke in a dark voice stating, "This was your fault, end of story" After that, I headed back to the main menu and was about to quit, but when I clicked quit, Bjorn gave an angry look and his pupils turned blood red and he said "there is no escape." "I'M FED UP WITH THIS SCARY CRAP" I yelled. I shut down the computer and turned it back on, uninstalled the game and I said to myself, "It's nothing but Bejeweled and Bookworm from now on." Then I noticed behind me that Bjorn Jumped out of the game and stared at me demonically.

This is an ongoing list where I attempt to do the following: Play, Complete, and Rank every video game in the known universe in order to finally answer the age old question "What is the greatest game of all time?" For previous entries find the links on the attached spreadsheet.

However, that is not why you all were entranced into reading this blog. No, you came here to hear my thoughts on the very deep and lore filled world of Peggle 2. A game whose tangled web of intricacies and options have influenced the world in so many ways we may never know the full length of its reach. Let us dive in.

Where does it rank: Peggle 2 is a great game for what it is. After a long day of work, or anything stressful its a game that allows you to turn off your brain and watch a ball bounce around a screen. Sure there are leaderboards and objectives, little challenges you can give yourself but those are only going to be hooks for a handful of players. So, while Peggle 2 is fun, and a great family game, its also not the greatest game. I have Peggle 2 as the 106th Greatest Game of All Time.It's not a game you can actively dislike, as there aren't many flaws, but it's also not a game you are going to be racing home to fire up.

Anyone looking for it: here is the link to the list and more if you are interested in following along with me (this is not a self promotion).Here. I added links on the spreadsheet for quick navigation. Now if you missed a blog of a game you want to read about, you can get to it quickly, rather than having to scroll through my previous blogs wondering when it came up.

Peggle is, of course, actually based on pachinko, the Japanese game that you MUST have encountered as a habitual game player, and not on Plinko, the Price is Right BASTARDIZATION OF THAT WONDERFUL SPORT! Pachinko involves shooting tiny metal balls at the pegs, and all the bouncing around that you see in the Peggle version. It's not gambling because you only win prizes, which you then go across the street to exchange for cash.

I also think this rating is grossly unfair. You basically admit that Peggle 2 pretty much perfectly accomplishes what it sets out to do, and it's a fun and relaxing experience. It has very few flaws and made you want to platinum it. Yet you rate it as below average.

While there's something to be said for attempting more complex and rich experiences, there's a lot to be said for perfectly executing something simple. It's really really hard to make a fun and engaging simple experience that's relaxing and rewarding, and those games are great and lasting and timeless. Now I don't think Peggle 2 is as fantastic as Tetris, and I wouldn't rank it above some of the great and immersive 3D games, but it's fantastic for what it's trying to be. There are times when there is literally no better game than Peggle 2 for what you want, and that makes it far above average.

As someone who finished all the challenges for Peggle and Peggle Nights (which I played around release), what would you say makes Peggle 2 better than those games, beside the fact that you played it first? I replayed them last year and had a really good time. I think the Peggle games are great, but they can get really frustrating when doing some of those challenges, as they can be brutal. Especially the ones where you have to finish a level with only one or two balls.

It's kinda shocking we haven't had new Peggles or really any of those old PopCap games in such a long time. I guess there are tons of little puzzlers out there people can play now but surely there's some nostalgic value to that and Bejeweled and all those sorts of things.

@bigsocrates: I thank you for commenting as always.. but I think there is a misunderstanding here. Peggle 2 did accomplish what it was trying to do, maybe they wanted more levels or more characters but they hit their vision with like a 9 or 10 out 10. However, that does not make it the greatest game of all time. Listen I like peggle and peggle 2 I really do, but in the history of all video games it's not going to rank above games that have more going on, even if they have a misstep or two.

I also don't think my list should easily be divided into average or scores based on placement. I'm not saying peggle 2 is a 5 or 6 out of 10 just cause it's outside the top 100. When I end up finishing this blog with 1 million games ranked on it, it might end up in the top 10 or 15%, but so far I have either; been moved, enjoyed, intrigued, or mesmerized by about 100 other games.

@nuttism: thanks for the comment, so I haven't played peggle nights, but in comparison to the first peggle it's just more of what is good about the game. More characters with more diverse powers, a multiplayer mode, tons of levels and challenges that can be unique to certain characters. Peggle 1 is not a bad game, i mean the actual mechanics are about the same across the games, just peggle 2 is brighter, shinier, and more.

@sparky_buzzsaw: Thanks for the comment.. I don't want to be all doom and gloom, but I think the bad guy in the room is EA after their acquisition. They switched to mobile only games with tons of monetization because they saw that candy crush made bank. I recently downloaded plants vs zombies 2 for my son, and despite being 5 or 6 years old (maybe more) it's still chalked full of ads and loot boxes, and plants that cost real money.

In any case, I did mean to shout out Rounguard and Peglin, both of which are pretty fun takes on the Peggle formula. I think Roundguard's the slightly better game - last time I played Peglin, it was pretty unbalanced - but if anyone's looking to scratch that pachinko itch, they're both solid.

Sorry I'm late to this. Good read as always! I've always heard of Peggle but never seen or played it before. I just looked on Steam and Peggle Deluxe and Peggle Nights are available at 210 yen!(Roughly $1.33) While it's not Peggle 2, it looks to be good enough.

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