Peggle Deluxe Challenges

[Rell Jette]

Youstart as a character known as Bjorn, a unicorn with special powers. The characters in this game are simply avatars that represent you in the game and give you a special powers to help you advance through the puzzles more efficiently.

The objective is to win 55 stages of puzzles by removing the orange pegs with a limited number of balls (like the Plinko chip). Mixed with the orange pegs, you'll find one purple peg, two green pegs and an abundance of blue pegs.

A level is completed when there are zero orange pegs left in the stage. Firing your ball towards a set of pegs starts a shot and you watch the ball drop down to the bottom of the stage. At the bottom you'll find a basket that quickly moves left to right and back again as the shots play out. If you manage to drop your ball into the basket you'll get it back as a "free ball."

The difficulty ramps up gradually and allows you to get used to the game design without instant frustration. Before long you'll come to realize you're not just dropping the ball in the pegs hoping to tap it off a few oranges. You'll be timing your drops, angling the shots "just right" to get a perfect bounce all while attempting to hit that moving basket at the bottom.

A stage is a series of shots, each shot ends when the ball leaves the bottom of the stage, either in the basket or off the board entirely. You will have one shot per ball so the more free balls you receive, the more shots you'll have to hit all those little orange pegs.

Each peg you hit will give you a certain number of points. Blue pegs, the most prominent, will give you the least amount of points. As you bounce off the pegs you're point score will tally. Hit enough pegs and you'll gain a free ball, hit even more and you may get another additional ball. The more points you score on a single drop the better the chances of getting that free ball and more pegs will be cleared from the stage.

Orange Pegs are all that matter; if you clear all orange pegs you've defeated the stage. However, other peg colors do effect how quickly and successfully you'll become. A great Peggle master will realize the importance of the purple peg! There will always be one purple peg at the start of each shot (randomly placed) and this peg will boost your score for that shot, making it infinitely easier to achieve that free ball!

Green pegs will induce your avatars special abilities - another key ingredient to the win. Bjorn the unicorn, for instance, will show the trajectory of your next balls bounce allowing you to predict, with some measure, the effectiveness of the shot. The second avatar you'll unlock, Jimmy Lightning, will drop a second ball into the shuffle when a green peg is hit which assists you in clearing the level, gaining an extra ball and catching one of the two in the basket.

Mix this up with 10 unique avatars, each with their own abilities, and you'll find yourself maximizing the lifetime of each ball and utilizing special abilities to clear a stage when desperation hits. Losing is not an option! Although, you can always restart a level if you lose. You do, however, gain bonus points for clearing a stage on the first and second attempt but points are secondary to progression through all 55 stages.

Once you find yourself the master of Peggle, you'll unlock another set of challenges. These levels, known as "Challenge Mode," will test your skill as a peggle mastermind. You'll have to complete some of your previous stages with an additional set of orange pegs, others you must win by exceeding a large point value in a single stage and yet others will require you to defeat ten random stages in a row.

We thought the game ended after the standard adventure mode was completed but unlocking the additional challenges adds another dimension (some of frustration) to the game. Everyone wants to be the Grand Peggle Master but that title only goes to those that can defeat the additional mode of play - hard!

Each of the 55 stages are unique and well thought out designs. Some will be easier than others but each one poses their own challenge. After playing all 55 stages we went back to stage 1 and didn't even recognize it because there are just so many variations of stage design.

The sheer number of stages allows you to easily play through the entire game again and make it feel fresh. Be warned, you'll always encounter "that level," the one that you hate, despise and never want to see again. Think of it as a challenge to your mental well being - you must win and get revenge.

In addition to 55 levels you'll find each level is a unique replay experience because the placement of the orange pegs is different. You cannot master every level perfectly because its an ever changing experience. The pegs may all be statically placed but the ones you must hit are always mixed up. You must master the art of ball shooting - not memorize the stage.

As a test, we had a few 2old2play gamers download and play the demo. It seemed like hours before they returned our Instant Messages. Thinking we were ignored, it turned out they were just hooked. "I had to stop playing and get work done" is exactly the response we had ourselves.

If you're looking for a casual game to pass some time at lunch or before your favorite TV show with your laptop on the couch this may be a title to look into. Unfortunately, it is only available on Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista (no Macintosh or Xbox 360 XBLA).

If there was one complaint we'd have, it would be to make this game available on Microsoft Xbox Live Arcade. This would make a perfect addition to the growing collection of casual games and would convince many wifes to allow their husbands to get a 360.

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.

3a8082e126