[Review] Peggle 2

[[MC]Ronin[MC]]

Premiere Date: December 9, 2013
Developer: PopCap Games
Series: Peggle
Engin: PopCap Games
Publisher: Electronics Arts
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360

Playing Peggle 2 just makes me happy. Whether I’ve just hit an unbelievably improbable shot or I’m watching a gratuitous display of abominable snowman twerking by new Peggle Master Berg after triggering a level-ending Extreme Fever, its ability to bring a smile to my face is uncanny. Way back in 2007, the original pachinko-meets-pinball Peggle was arguably the best puzzle game to come along since the legendary Tetris, and its sequel brushes off a few annoyances to become the first no-brainer, just-play-this-now game on the Xbox One.

 

Peggle 2 is similar to Rock Band 2 as follow-ups go. It takes an inherently compelling formula involving colored pegs, tweaks it ever so slightly, and adds a couple new twists. The ball -- still fired from a cannon at the top of the screen – feels both a tad smaller and a bit bouncier as well. Or perhaps the pegs you’re aiming to clear are themselves a bit larger. Regardless, it’s neither better nor worse than the enjoyably approachable physics of Peggle 1, it’s just different.

You’ll have no adjustment period to worry about, though. Just fire away and enjoy. Sixty new boards and another 60 trials (aka challenge maps) give you plenty of bang for your 12 bucks, particularly when each of the 60 maps has three optional objectives, such as attaining Ace-level scores, racking up a certain number of points on a single shot, or pulling off specific trick shots. Armored pegs that require two hits to clear are also clever additions, and I particularly enjoyed the devilish reversal that some of the trials pull, in which you’re challenged to score under a certain amount of points when clearing the board. I do wish Peggle 2’s stages had more of the crazy gimmicks and wild themes found in Peggle 1, though.

 

Of course, Peggle 2’s most obvious new additions are its four fresh Peggle Masters, who join the returning derpy but lovable Bjorn the Unicorn and his Super Guide power. Though Jeffrey’s peg-crushing bowling boulder feels a bit similar to Lord Cinderbottom’s dragon fireball from the first game, his screen-clearing skills would’ve made him my favorite of the new foursome if not for Gnorman, whose lightning power zaps clusters of pegs all over the board as the ball bounces around. I love how the adorable heroes of Peggle 2 are given more screen real estate and extra personality this time around, so it only deepens the disappointment of learning that these five are it – meaning Peggle 2 has half as many Peggle Masters as its predecessor. If Popcap couldn’t manage an all-new cast as big as the original Peggle’s, it sure would’ve been nice if more old friends could’ve returned for the sequel. I sure miss Tula and her always-useful Flower Power ability. At least the new cast members each get his or her own Extreme Fever song; only Bjorn still busts out “Ode to Joy.”
 

 

If Peggle 2 is guilty of anything else, it’s being a little bit too excited about delivering fun times. It bizarrely suffers from overscan on every TV and monitor we threw it onto. It doesn’t cut off anything important, but it’s noticeable and annoying. Worse, it absolutely abuses the Xbox One’s GameDVR feature, automatically saving dozens of clips of your best shots. The problem is, it records shots that are no big deal, and I’ve had to go into Upload Studio and purge a slew of unwanted videos.

The Peg Party multiplayer mode, meanwhile, is essentially identical to the same feature found in the Xbox 360 version of the first game, in which you try to outscore up to three other players battling on their own copy of the same board. With the ability to pick any map and tweak a number of win conditions, it’s good clean fun – a palate cleanser from Call of Duty or Battlefield – but it lacks local console play and the two-player Duel mode the original had too. I wonder if this will be addressed in the form of paid DLC – there’s an ominous shopping cart icon on the main menu that currently says “coming soon.” It’d be nice if the Leaderboards the 360 edition has were brought back too.
 

As expected, the PlayStation 4 version of Peggle 2 looks and plays identically to its Xbox One counterpart, with a few key improvements. First and foremost, both leaderboards and a local multiplayer option are here (fortunately, they've since been added to the Xbox One version too). Also, the Xbox One's overscan problem is absent on PS4, while the PS4 edition also doesn't aggressively auto-record gameplay clips because, of course, all video capturing on PS4 is handled manually. The most uniquely PS4 addition to Peggle 2, however, is the game's clever use of the DualShock 4's light bar. It lights up with the corresponding color of every peg you hit, meaning that when you play in a dark room you'll be treated to a subtle rainbow-colored light show on your controller. While it doesn't add anything tangible to the game, it's a fun idea that's very much in the spirit of Peggle's joyous attitude.
 

 

 

Verdict
I’ve already lost a lot of sleep to Peggle 2. Its Siren song of “just one more board” is difficult to ignore even late at night, and during the day anyone who walks by and sees it wants me to pass the controller to take a crack at besting my score. Peggle 2 is one-button joy. You think, you aim, you fire, and you sit back and watch as massive combos and bright popping colors take over. That it’s such a joyful sequel to an all-time classic stretches my grin from ear to ear, just like most of the rest of Peggle 2.