Peggle Nights, the sequel to PopCap's pachinko-inspired casual game Peggle, is a hell of a drug – but no high is ever as good as the first.
If you've played the first Peggle, chances are you aren't reading this review because you've already downloaded Peggle Nights and won't be coming up for air until you've finished it. That's how addictive the Peggle formula is. And so it doesn't quite matter that Peggle Nights adds very little in the way of new features: The prospect of 60 new levels alone makes it worthwhile for those of us who find its hypnotic combination of chance and skill one of the most-compelling games around.
If you're unfamiliar with the series, the goal of the game is to fire your marble into a board full of multicolored pegs, clearing out all of the orange ones. It's simple on paper, and it's absurdly easy to jump in and start playing. But there are layers of complexity beneath the simplistic facade: To succeed, you'll need a combination of patience, skill and sheer dumb luck.
Peggle attracts both casual and hard-core gamers in part because of the sheer level of polish that PopCap puts into its games. Every level is a torrent of sound and color, oozing saccharine exuberance and sending my kittens into a spastic frenzy with every fireworks display. When you're about to hit the final peg in a level, the game slows down dramatically, a drum roll begins and the final peg goes with a huge crash. Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" plays, fireworks explode. Your victory is celebrated thusly every time.
To a great extent, it doesn't matter how good you are at aiming your ball – points are handed out like Skittles, and the contagious level of excitement from the same damn animations after every level somehow succeed in planting a smile on the most cynical of faces. It's no wonder a game this bright and cheery has drawn in players from all walks of life.
They got me, for example, by giving out the first hit for free.
Peggle was already a casual-gaming phenomenon when I logged on to Steam to download The
Orange Box, but I'd never played it. Included with my hard-core-friendly downloads of Half-Life and Portal, however, was
Peggle Extreme, a brief version of the game. As the rest of the games downloaded, I figured I'd check it out, just to kill some time.
Glorious pinball-pachinko madness ensued. There were only 10 levels in that first dose – barely more than a demo. A demo that stole countless hours of my life.
And now, Peggle Nights has leaped out of PopCap's laboratory and into the limelight, reinventing ... absolutely nothing. Fans, rejoice: More Peggle levels, and an entirely new character to master. And if you weren't a fan? Move along, I guess, nothing to see here.
The adventure mode consists of 60 levels, followed by 60 challenges on those levels to test your prowess. The stages are all brand new, so fans of the original Peggle and Peggle Extreme should be sure to pick this one up to round out their collections. There's also an unlockable Duel mode, so you can play against the computer and a friend.
The game is available now, for Windows, directly from PopCap. It should be available on Steam and other digital delivery services in a month. If the previous games are any indication, it'll probably be headed to Xbox 360, iPod ... hell, anything with a screen and some sort of buttons or input method.
Peggle Nights, like its predecessor, is extremely polished, challenging and fun. There's a free demo, so try it out – but don't say I didn't warn you.
WIRED Charming, polished, addictive
TIRED Basically the same as the first game
$20, PopCap
Rating: 
Read Game|Life's game ratings guide.
Images courtesy PopCap
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