Peggle: Extreme

The Good
I just found that I didn't review this game yet for MobyGames. That's strange because I'm a fan of Peggle Extreme. That game is so addictive that it's a shame not to share my opinion with you.

Peggle Extreme is a variant of Peggle (Deluxe) from Popcap Games. It was offered with the Orange Box and it's not really a surprise: Popcap Games is also using Steam (mandatory when playing the Orange Box on PC) for broadcasting games made by them. It was also a way to promote Peggle when you know that Half-Life 2: Episode 2 was expected by many fans, that Portal was a game that a lot wanted to try and that Team Fortress 2 was finally released for the great pleasure of multiplayer players.

Peggle Extreme will not be remembered for its story as it's really simple: defend Peggle Institute, under the guidance of the Unicorn Bjorn (which will be the only guide available), against an alien attack.

The real complexity is coming from a question: how to describe correctly Peggle's gameplay when you know that there are so many things to describe? Well, I tried to do it despite not being an English native speaker.

You have peggles on your screen. Peggles are these points or rectangles with different colors. Blue ones are the basic peggle, the orange ones are the ones you have to eliminate, the green ones are the speciality from your guide - here, as Bjorn is the only one available, you will see the trajectory of your ball - and the rose ones are point boosts and are chosen randomly when launching a new ball. The goal is to launch a ball and eliminate every orange peggle, others being point bonuses, with ten balls. You have a bucket moving at the bottom and you can earn a free ball if the one currently launched falls into it.

You can also earn free balls by reaching a certain score with one ball during its play. The first step is 25.000 points. Also, you have the fevermeter. When reaching the X2, X3, etc., it increases the points tied to peggles: for example, a blue one that brings 10 points at the beginning is bringing 20 points when your fevermeter indicates X2. And it's valid during all the level.

There are also special bonuses like the long shot (touching two peegles far away from each other) or the lucky bounce (the ball touches the bucket, is bouncing and then falls into it. If it don't fall into it, the lucky bounce is missed). If your ball falls into the void without touching a peggle, you will have a coin with Free Ball or No Ball appearing. It's random, so, you can only pray that you'll have a second chance. You have also Extreme Slide when you're touching a good number of peggles forming a circle or a curve or Orange Attack, when you're touching a certain number of orange pegs with a ball. When finishing a level, the bucket disappears and five special bonuses appear: 10.000 at the far left and far right, 50.000 for the two others and for the middle, it's 100.000 points. Note that if you clean your screen of all the peggles, you're unlocking Ultra Extreme Fever and all the five voids bring 100.000 points.

As you can see, if the basic gameplay is easy to understand, the many bonuses that you can earn and the fact that you'll need some time before knowing what to do are just making the game fall in a sort of complexity.

The backgrounds are customized to the Orange Box games with Peggle Masters appearing in it. Half-Life 2 Episode 2 is represented by a Vortigaunt attacking a Peggle Master, a Headcrab, a Hunter. Team Fortress 2 is symbolized by an Heavy with a Peggle Master, a sentry build by an Engineer, a Pyro pursuing a Peggle Master and a BOOM! probably taken from a trailer. Portal is more interesting by the fact that you have portals that change the location of your ball. You have the lovely turret and the Weighed Companion Cube without forgetting some rooms. Every game is featuring the voice of characters appearing in it. For HL2E2, it didn't really let a trace in my brain but for TF2, you have the voice from the Heavy, like the "You did well!". For Portal, it's our dear psycho Glados who is speaking.

As you can suppose, graphics are simple, not really complicated and very cartoonish for the Peggle Masters. Backgrounds are more similar to the original graphics of the game than being cartooned. Soundtrack is also perfect, as you can imagine. It's just sticking to the ambiance... well, the ambiance of EXTREME FEVER!

The different modes are also challenging. Duel Mode is made for playing alone against the computer or for playing with a friend. You have also special features for it: -25% of your points if the ball doesn't touch a peggle and falls directly in the void or in the bucket for example. Adventure Mode is the solo campaign, with the famous alien attack and Bjorn as our sole guide. The Quick Mission is for playing unlocked levels and the Challenge Mode is for people liking Challenge. It's a sort of Bonus Map like in Portal: you have to beat the challenge for gaining the title of Peggle Master for the level: clean all the peggles, reach a certain high score: 300.000 for example, eliminate all the orange peggles (the classic gameplay). I can guarantee you that reaching a high score is easier than trying to clean your screen. Currently, I'm a Peggle Master in each level.

The Bad
Peggle Extreme isn't suffering from flaws, apart the shortness of the game, being a product designed for the Orange Box and the fact that you will not beat every level at your first try. Believe me, you'll find the BOOM! and the sentry levels very challenging. And wait to see the level from Portal and its three parts you can only access by taking portals.

When I first wrote about PE, I didn't speak about the lack of achievements. At that time, I wasn't so hooked on achievements, even if I've played HL2E2, Portal and TF2. Since the updates for TF2 classes, achievements have taken another meaning for me. Peggle Extreme is lacking of it. I would have love to have special achievement for it. It could have been fun to try to "clean all levels once" or "Don't use your guide" or something like that.

The Bottom Line
Anyway, for me, this game is really enjoyable, if you don't try this, you don't know what you're missing. You can still try Peggle Deluxe free on PopCap Games if you can't play Peggle Extreme. The game is probably one of the best casual games I've played and I'll admit it: seeing G-Man as the sun or Bjorn with a Headcrab is something that HL fans can't miss. Anyway, I'll recommend it. It's fun, very easy to understand and enjoyable, despite lacking of length, achievements and the difficulty of some levels.