by Araminta Matthews

Created on: October 20, 2008   Last Updated: October 22, 2008

Peggle Nights, the welcomed sequel to Pop Cap Games' Peggle, earns a whopping 4/5 stars! Coupling vivid graphics and original and often funny characters with a mergence of pinball and billiards, Peggle Nights is n instantly addictive game from the first bounce! Each level, the player is required to clear the board of red pegs using a limited number of "pinballs". This task is completed by aiming the pinball at one of the pegs or the wall. In every level, there are two green pegs that provide the player with a special ability unique to the character. For example, Renfield, a Halloween-style pumpkin, offers "spooky ball" in which the pinball is replaced by a green, ectoplasmic smiley face and the bucket which catches the balls turns into a drum, allowing you essentially two pinballs for the price of one - all the while, the normal Peggle Nights music is replaced by a creepy soundrack straight out of a black-and-white, Bela Lugosi flick. The game offers many levels in adventure mode, and it also offers an additional challenge mode where the player can improve on his or her game playing increasingly difficult levels. Because there are so many different levels with so many different characters with special abilities, Peggle Nights has tremendous re-play value and could very easily keep you up all Peggle Night long!

While Peggle Nights is a "funtastic", unique adventure, it fails to make the 5/5 star mark because it is not the best game in terms of a sequel. Peggle, which was an innovative puzzle game when it first hit the scene was brilliant mostly because it was so different from other games being offered at the time. Peggle Nights, however, offers little in the way of progress. It uses the same characters, game play, special abilities, and goals. The only changes to Peggle Nights are reflected by the new "night-time" persona of the characters and scenes. The bouncy music of Peggle is replaced by a Travlota-strutting disco tune, and occasionally a classical refrain. The backgrounds offer different images with a nocturnal angle and the pegs are laid out in different - and more difficult - patterns, but the crux of the gameplay is left unaltered. Perhaps Pop Cap Games simply knew they had a good thing going! Whatever the reason, the game is fun, family-friendly, exhilirating, and an excellent ride!

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