Peggle Nights is exactly what I wanted out of it – more Peggle. There are more blocks and pegs to be hit, the board layouts are interesting, and there is a new character introduced whose power feels sufficiently different from those available in the base game.
For those that don’t know, Peggle is best described as Pinball crossed with Pachinko. Skill and luck (at least for me) play an equal part in my score at the end of any given level, but levels are short enough that retrying a failed one isn’t overly frustrating. The field is littered with blue and orange pegs and bricks, and the object of the game is to eliminate all of the orange objects from the board before running out of shots. Each character has a unique ability ranging from increased shot path visibility to pinball flippers to multiball. Each character’s ability is tailored to a different style of play, and some are more useful on a given board layout than others. As you work through the story your character will be locked but when you go back in quick play and attempt challenges (which use the same boards as single player) you will have your choice of character.
The expansion content is a bit longer than the content in the base game so for half price you’re getting a lot of boards to play. I prefer the layouts in Nights to the original as they seem to be more tailored to the character ability that you’ll be using in the story, and they’re more whimsical because of the idea that you’re playing out each character’s dreams. There’s something special about playing out the firefighting dreams of a dragon and the rock and roll dreams of a psychic owl. The challenges are back as well, and they’re more varied and offer more challenge this time around as well so you’ll have plenty to shoot for if you want to clear them all.
The new character, Marina, is a good fit, and her power is interesting since it affects the field rather than the ball (similar to the alien’s power) by bringing down a lightning strike and counting each peg and brick in the way as “hit.” There is really nothing to complain about present in Peggle Nights. You get a load of content at a low price, and if you like the base game then you’ll certainly have fun with this expansion.
Pros: Great amount of content, new character, good board layout
Cons: Challenges are much more difficult than the base game
Plays Like: Peggle
