I’ve decided that it’s okay to purchase games for my iPod so long as they are a natural fit with the iPod control mechanism. The click-wheel doesn’t allow for a lot of movement, but it works for a few things. It’s good for moving things left to right, like a paddle controller from the days of yore. I saw that Peggle was ported to the iPod, and being that it’s so damn good, I figured I’d give it a whirl for five bucks.
If you have not played Peggle before, you’re missing out. It’s a PopCap game that’s circulated in a handful of form, including a Half-Life 2 skinned version that was available for free on Steam. It’s extremely addictive because the gameplay is so quick and satisfying. It’s basically a large peg board that you’re aiming and shooting a ball at to hit all of the orange colored pegs. The ball goes bouncing wildly, ricocheting off the many pegs that fill the screen. As the levels progress, you earn new skills such as a double-ball, pinball like flippers, a homing ball, and other useful tools. I downloaded Peggle Deluxe at some point during my fall semester and played the hell out of it.
For five bucks, Peggle on iTunes is a good deal. The game plays exactly like it’s PC counterpart, although the controls can be less precise. It has all the stages of the original, both adventure and quickplay modes, the same music and sounds, and even some pretty decent graphics. The only complaint I have is that it runs a little slow when there’s a lot going on. This happens when you’ve hit a lot of pegs and it’s trying to tally up the point value and at the end of a round when it’s computing your final score. It doesn’t seem to affect the gameplay, just the smooth feel that the PC version has.
Peggle on the iPod doesn’t do anything special that the other Peggles don’t do, but it’s portable and even more affordable. If you’ve ever thought about trying a game on your iPod to pass the time while on-the-go, download Peggle from the iTunes Store.
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