Peggle on PS3 – Turn back now while you still can

PopCap’s deceptively simple puzzle title Peggle, along with its expansion Peggle Nights, was released on the European PlayStation Store yesterday and, under these circumstances, I feel it’s only right I issue a warning to my brothers and sisters of PlayStation. It’s highly unusual that I would take a game that deserved every bit of the 94% score it was awarded in the new issue of Play (on sale yesterday at all good newsagents, exclusive Aliens vs Predator review cover) and urge people NOT to buy it. But I have my reasons…

I first heard about Peggle when I was writing a feature on videogame addiction for 360 magazine, long before I was transferred to Play. I had sent out Q&As on the subject to various games industry figures, including Miles Jacobson, boss of Sports Interactive, developer of the Football Manager series, which includes an ‘Addictedness Rating’ among your manager’s stats. He played down the addictiveness of games, saying he’s been playing Peggle a lot recently but definitely wasn’t addicted. I believed him, but that’s because, at the time, I’d never played Peggle.

I heard about Peggle again when it was released on the Xbox Live Arcade. A few days after it was released, I received a message from one of my friends over Xbox Live. It said, “Peggle Peggle Peggle Peggle Peggle Peggle Peggle Peggle”. Looking back now, I realise I should have removed him from my friends list immediately and gone back to playing something, anything, but Peggle. But I didn’t. Curiosity got the better of me, and I downloaded the trial version of Peggle. My life hasn’t been the same since.

I didn’t really get it at first. It was fun, compelling even, but my initial feeling was that it was more about blind luck than anything else. Certainly, luck does play a big part in Peggle, but the more I played, the more I realised that skill and judgement are much more important than it first appears. Your understanding of geometry, physics and probability are really put to the test. That makes it sound taxing though, which it isn’t. In fact, that’s the most dangerous thing about Peggle – it is SO easy to play.

I have a huge backlog of major releases that I’ve barely touched and it’s Peggle’s fault. Sooner or later, someone around here’s going to notice that I know next to nothing about major titles like Uncharted 2, Heavy Rain, BioShock 2, Mass Effect 2, Tekken 6, Darksiders and Bayonetta. I’ve got them, and I want to play them, but… but… but… every time I go near my consoles, I hear Peggle calling me. I’m addicted to Ode To Joy and I need help! Seriously, if anyone’s reading this who cares, staging an intervention might not be a bad idea…