Peggle Nights

If you haven't yet visited the Peggle Institute, never fear: Both games are easy to learn, a sort of cross between pinball and pachinko. In Peggle Nights, as in the original, you shoot a ball at variously colored pegs on a board. The pegs that the ball strikes disappear, changing the possible paths for the next ball. Clearing all the orange pegs (which are distributed at random) wins you the stage. Particularly dexterous moves earn you extra points. A Peggle Master accompanies you on each of the levels, sharing his or her special power--anything from explosions to flippers to trajectory-tweaking.

These ten Peggle Masters--characters such as wise owl Master Hu and cheerful Sunflower Tula--drive the loose plot of the new game. Each of them has a secret dream, and these dreams provide gags and backgrounds for the levels. For instance, Bjorn the Unicorn longs to be a caped crimefighter. Renfield Pumpkin fancies himself an artist, and paints us stages based on artworks such as Salvador Dali's Persistence of Memory, Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night, and (most memorably) Edvard Munch's The Scream. A new character, the electricity-shooting squid Marina, joins the cast with her own quest.

The gameplay remains enjoyable, although it's sometimes a bit tricky. However, new additions such as a trophy room and extra fanfare for acing a level make Peggle Nights more rewarding. All in all, Peggle Nights is a feel-good game you can play for a few minutes or a few hours. (Yes, I tested this.)

The innovation likeliest to please hardcore Peggleheads is still in development: When you finish the game, you can visit a page that will later be stocked with new playable levels.

--Laura Blackwell