Home

 › 

Articles

 › 

Peggle Blast Makes Every Free-to-Play Mistake

Peggle Blast Makes Every Free-to-Play Mistake

In the good old days, a new PopCap Games title was cause for rejoicing. It was a sign that people could soon kiss free time goodbye for at least a week to devote time to what would undoubtedly be a new, casual classic. Now, a game like Peggle Blast is another sign of the developer’s tragic degradation. Instead of a Peggle experience we can savor, it’s a free-to-play tragedy. It’s as though PopCap looked at Candy Crush Saga and asked themselves, “How can we make Peggle more like that?”

It starts innocuously enough, with a gradual buildup of difficulty. Normally, this is fine in games. It’s appreciated, even. Except Peggle Blast is a free-to-play game, which means the difficulty ramps up at a quicker rate and success often comes down to luck, rather than skill.

That is, unless someone is willing to kick in real cash for power-ups. Peggle Blast has plenty of these. You can pay to get extra green pegs, so you have more chances to  unleash a super power. You can pay to have rainbow power, to increase damage from a shot. Fire power heats up the ball, making a player able to hatch phoenix eggs in a single hit, rather than three. Which is appreciated, since if an egg happens to fall offscreen before being hatched, you instantly lose a level.

Which is bad, because Peggle Blast also relies on the life system. You can have up to five at a time. Lose a stage five times, and you have to wait for those to recharge before you play again. Unless you want to pay to refill things.

Should you manage to get through a block of levels, then there’s another annoying obstacle blocking your way. Peggle Blast encourages the pestering of friends. If you want to keep playing, you need to get three people to come by to “help.” This means sending notifications and bothering people so you can proceed in a “free” game. That is, unless you want to spend more money. Peggle Blast will let you keep going if you open that wallet.

Peggle Blast Makes Every Free-to-Play Mistake

How much money? Glad you asked! It’s $0.99 for a pass to a new area, extra balls, extra lives, a ring of fire, Super Guide, and other power ups. If you want to rebattle Fnord, should you fail a duel, or get an Egg Net to keep them from falling off screen, that’s $1.99.

As you can see, anything that can go wrong, does. Peggle Blast is going to find a way to rip you off. It’s a shame, because if it wasn’t for these money-grubbing ways, it would be a good game. Some of the new mechanics work very well and add a suitable challenge, and I like Bjorn’s brother, Fnord, as a villain. Of course, we shouldn’t have expected any different. After all, PopCap is now part of EA, and we’re in the Candy Crush age.

To top