Peggle Dual Shot

Nintendo DS
Casual dress
Many claims about the addictive qualities of video games have been made in the past, with numerous studies proving and debunking such accusations of pixel junkies on a regular basis.
It’s funny then, that despite core gamers’ almost religious devotion to the medium, the most casual of games is also known as one of the most addictive.
Say hello to Peggle, the game that administers doses, one bouncing metal ball at a time.
A massive hit on the PC, and lately everything from Xbox Live to the iPhone and your new iToaster in between, Peggle: Dual Shot translates the strangely satisfying world of balls and pegs to the DS’ touchscreen with minimal fuss.
Falling somewhere between Pachinko (a kind of vertical Japanese pinball machine) and Arkanoid (bat and ball versus wall), Peggle requires you to clear the screen of orange pegs by firing a ball from the top and hoping your chosen trajectory bounces it off as many pegs as possible.
At the bottom of the screen, a kind of flat bucket moves left to right, returning your ball if it happens to catch it.
Beyond that simple conceit, you have a limited amount of balls and varying colours of pegs that act as power-ups and score-boosts.
The rest is mainly down to luck, and a mastery at predicting trajectories. From there in, everything else is a blur of metal balls, unicorns and neon stars, with a variety of gameplay modes such as Quickplay and Career bolstered by multiplayer options.
To catch Peggle’s bug takes a certain kind of person – where others can be pulled in by its ‘just one more go’ hook, I only find myself doing the same with Street Fighter IV’s new Championship mode.
Still, there is something remarkably satisfying about deleting a massive chain of pegs in one go... whether that can lead to addiction is still up for discussion.
8/10