Peggle 2

Peggle 2 is a casual puzzle video game developed by PopCap Games. The game was announced during Microsoft's E3 2013 press conference as a timed exclusive for the Xbox One and was released on December 9, 2013. It was later ported to PlayStation 4 and Xbox 360.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) The game's core mechanics are as addictive as ever.
 * 2) Better graphics and backgrounds than the previous games.
 * 3) Includes seven Peggle Masters with awesome superpowers:
 * 4) *Bjorn who shows where the ball will go.
 * 5) *Jeffery, who launches a Boulder.
 * 6) *Berg, who can move Pegs.
 * 7) *Gnorman, who can reach distant Pegs with electricity.
 * 8) *Luna, who can ignore Blue Pegs.
 * 9) *Jimmy, who makes more balls.
 * 10) *Windy, who transforms Blue Pegs into Purple Pegs.
 * 11) The new menus are nice, and an innovation to the franchise.
 * 12) Its pleasant music provides a comfortable gaming experience.
 * 13) The new objectives and trials give it a lot of replay-ability.
 * 14) Multiplayer Mode (previously known as Duel Mode) now allows you to connect with up to four players.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The number of Peggle Masters has been reduced from 10 (11 in Peggle Nights) to just 7.
 * 2) *Not to mention that Jimmy Lightning and Windy are paid DLC, so you can only use 5 masters in the base game, which is half as many as the original provided.
 * 3) The game has DLC which unlocks these masters alongside some costumes.
 * 4) *The costumes, however, are useless, serving purely as a monetization scheme. They're pretty, though.
 * 5) It's only available on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Xbox 360. No PC or mobile port exists.
 * 6) The game is easier than its predecessors due to the elimination of Challenge Mode. (Though, some might see this as a good thing.)
 * 7) A few of the mascots' animations can be disturbing/annoying, like Bjorn farting or Berg showing his butt. Fortunately, the latter is pixelated in some versions.

Reception
Peggle 2 received "generally favorable" reviews on Xbox One and "mixed or average" reviews on PlayStation 4. Writing for IGN, Ryan Caffrey said he found the gameplay just as good as the previous Peggle games but was disappointed with its levels for containing fewer “crazy gimmicks and wild themes.” In a mostly positive review, Game Revolution called Peggle 2 the wrong type of game for its console's launch price (the Xbox One was $500 at the time), stating that “Replaying boards over and over again for the perfect score or binging through the entire campaign of puzzles in one sitting can leave you feeling numb...” GameZone's Mike Splechta cited the frame-rate issues as a negative and dismissed the game's Kinect mode, calling it “rather pointless.”

Trivia

 * Lead artist Drew Robertson took pictures of cryptids, among other fantasy creatures, and taped them on a studio room wall. From these, a backstory emerged, thought up by Robertson, about magical beings with powers that release happiness to the world via Pegs. The game's artists and audio team also took inspiration from these pictures to create Peggle 2's soundtrack and unique graphical style.
 * Celestial Realm's Extreme Fever music is a remix of Korobeiniki, the theme used in Tetris' "A-Type" mode.
 * Contrary to its title, this is not the second Peggle game, but the third.