Chey’s Top 25 – #20 – Peggle

Genre: Puzzle/Arcade
Platform: Pretty much all; I have it for PC, Nintendo DS, XBox 360 and XBone (Peggle 2). It’s on iOS (Apple phones) and Android as well.

Peggle was another one of those games that I instantly said “YES MORE PLEASE” and played for hours until I realized that a lack of sleep will, in fact, make you insane. This is a highly addictive game. It’s also a fairly simple one. Simply clear all of the orange pegs from the board by bouncing a metal ball off of them. It’s not too difficult, but it is if you take into account some of the additional challenges for each level.

There are different “masters” to unlock as you play. Each has a special ability to help you complete the levels in new and fun ways. For example, there’s one that gives you a multiball and another that gives you pinball-like flippers at the bottom. Each character has their own personality and the game can be funny at times.

There is no learning curve at all with this game, either. You will instantly know how to play it, so there’s no excuse for not picking it up (I’m looking at you, Mom!). There was an expansion for Peggle – Peggle Nights – which is more of the same, but there is a slightly different twist on the story. Totally worth it.

One of the things that I like most about this game is how it makes a big deal if you succeed. You’ll be treated to fireworks on the screen, loud “Hallelujah” music and flashy text. You’re awesome, and it lets you know it! The other sounds effects are playful and fun as well.

There’s also Peggle 2, which I’m going to bundle right in here as well. It has different masters, except two. My favorite is the homage to The Big Lebowski. The game play is the same basic concept. Aim ball, shoot at pegs, get high score.

Everyone should play this game. It’s fun, funny and will keep you entertained for hours!

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Hidden Gems – Pic Pic for the DS

Genre: Puzzle
Platform: Nintendo DS

I only first learned about Pic Pic about a year ago while looking for good Picross games. This is not a picross game, but a collection of three different puzzle game modes. It’s got a whopping 400 puzzles for each mode, so you’ll be busy for a while. This game kept me enthralled for hours and hours and I’m sure I’ll play it more in the future.

The first game mode is Maze Paint. In this mode, you complete a maze to draw a picture. The modes all start easy and get harder as you go. This was a fun mode to play, especially once I got to the later modes.

Pic Pic Maze

The second mode is Drawing. I had played this type of game before and really enjoyed it. You paint a picture by drawing lines between two numbers. The number tells you how many squares that line will use. It can get challenging, but it is rewarding when you finally figure out that section you’ve been working on for five minutes.

Pic Pic Link-a-Pix

The final mode is my favorite, Magipic. You are given a set of numbers telling you how many squares around it are filled in. This creates a picture. It was also the hardest of the modes and had the steepest learning curve. However, it’s very rewarding once you “get it”.

Pic Pic Magic Number

This game is really hard to find. I got mine off of Ebay for around $30, but it’s tough to find now. It’s a Europe- or Japan-only game and was never released in the US. Fortunately, the Nintendo DS is not region locked (but the 3DS is), meaning you can play any game from any region on any device. The 3DS can play any region’s DS game, just not 3DS games. If you can find it and like puzzle games, I strongly recommend it.

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Oldies but Goodies – Lemmings

Lemmings

It’s time for an oldie but goodie! It’s Lemmings! This game was introduced back in the DOS days (1991, very early PC). It has had so many different versions on just about every console. I have it for my Playstation Portable (PSP), but the version I remember best is that old DOS version. You can still download it here: http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/37/Lemmings.html.

Lemmings are a real animal and the story is that they will run off a cliff in mass numbers if they feel threatened enough. This has since been proven to not be true, but it makes for a fun concept for a video game. Your job is to save as many of the little critters as you can by guiding them to a safe door, where Twizzlers or whatever lemmings like to eat, are waiting. However, each level is a bit of a maze. The lemmings can only fall so far before they die. You can assign lemmings a specific role, such as blocker or digger, which will aid in your task. Blockers will prevent a lemming from going a certain direction (and are really cute!) and the diggers will dig. There are others as well.

The early levels are easy, but it does get challenging later on. The graphics still hold up today and there is a soundtrack which gets repetitive. This game didn’t make my top 25, but it sure was fun, anyway.

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Chey’s Top 25 Video Games – #26 – Hexcells Infinite

Welcome to my top 25 games of all time. It’s actually 26 because I thought of another and couldn’t knock any off. My criteria was pretty simple – time played and replayability. I would say the least amount of time I spent on any game on this list is about 40 hours. I’m sure this list will change over time as I play more and more games, but here we go with number 26 – Hexcells Infinite.

Genre – Puzzle
Platform – PC (Steam)

This is a simple, yet addictive as hell, puzzler I found on Steam. There are a few versions of this game, but Infinite is the best because you can play any number of the games you want. The previous versions had a set number of puzzles. It’s hard for me not to stop writing and go play it right now. The goal of this game is to flawlessly identify the blue tiles. Think Minesweeper, but with hexagons.

Obviously, graphics aren’t really a factor. I don’t usually pay much attention to soundtracks, but this game makes great use of sounds and leads to a very “zen” experience. The sounds change with each game, but it’s usually a piano note or percussion sound. Steam says I’ve played it for 96 hours, so that should give you an idea as to how good this one is.

There’s not really a lot else to say about this one. Now excuse me as I go play this and suddenly find that it’s 6AM.