Before we tear into this dull, dull game like a coyote mauls a young lamb, we’ll include this disclaimer: we are actually massive darts fans.
We don’t know what’s more surprising – that people turn up in their thousands to watch lumpen men in shiny shirts throw needles into a tiny target, or that they do so as far afield as Blackpool and Las Vegas.Beer probably accounts for a lot of the darts’ appeal, hence its traditional location in a mouldy corner of every pre-Wetherspoons local pub.
It’s rubbish on paper, of course – you just aim the ball at the pegs and fire, trying to clear all the orange ones – but on iPod, DS, PC, and now Xbox 360, it’s by far one of the best games on the platform that we do love so. Slot machines make their money by creating desire - the desire to pour your hard-earned dole money into the slot in exchange for occasional reward.
We'd be hard-pressed to come up with a casual game we've logged more hours into over the last couple years than Peggle. Actually, forget the "casual" tag – Peggle demands a hardcore level of devotion and rewards it with the ever-changing, always-addictive mix of pachinko and pinball that has made it such a hit. And now, two years after its PC debut, Peggle and its recent follow-up Peggle Nights have arrived on the Nintendo DS in the form of Peggle Dual Shot, a title that threatens to make us miss train stops and spend far too long on the can.
For puzzlers, it’s nepotism or bust. The genre incumbents are unyielding colossi, and you have to be the offspring of Zuma, the cousin of Iggle Pop or to have made out with BookWorm before a crowd of peers begins to consider parading you about on their shoulders. Peggle Nights has such rich blue blood coursing through its veins, being the sequel to 2007’s seminal Peggle.
Picking up where the first episode concluded, the second episode of the Penny Arcade Adventures begins with your still-homeless character (you can either import your old character or start a new one at the same advanced level) brandishing a new gardening implement and teaming up once again with 1922-era Gabe and Tycho to track down the giant robot that crushed your house.
Loosely based on the popular web comic Penny Arcade, this new episodic series kicks off with a six-hour game, cheekily subtitled On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. The action follows your custom-built avatar (and his disappointingly limited wardrobe selection) and early-20th-century versions of heroes Gabe and Tycho as they investigate paranormal goings-on in the city of New Arcadia. It’s a bizarre tale that’s completely
Gabe and Tycho return to their occult adventures. Does the old-school, turn based gameplay suit their signature sarcastic style?
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