Game Reviews

Pong Pong Egg review - An under-egged Peggle

Star onStar onStar onStar offStar off
|
iOS
| Pong Pong Egg
Get
Pong Pong Egg review - An under-egged Peggle
|
iOS
| Pong Pong Egg

Pong Pong Egg is basically a simpler, dumber, inferior take on Peggle. In an ideal world, I would say 'just play Peggle' and be done with it.

But this isn't an ideal world. It's a world where the brilliant original mobile version of PopCap's Peggle was pulled from the App Store and replaced with an F2P imposter.

All of which forces us to turn back to Pong Pong Egg and look a little closer at what it's got to offer.

Egging you on

So what exactly does Pong Pong Egg have to offer? Well, it's awful cute.

The idea is to ping a succession of smiley-faced eggs in from the top of the screen and take out a bunch of vegetable-shaped pegs before settling in the pan, egg cup or microwave oven below.

In the game's parlance you're building a recipe, collecting a prescribed list of ingredients. But basically you're playing Peggle.

Potted history

It's difficult to explain the appeal of Peggle (and faithful disciples like Papa Pear Saga) if you haven't tried it before.

The main inspiration is Pachinko, the Japanese physical arcade/gambling machine that resembles a pinball table without the flippers.

In both Pachinko and Peggle you drop balls in from the top, and those balls bounce around off the pegs at random before settling in different compartments at the bottom. Peggle introduced the ability to aim the initial launch, but it's still an inherently random game.

The key difference with Pong Pong Egg is that your finishing point at the bottom isn't in doubt - it's all about collecting the appropriate ingredients in as few balls (eggs) as possible.

Cracks start to show

I'm not sure Peggle needed simplifying, but that's what Pong Pong Egg does.

Occasionally you'll be given a harmful grill to avoid, but the main area of embellishment here lies with the power-ups.

Pong Pong Egg sprinkles the levels with special-use items - line-blitzing chillies, pumpkin bombs, size-increasing carrots and so on. While there's a certain amount of fun to be had encountering a new one, though, they're often overpowered gimmicks.

Crucially, even the ball physics feel stripped back. The convincingly lively and unpredictable bounce of Peggle isn't here and the levels are far more constrained, which means Pong Pong Egg lacks the necessary tactile thrill.

Pong Pong Egg is a fairly average Peggle copy. The sad absence of the real deal on mobile means that its yolk seems a little richer and fresher, but even then the five-year-old Papa Pear Saga is a much tastier alternative.

Pong Pong Egg review - An under-egged Peggle

A solid and cute if overly simplistic take on Peggle, which sacrifices tactile unpredictability for a more streamlined approach
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.