Peggle is dead, long live Peggle!
EA has removed PopCap’s original Peggle from the App Store in New Zealand. In its place, the publisher has soft-launched its new free-to-play take on the game, called Peggle.
While the free-to-play version shifts the perspective to a horizontal plane, the basics of the pachinko inspired gameplay remain intact. You must still clear the board of orange and blue pegs by firing your tiny metal balls at them, and enjoying the chaos that ensues.
Look under the hood, however, and you will find more significant changes. The game is framed by an overworld map reminiscent Candy Crush Saga.
As the difficulty increases, the free-to-play elements come to the fore, letting you purchase boosts to increase your chances of success, more balls, and additional power-ups. There's even an energy system to limit how much you can play in any given session.
With the original game now pulled from the App Store in New Zealand, players who don’t have it saved on their device may have lost it forever. That said, they can download and play the new version today.
We loved the original Peggle so much we are re-downloading our copies as we type, just in case the same thing happens in other stores when the free-to-play version is released worldwide.
