So I’ve had an Xbox 360 for a couple of weeks now, and it’s quite awesome, I must say. Guitar Hero 2 is great (I’ve gotten a litte better since my first foray), both my wife and I are hooked on Viva Pinata. But neither is anywhere near as addictive as two simple PC games I’ve recently stumbled upon (do I owe eBay some money for saying those words together?).
The first, thanks to Michael Gartenberg, is Peggle. Peggle is a cross between Kaboom and traditional pachinko. You have virtually no control over the action during the game, yet it’s insanely addictive. I actually coughed up the $19.99 to get the registered version after tearing through the demo (which was fairly comprehensive, I must add). I’ve still got a lot of the “challenges” left to go, but I’m hoping for an expansion pack or a Peggle 2 in a few months. I’ve got another Andrew Jackson ready for PopCap Games when it does…
Second up, which I just found two days ago, is called Desktop Tower Defense. It’s completely free, as they show completely unobtrusive ads during gameplay. It’s from Kongregate, who claims to have 572 different games available to play, all free. I tried a few others, some are fun, some aren’t, but DTD has me obsessed right now. It’s easy to learn, but takes a lifetime to master.
Got a chance to play with Guitar Hero yesterday at an event we sponsored. Was a blast! It would be easy to get hooked on it. Another reason I need to upgrade to a 360.
DTD is maddeningly addictive, indeed. I use it as an example of excellent level design for my game classes. The designer is a little flip about it, but honestly it shows incredible balance of gameplay, and the fact that it is equally fun with all those twisty “fun” boards is proof.