Marble Blast Ultra Review

Astro Boy

Surely that's cheating?

In keeping with practically every Xbox Live Arcade title ever released, the concept is as effortlessly simple as they come, but all the better for it, frankly. In this instance, each course is set in an 'astrolabe arena suspended high in the clouds' with the idea to roll your marble to the goal, negotiating ramps and traps galore, with the occasional requirement to also collect a finite number of gems along the way. Each of the 60 available levels have a (fairly generous) par time which you can challenge yourself against, but unless you're hellbent on unlocking every Gamerscore achievement known to mankind, there's no real obligation to rush.

To aid you in your seemingly simple quest, a bunch of power-ups appear where needed, with things like a super jump, mega ball, speed boost, helicopter and the like making it possible to negotiate otherwise impossible hazards. Throw in crazily designed courses, icy sections, moving platforms, pinball bumpers, levels that you have to literally flip 90 degrees to properly explore and every other kind of gaming evil known to man and you'll get an idea of what to expect in Marble Blast Ultra.

Inevitably, with only 60 courses to complete it's not going to last all that long - especially once you factor in how easy the first 30 or so really are. The beginner courses are largely insultingly easy, and it's only as you inch towards the more advanced courses that the experience lasts more than a couple of minutes per course. The game's secret weapon - perhaps inevitably - is the time attack element, and although beating your own best time isn't a big incentive, we guarantee that once you get a few mates playing it, you'll all be desperately trying to shave off precious seconds to show everyone who's boss. It's only then that the true charm of the game shines through, and it becomes apparent how evil some of these courses really are.

Bag it

We're about to lose our marbles, again.

In addition, there's also an online multiplayer version for up to eight players, which isn't quite as exciting as you might expect, but fun for a while. Essentially the idea is to grab gems ahead of your opponents within a specified time limit, using whatever power-ups to your advantage. With ten courses to choose from, there's certainly fun to be had, but it feels like more of a frantic-but-lightweight diversion to the main event than something you'll play in preference to the main single player game.

You'd certainly never buy a Live Arcade Game based on its technical prowess, but Marble Blast Ultra certainly looks the part, and represents a massive improvement on the almost shareware-esque standard of old. Replete with delightful shader effects, GarageGames has done a decent job of producing a (literally) very polished looking effort with a simplistic style that works. And a special mention for the excellent squeaky sound effects when you're slipping frantically on the ice. Lovely stuff.