Marble Blast Ultra
Added February 2nd, 2006 by Colin
After quite a few false starts and delays, the Xbox Live Arcade has a new title by the name of Marble Blast Ultra. The premise is simple- roll your marble through a series of obstacles, collect any gems in the area, and head to the finish line. Let’s be honest here. Marble games have been done before (Marble Madness!), and it’s hard not to look at Super Monkey Ball 2 as the pinnacle of the genre. That genre, of course, being Marble Rolling Games. Yes, I just made that up.
Well, it’s time to rethink that hypothesis. Marble Blast Ultra takes a dry and done to death concept and applies a layer of polish that will have you reaching for your sunglasses to block out the glare. As stated above, the premise is simple. You move your marble about by manipulating the left analog stick to directly control the movement of the marble. Pull the left trigger to jump, hit the right shoulder button to launch a little power blast that will give you some extra air by knocking you into the air a bit. Again, nothing new here.
Well, it’s time to rethink that hypothesis. Marble Blast Ultra takes a dry and done to death concept and applies a layer of polish that will have you reaching for your sunglasses to block out the glare. As stated above, the premise is simple. You move your marble about by manipulating the left analog stick to directly control the movement of the marble. Pull the left trigger to jump, hit the right shoulder button to launch a little power blast that will give you some extra air by knocking you into the air a bit. Again, nothing new here.
Enter powerups. Marble Blast Ultra is largely distinguished by the variety of powerups at your fingertips. From a boost that will give you a dizzying burst of speed to a gyrocopter that will have you gliding through the air with reckless abandon, the gameplay is spiced up constantly by the necessity of utilizing these powerups to progress. But, as great as the power ups are implemented, the real winner here is the level design. It is, in a word, ingenious. Many of the levels are incredibly impressive, with elevators and platforms and traps all moving in a deliciously narcissistic demonstration of marble knocking goodness. All the stages take place in the air- fall off the stage and you will be taking a quick trip to the beginning of the level, or to the most recent checkpoint, of which there are many. One of the most impressive levels is entitled Acrobatics, which has you power boosting off gigantic ramps, across the heavens, and onto another ramp to repeat the glorious process all over again., all culminating in a triple power boost vertical jump to the finish line.
Good stuff.
Marble Blast Ultra is divided into 60 stages, which are then divided into three sections: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. The beginner levels teach you the ropes, the intermediate stages have you hanging on for dear life, and the advanced stages have you clutching the rope while a maniacal villain stands above you prying off your fingernails one by one. Thankfully, the learning curve is spot-on, and eases you into the difficulty of the later levels. One interesting design choice is that all levels are unlocked from the beginning, instead of being unlocked one by one. While this is a purely personal preference, I much prefer this approach, as it allows you to skip a level if you get stuck. You bought the game, why shouldn’t you be able to play it the way you want?
Multiplayer is a straightforward affair, but with a good group it can be a great deal of fun. The way it works is that up to eight players roll their marbles about a stage collecting gems. There are three types of gems, one gives you a single point, the second gives you two, and the third gives you five. There are a good amount of stages, but there is but a single gameplay mode, which is too bad considering the possibilities for easy to implement, yet fun, modes. Things like tag and just knocking people off the level. However, even without extra modes of play it’s a solid mode altogether. The net code is well done and there isn’t much of any lag, the eight player limit enables large groups to play together, and the multiplayer levels are all well put together. Of particular note is the matchmaking system- Marble Blast Ultra has a QuickMatch that’s actually quick! Press the QuickMatch button and the game will search for a game, and then take you straight into the game. No extra menus, one press, one game, and it matches you to a host that won’t lag too much.
One of the most surprising things about Marble Blast Ultra is its graphics. One doesn’t normally think of marble games when they think of great graphics, but MBU is visually astounding. Menus are all smooth and cheerful while still efficient. Everything looks incredibly high resolution, and production values are sky high. The in-game HUD looks sharp. In-game, prepare to put that HDTV to good use. Textures are all remarkably high def, even more so than most full-on Xbox 360 retail games. The environments all look spectacular, and the background has a beautifully rendered sky overlaid with some sort of flowing time piece that wraps around and about the stage. It looks superb. The marble itself demonstrates truly next-generation reflections as it reflects and distorts the ground and area about which it rolls. Also impressive is the fact that the soundtrack is actually good! Though it is the cheerful techno one would expect from the title, the cheerful techno is actually well done, making MBU one of the only titles which I have actually listened to its built-in soundtrack instead of my own.
Summary:
Marble Blast Ultra is an absolutely incredible value. For just ten dollars you get sixty stages of marble rolling fun, plus a full Xbox Live multiplayer mode playable with up to eight players. The graphics are outstanding, the soundtrack is good. Everything controls exceedingly well, and the controls are solid. The only real problems here are almost negligible- there could be more multiplayer modes, and there is a risk of the multiplayer gameplay becoming old. The latter, of course, is largely caused by the former. But, when it comes down to it, for ten dollars Marble Blast Ultra goes above and beyond the call of duty, and provides Xbox 360 gamers with a truly stellar title.
Good stuff.
Marble Blast Ultra is divided into 60 stages, which are then divided into three sections: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. The beginner levels teach you the ropes, the intermediate stages have you hanging on for dear life, and the advanced stages have you clutching the rope while a maniacal villain stands above you prying off your fingernails one by one. Thankfully, the learning curve is spot-on, and eases you into the difficulty of the later levels. One interesting design choice is that all levels are unlocked from the beginning, instead of being unlocked one by one. While this is a purely personal preference, I much prefer this approach, as it allows you to skip a level if you get stuck. You bought the game, why shouldn’t you be able to play it the way you want?
Multiplayer is a straightforward affair, but with a good group it can be a great deal of fun. The way it works is that up to eight players roll their marbles about a stage collecting gems. There are three types of gems, one gives you a single point, the second gives you two, and the third gives you five. There are a good amount of stages, but there is but a single gameplay mode, which is too bad considering the possibilities for easy to implement, yet fun, modes. Things like tag and just knocking people off the level. However, even without extra modes of play it’s a solid mode altogether. The net code is well done and there isn’t much of any lag, the eight player limit enables large groups to play together, and the multiplayer levels are all well put together. Of particular note is the matchmaking system- Marble Blast Ultra has a QuickMatch that’s actually quick! Press the QuickMatch button and the game will search for a game, and then take you straight into the game. No extra menus, one press, one game, and it matches you to a host that won’t lag too much.
One of the most surprising things about Marble Blast Ultra is its graphics. One doesn’t normally think of marble games when they think of great graphics, but MBU is visually astounding. Menus are all smooth and cheerful while still efficient. Everything looks incredibly high resolution, and production values are sky high. The in-game HUD looks sharp. In-game, prepare to put that HDTV to good use. Textures are all remarkably high def, even more so than most full-on Xbox 360 retail games. The environments all look spectacular, and the background has a beautifully rendered sky overlaid with some sort of flowing time piece that wraps around and about the stage. It looks superb. The marble itself demonstrates truly next-generation reflections as it reflects and distorts the ground and area about which it rolls. Also impressive is the fact that the soundtrack is actually good! Though it is the cheerful techno one would expect from the title, the cheerful techno is actually well done, making MBU one of the only titles which I have actually listened to its built-in soundtrack instead of my own.
Summary:
Marble Blast Ultra is an absolutely incredible value. For just ten dollars you get sixty stages of marble rolling fun, plus a full Xbox Live multiplayer mode playable with up to eight players. The graphics are outstanding, the soundtrack is good. Everything controls exceedingly well, and the controls are solid. The only real problems here are almost negligible- there could be more multiplayer modes, and there is a risk of the multiplayer gameplay becoming old. The latter, of course, is largely caused by the former. But, when it comes down to it, for ten dollars Marble Blast Ultra goes above and beyond the call of duty, and provides Xbox 360 gamers with a truly stellar title.
