Marble Blast Ultra
Posted January 26, 2006
Developed by Garage Games, Marble Blast Ultra rolls out a series of extensive single player challenges and an increasingly addicting multiplayer game. Similar to the classic Marble Madness, the single player challenges will test your marble spinning skills around a tight course. At the opening of the game, the simple menu system appears and a crescendo of electronica music rises to raise the tempo in preparation of what's ahead. The menu selection covers all the basics and also provides help files for those new to the game. The load times are lightning quick, so challenges and multiplayer sessions appear almost instantaneously.
Gameplay:
The controls are setup for accurate movement of the marble and work very well with the physics engine. The left stick moves the marble and the right stick rotates the camera. The marble has the ability to jump onto ledges via the green A button. The right trigger activates the power-ups that are acquired along the tracks. High jump ability, speed boosts, and size enlargement are among some of the power-ups. The left bumper is specifically for multiplayer matches to create a powerful blast area for knocking opponents away from your marble, but it can also come in handy for a quick jump in the single player game.
The single player game is comprised of sixty challenges, broken over three levels of difficulty. At the beginner level, the game will teach the basic dynamics and introduce the player to types of rolling surfaces, various obstacles, and the power-ups needed to complete certain challenges. All in all, the game does an excellent job of acclimating the player into the world of Marble Blast Ultra over the first few introductory challenges.
The intermediate level will moderately increase the number of obstacles in the way and confuse the player with multiple paths. A few of the obstacles are pinball bumpers that shoot you off the course, fans that alter your direction, sliding metal crates on rails, and gravity beacons that rotate the entire track. The final level of advanced difficulty is an insane romp through narrow slanted edges, swinging trap doors, and rapidly moving platforms. While advanced can be extremely merciless at times, the first two levels of difficulty are relatively easy to complete and beat the par times.
Par times are set on each challenge as the time to beat. Many times, you can complete the course with more than half your time left. Adversely, I finished a few maps with no more than a tenth of a second to spare. If all par times are met on a certain level of difficulty, an achievement will be opened. The twelve achievements worth 200 gamerscore points vary from collecting the twenty secret Easter eggs in the single player game, finishing difficulty level requirements, and multiplayer conquests such as finishing first in a match or racking up 2000 points in your online career.
The multiplayer game can be very entertaining with a good group of players and was lag free for the sessions I participated in. The online game consists of collecting multicolored gems for various point values before your competition has a chance to. Matches can be created over ten different maps and the number of total players can range from two to eight. Up to seven of those player slots can be privately held for friends if you are hosting the match. The maps are littered with various power-ups designed to increase the chance of being the first to the gems. The winner is simply the person who has collected the most gems. The Xbox Live leaderboard will track the highest number of gems collected and rank you against the rest of the world. Besides tracking multiplayer stats, the online leaderboard will rank you by time on every single player challenge that is completed. It's a welcome extra that increases the competition between players in the Xbox Live community.
Graphics:
Marble Blast Ultra a colorful world of shiny, reflective surfaces and open spaces. The background on each map is a mix of muted colors with penciled tracks painting the sky. The frame rate stays silky smooth throughout the entire game assumably at a rock solid 60-fps. Also, your marble has 35 different outer coverings to choose from. Each covering is finely detailed and reflects the surrounding environment off the marble's surface. Overall, the graphical quality is pretty darn impressive for a simple arcade game which can be credited to the quality of the Torque Shader Engine used to create the game.
Audio:
The musical track for the game completely consists of high-tempo, electronica music. Using this type of music increases the tension for completing a challenge in a certain amount of time, so it's a perfect fit for this type of fast paced game. The sound effects do a pretty good job of animating the environment at an auditory level. Most of the power-up noises are accurate for the situation and really cater to the game's design. The only flaw I heard was an overly boomy effect when the 'Mega Marble' power-up that increases size was used. The bass was a bit too much for my subwoofer.
Conclusion:
Marble Blast Ultra is an enjoyable arcade title with a surprisingly extensive single player game and a solid multiplayer experience. The demo includes a few beginner levels, one intermediate, one advanced, and a time limited multiplayer session. It sells for 800 marketplace points and the installation will take up 31 MB on your Xbox 360 hard drive. I recommend this arcade title for anyone that enjoys a speedy game that requires a moderate amount of skill and strategic thinking. Personally, I have yet to play an arcade action title as much fun as Marble Blast Ultra. It's definitely worth the purchase, so go download that demo and try it out yourself.
Gameplay:
The controls are setup for accurate movement of the marble and work very well with the physics engine. The left stick moves the marble and the right stick rotates the camera. The marble has the ability to jump onto ledges via the green A button. The right trigger activates the power-ups that are acquired along the tracks. High jump ability, speed boosts, and size enlargement are among some of the power-ups. The left bumper is specifically for multiplayer matches to create a powerful blast area for knocking opponents away from your marble, but it can also come in handy for a quick jump in the single player game.
The single player game is comprised of sixty challenges, broken over three levels of difficulty. At the beginner level, the game will teach the basic dynamics and introduce the player to types of rolling surfaces, various obstacles, and the power-ups needed to complete certain challenges. All in all, the game does an excellent job of acclimating the player into the world of Marble Blast Ultra over the first few introductory challenges.
The intermediate level will moderately increase the number of obstacles in the way and confuse the player with multiple paths. A few of the obstacles are pinball bumpers that shoot you off the course, fans that alter your direction, sliding metal crates on rails, and gravity beacons that rotate the entire track. The final level of advanced difficulty is an insane romp through narrow slanted edges, swinging trap doors, and rapidly moving platforms. While advanced can be extremely merciless at times, the first two levels of difficulty are relatively easy to complete and beat the par times.
Par times are set on each challenge as the time to beat. Many times, you can complete the course with more than half your time left. Adversely, I finished a few maps with no more than a tenth of a second to spare. If all par times are met on a certain level of difficulty, an achievement will be opened. The twelve achievements worth 200 gamerscore points vary from collecting the twenty secret Easter eggs in the single player game, finishing difficulty level requirements, and multiplayer conquests such as finishing first in a match or racking up 2000 points in your online career.
The multiplayer game can be very entertaining with a good group of players and was lag free for the sessions I participated in. The online game consists of collecting multicolored gems for various point values before your competition has a chance to. Matches can be created over ten different maps and the number of total players can range from two to eight. Up to seven of those player slots can be privately held for friends if you are hosting the match. The maps are littered with various power-ups designed to increase the chance of being the first to the gems. The winner is simply the person who has collected the most gems. The Xbox Live leaderboard will track the highest number of gems collected and rank you against the rest of the world. Besides tracking multiplayer stats, the online leaderboard will rank you by time on every single player challenge that is completed. It's a welcome extra that increases the competition between players in the Xbox Live community.
Graphics:
Marble Blast Ultra a colorful world of shiny, reflective surfaces and open spaces. The background on each map is a mix of muted colors with penciled tracks painting the sky. The frame rate stays silky smooth throughout the entire game assumably at a rock solid 60-fps. Also, your marble has 35 different outer coverings to choose from. Each covering is finely detailed and reflects the surrounding environment off the marble's surface. Overall, the graphical quality is pretty darn impressive for a simple arcade game which can be credited to the quality of the Torque Shader Engine used to create the game.
Audio:
The musical track for the game completely consists of high-tempo, electronica music. Using this type of music increases the tension for completing a challenge in a certain amount of time, so it's a perfect fit for this type of fast paced game. The sound effects do a pretty good job of animating the environment at an auditory level. Most of the power-up noises are accurate for the situation and really cater to the game's design. The only flaw I heard was an overly boomy effect when the 'Mega Marble' power-up that increases size was used. The bass was a bit too much for my subwoofer.
Conclusion:
Marble Blast Ultra is an enjoyable arcade title with a surprisingly extensive single player game and a solid multiplayer experience. The demo includes a few beginner levels, one intermediate, one advanced, and a time limited multiplayer session. It sells for 800 marketplace points and the installation will take up 31 MB on your Xbox 360 hard drive. I recommend this arcade title for anyone that enjoys a speedy game that requires a moderate amount of skill and strategic thinking. Personally, I have yet to play an arcade action title as much fun as Marble Blast Ultra. It's definitely worth the purchase, so go download that demo and try it out yourself.