Marble Blast Ultra, the latest creation by developer Garage Games, defines what a classic arcade title should be: it combines a variety of unique gameplay elements to produce a simple, addictive, yet challenging game. The concept is easy enough to grasp: you are a marble, whose sole purpose is to collect a number of gems and race to the finish line in under a given time limit. But don’t think that these tasks are a cake walk. Labyrinths, obstacles and the general physics of the game world are constantly working toward your demise, and overcoming these challenges will take your time, patience, and general skill in regards to controlling your marble. But I can also confidently assure you that, no matter what your skill level, you will come away from this game with a rewarding and, more importantly, memorable experience.
When you start up MBU, the first thing you will notice is how easy to navigate the interface is. This may not seem like a big deal, but for the avid arcade gamer, this makes all the difference in making them feel right at home. When you are finally ready to take your eyes away from that beautiful menu screen and move onto the single and multiplayer modes, some great things await you. The single player portion boasts 60 levels, while the multiplayer matches span across more than 10 levels. But while the amount of content in the level design department was spared no effort, the same cannot be said about the soundtrack for the game. The one “space techno” type song in the game is on a continuous loop, so after the first couple of days you might want to start playing your own music. Fortunately, the game’s sound effects are natural, and flow smoothly throughout the entire game.
Going through the first couple of levels of the single player mode, you will wonder why Garage Games didn’t just make a tutorial: these levels, though fun, present no challenge whatsoever. But what they are meant to do is get you familiar to the VERY unfamiliar control scheme which is presented in the game. This is mainly because the physics system in MBU is second to none: there is no stopping on a dime when you activate a speed boost, and when you get nudged by another character in multiplayer, good luck regaining your control in time to get to that last remaining gem. I won’t even talk about the ice, high-powered fans, moving columns of death, or the dreaded bumpers.
No worries though, once you get your hands around the controls, their solidarity becomes more apparent by the level. Again, the key word in this game is simplicity, and the controls definitely deliver on that standpoint. The slightest movement of the left analog stick sends the ball rolling away, and the auto camera moves along perfectly where ever the ball may go. The player also has control over the camera with the right analog stick and the jump command with either the A button (for a single jump), or the left trigger (for a continuous jump). I could take up the whole rest of the review with praise for the controls, so I will leave the juicy parts of them up to you.
Going on to the intermediate and, eventually the advanced levels, you will find yourself replaying many of them in order to complete them in under the specified time limit. The mazes become longer with twists and traps, obstacles get more frequent and bunched in, and you start to get used to falling off of the map into oblivion. But after all those tries add up and you finally complete the stage, the feeling of accomplishment and achievement sits well with you.
