Marble Blast Ultra

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Release Date: January 25, 2006
Developers: GarageGames
Publishers: GarageGames
Platforms: Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Genre: Puzzle
Players: Single player, Multiplayer
Rating: ESRB: Everyone (E)


Synopsis:

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 dont 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.


Story:

There isn't really a story line, single player mode is just 60 levels, each level being a new puzzle that get harder and harder. You play as a marble that rolls around, collects power ups and navigates through sometimes gravity shifting obstacles. Eventually the levels are extremely hard and I can not even beat some of them. The first levels of the game are very very simple but still fun, The middle levels is where I have the most fun playing just because they are a challenge but its not frustrating and doesn't require multiple attempts. The hard levels are fun to beat but can be time consuming and require multiple trys at one obstacle. I think if you ever have the chance to play this game you should definitely try.

Gameplay:

Single Player:The single player is very fun and addicting, I love how the obstacles make you think and you have to use strategy to beat most of the harder levels. I could easily waste away 2-3 hours just playing the single player again. It is very entertaining.

Multi-Player: This is where it gets interesting, The goal of multi-player is to get the most gems in a certain amount of time on a big level that will have obstacles all over it that usually require power ups to get past. There is always people online and I have never had trouble finding a game even though it is so old. Some players are very bad and easy to beat and then there are the players you can tell play the game a lot and win a lot. These players are the ones I like facing because of the challenge. There are 2 map packs for the multi-player but buying the map pack just gives you the option to host that map on multi-player I found out that even without the map pack if the host picks a map-pack map I still get to play which is pretty funny to me.


Graphics:

The Graphics are very clean and simple. I really enjoy them in most cases the game did a nice job on the marble graphics and the options of marble color or designs you can choose from. The game has some of the best graphics I've seen from 2006 games.

Example:



Controls:

The controls take a while to get use to. They are very different from other games but lets face it, you are rolling a power up collection marble around. After you get used to them though they are easy and fun to use. When playing online you will need to have a good grasp on the control system because if you dont other players will most likely knock you off the track alot. My suggestion would be to use RB which release a wave of energy around your marble a lot to push them off.


Some interesting facts would be in 2010, Marble Blast Ultra had sold over 756,000 copies. In February, 2011 the game was delisted from the Xbox Live Arcade but the map packs are still available which are useless without the game.

Overall Rating: 9.5 (Very good game, only thing bringing it down from a ten would be diversity in challenges)