Shock Absorber: Disables the marble from bouncing for 5 seconds. Super Speed: Gives the marble an instant speed boost in the direction the camera is pointing in. Super Jump: Gives the marble an instant upward boost. Only one inventory power-up can be held at a time, although multiple power-ups can be used by stacking their effects in a certain way. Non-inventory power-ups are instantly activated when touched, and inventory power-ups are activated by the player. There are 7 power-ups available to the player. There are 100 levels, categorized by difficulty: 24 Beginner, 24 Intermediate, and 52 Advanced. Some levels require a number of gems to be picked up before the level can be finished. Each gold time is always possible but usually involves finding hidden powerups and/or taking shortcuts. Each level also has a "Gold Time", an additional challenge to complete the level in a specified time-frame. Some levels must be completed within a Qualification time, to increase difficulty. There is a variety of power-ups available to the player, which are collected by touching them with the marble. The player controls the marble spin, and therefore movement, and can also make the marble jump. Levels may contain hazards to make this more difficult.
Modifications have also been created for Marble Blast Gold by the Marble Blast community, most notably Marble Blast Platinum, Marble Blast Powered Up, and Marble Blast Emerald.īasic gameplay involves taking the perspective of an autonomous marble moving on its own from a start pad to an end pad, without falling out of bounds. At some point during 2003when?, it was also licensed to eGames to be resold under the name Marble Blaster. The game was originally released in December 2002 as Marble Blast and then updated in May 2003, being renamed as Marble Blast Gold. Marble Blast Gold was also ported over to the Microsoft Xbox through the Xbox Live Arcade service the following year with enhanced graphics. Marble Blast XP, a version for the Net Jet online game system, has updated graphics and a marble selector. The sequel, Marble Blast Ultra, was released a few years later for the Xbox 360 platform with new features and improved graphics.
It is also available for Windows operating systems as well as various Linux distributions.
computers like the iMac, iBook, and Mac mini.
Its gameplay is between casual and tough it looks great and it has tons of levels for you to try out.Marble Blast Gold is a 2002 3D platform game. To wrap it up, if you’re into time attack style games, Marble Blast Ultra is a good choice. There is a good variety of those and the way they look and how the gameplay works make the entire experience very entertaining. In multiplayer mode, you and up to 7 friends can compete against each other in gem gathering arenas. There will be several types of obstacles in your way or just one but with different implementations and you also get a bunch of power-ups to help you out. You start each round on a start pad and have to make your way to the finish one as fast as possible. In Marble Blast Ultra things are easy when it comes to what you have to do. Challenge yourself or several friends at the same time With Marble Blast Ultra, things are just how they should be, the marble physics are excellent for both control and impact and that allows you to really focus on the speedrun part. Similar games can be extremely punishing when it comes to guiding the ball/sphere/marble/whatever across the level.
You get 60 levels to complete, all of them grouped into difficulty categories with some being downright rage triggers, and we'll take that as a good thing.Īnother thing that’s worth mentioning is the spot on marble control. The gameplay is well rounded and features just enough variety to make things fun and perpetually interesting. Although, if that is the only ‘complaint’ about a game, it’s easy to acknowledge and appreciate the work that went into it. The polishing on this game is exemplary when casually roaming around a level or giving 110% to beat a record, everything works perfectly, except for the credits section where things are a bit messed up. Excellently polished visuals and gameplayįor an indie title, Marble Blast Ultra not only looks great it plays just as well. The game features a large number of levels for single player and a good bunch for multiplayer mode.
Marble Blast Ultra is a 3D puzzle game that challenges you through a series of well-crafted speedrun tracks while controlling a shiny and perfectly polished marble.