Marble Blast Ultra in basic terms is a puzzle game with a side helping of action, speed and skill. The main objective is to move your marble from the start to finish within the quickest time possible whilst navigating an ever-increasing difficult terrain.

Gameplay.

There are three entries of skill; Basic, Intermediate & Advanced, and each of these contain twenty maps with the difficulty rating getting higher the nearer you get to the end of each level. Whilst most of the time you are giving the task of just reaching the goal, there are on certain occasions where you must collect gems before being allowed to access the finish gate. As mentioned before, the terrain does get more difficult as you progress with surfaces such as ice having an immediate impact on how you control the marble. Scattered throughout the levels are power-ups to aid you in your quest to finish and these come in the form of speed-ups, power-jumps and giro-copter. You also have in your arsenal a jump and a power-blast. Unlike the jump ability that can be used at a press of a button, the power-blast has a gauge which fills up between each blast. At first you will probably ignore the blast feature but you will learn that this is a great way to jump higher than usual.

Marble Blast Ultra has a fantastic multi-player feature pitting you against other LIVE players in a frantic battle to accumulate the most gems before the time runs out. Here is a no-holds barred battle where only the most skilful and cunning players will finish on top. Every power-up is available to make sure that you succeed in thwarting your opponents whilst you gather the gems. There are several maps to play in, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

Graphics.

This game looks like it has been designed to impress. Each level has been mapped out beautifully, the terrain is easily distinguishable and the colour of the marble including it’s wonderful reflection is amazing and so clear.

Sound:

To be perfectly honest, I can’t remember the music standing out for me but the noise of the marble rolling along the surfaces or skidding across the ice are spot on. Apart from that, there is not a lot to say.

Longevity:

I do believe that once you have finished a level below par time that you will not revisit it to try and beat it again. I think the only thing that keeps this game alive is the frantic LIVE play.

Overall:

This is a very nice action puzzle game but after completing the 60 levels, there would not be a lot for me to return to except to play on LIVE, which in turn is quite hard to do as you can’t find many human opponents what with so many other good 360 titles available.