Marble It Up Review (Nintendo Switch)

A spiritual successor to the likes of Marble Blast and Marble Madness comes Marble It Up!. This puzzle-platformer has a team behind it with experience due to working on both of these series. Fortunately, the game carves out its own personality with a gorgeous set of levels, melodic soundtrack, and abundant unlockables. The game’s length is fairly short despite lasting 40 levels, but racing against the clock will keep players invested.

Incredible Physics

Luckily, the controls are extremely tight, making each playthrough feel fluid and on-point. It’s as if gamers are the ball rather than just simply controlling it. Every death and mistake falls on the user rather than the environment, nothing feels cheap or out of place. This title also runs at a smooth 60 frames-per-second creating an even more enriching experience. With no lag and tight controls, playing as a marble has never felt better. Marble physics take a realistic approach. Bouncing around and bumping against edges don’t feel too out of place or heavy. Going too fast makes it harder to turn tight corners, but moving slow means a shorter jump. These aspects of the game add-on to its sense of realism.

Marble It Up!’s developers have also done an incredible job in designing the atmosphere found here. Areas feel futuristic yet playful to feel like a true sandbox. Color schemes and lighting are an obvious high point in creating this, as well. The worlds are sprawling with vibrant colors and it also has a soundtrack to match. Each tune fits with the surrounding areas and is very upbeat. Gamers will want to keep their volumes up to truly enjoy it. It’s a title with great attention to detail which is necessary to create a puzzle-platformer as enjoyable as this.

Loads of Fun

Level design is fantastic in Marble It Up!. Each one is filled with varying obstacles and challenges that differentiate themselves from one another. No two courses are exactly alike either. Not once did it feel like rehashes of the same area or cheap placements of ramps or edges. It was extremely fluid and well-thought out. Because of this, using levels to one’s own advantage came into play consistently. There are also power-ups and abilities to help progress through individual stages. Gameplay is constantly mixed up and helps to prevent it from becoming repetitive.

For the first half of the game, things start off simple and easy. However, as this title reaches its conclusion, players will find themselves frantically racing through levels while trying to reach the goal. The fourth chapter contains some of the best stages in the game due to its challenge, but once it’s finished it almost feels incomplete. This is a very short title, clocking in at a mere hour and a half of gameplay. There may be 40 levels, but since they last less than a few minutes, it’s tough to warrant a $20 purchase. Not only this, but a challenge was not felt until the above-mentioned final chapter. In order to get more out of this release, beating records and unlocking new marbles are what makes up a majority of the experience.

Additional Challenges

The real challenge of this title lies within the medal and replay systems introduced. Earning a gold and even a platinum medal takes precision and skill. Only players that have truly mastered the game’s mechanics can tackle a platinum, while a gold can be obtained with only great timing and accuracy. Ranking up in the global and local leaderboards was a treat made even better with replays. These help one to study previous movements and makes it easier to analyze the ins and outs of each level. Racing against the clock proved to be a delight and is what kept myself coming back for more.

At the moment, there aren’t any other modes besides the levels already introduced. One thing that can be gained though, are different marbles. Completing challenges and earning gold/platinum medals can unlock a plethora of varying skins. There are tons to unlock and discover while also chasing after high scores. Different marbles may not seem like much at first, but they are well-polished and create a more personal gameplay. Certain ones also mandate a high threshold to obtain them creating an informal achievement system.

Marble It Up! is an incredible game featuring tight controls, solid physics, and engaging levels. Although there isn’t much challenge in completing these levels, it can be found in racing against the leaderboards. This aspect also helps to make up for the short length of gameplay. Unlocking balls and racing against other’s times are what helps to keep gamers continuing their playthroughs. Those that are fans of Marble Madness and the Marble Blast series of games are sure to enjoy this spiritual successor. Even if one hasn’t experienced one of those titles before, this is a perfect entry point and is extremely fun.