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Marble Blast Ultra

EMAIL PRINT xbox360

9.4 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 27 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 7 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Garage Games

Developer: Garage Games

Genre(s): Platform, Puzzle, Action

Players: 8

ESRB Rating: E (Everyone)

Release Date: January 25, 2006

Summary

[Xbox Live Arcade] Marble Blast Ultra is the latest in the classic Marble Blast series. Suitable for players of any age, Marble Blast Ultra transports you to a futuristic 'astrolab' arena suspended high in the clouds. Compete against each other by navigating your marbles through moving platforms and dangerous hazards, while collecting rare gems and power-up enhancements, in an effort to complete each course in record time. Compete head to head in Xbox Live ultra blast multiplayer mode. [Xbox.com]

Cheat Codes & Hints: GameSpot Hints & Cheats

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Detroit Free Press

This game's a great mix of action and problem-solving.

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AceGamez

This title brings back all the memories of Marble Madness but with countless alterations and improvements.

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Xbox Evolved

Visually the game is very crisp, clean, and quite frankly the best-looking Live Arcade title we have seen yet.

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Talk Xbox

An absolutely incredible value. For just ten dollars you get sixty stages of marble rolling fun, plus a full Xbox Live multiplayer mode playable with up to eight players. The graphics are outstanding, the soundtrack is good. Everything controls exceedingly well, and the controls are solid.

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Next Level Gaming

I love this game. It's one of those games that when you just don't want to play anything else, or your tired of the racing and sports games, this is something you can turn to that is fun yet challenging. And playing online is a blast.

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Pelit (Finland)

An excellent "Marble Madness" clone. It is all about skill. A few more levels and multiplayer modes would not have hurt, though. [Mar 2006]

Planet Xbox 360

At 800 Microsoft points (about $10 USD), Marble Blast Ultra is a solid game with some refreshing gameplay ideas for those who have grown weary from this years recycled arcade titles.

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TeamXbox

Part puzzle game, part platformer, and part competitive multiplayer action title, Marble Blast Ultra is a good value for players wanting a quick dosage of fun without getting tied up into a marathon gaming session.

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BonusStage

This title brings back all the memories of Marble Madness, but with countless alterations and improvements. There are a few things I wish could be improved, such as the camera and music, but these shouldn’t prevent you from spending the $10 for all the content this game provides.

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Official Xbox Magazine

Marble Blast Ultra is not just a lot of fun to play; it's(dare we say it?)a blast. [Jun 2006, p.60]

Game Chronicles

Marble Blast Ultra is easy to learn and simple to play, but the increasingly difficult progression of puzzles always manage to throw something new and challenging your way with each new level.

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Eurogamer

Sure, it's not going to win awards for its longevity, but its instant playability and rampantly addictive qualities make is damned near irresistible. A fitting update to an enduring classic.

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Gaming Target

It has plenty of replay value in terms of getting higher scores on the leaderboards and acquiring achievements, plus the multiplayer adds some additional game time.

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Games Radar (in-house)

The real pay-off of Marble Blast Ultra is in the swear-inspiring multiplayer.

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WHAM! Gaming

The single player levels start off simple enough but become almost epic in scope (well, for a marble game!) later on.

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X360 Magazine UK

Too addictive. [Issue#5, p.120]

Thunderbolt

For 800 points, this is near essential.

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Xbox Solution

While the game would have benefited from more enhanced graphics and sound effects, it's a solid title. It's fun and addictive and offers a chance to not just complete the single player and be done but compete against friends and others in a faster paced setting.

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GameShark

Be careful though, rolling the marble is so addictive that 30 minutes will go by before you know it!

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VGPub

Overall the question of the day is whether or not this upgraded version of Marble Blast and distant cousin of Marble Madness is really worth your 800 points. To be honest, due to the addictive nature of the gameplay and the set up of the multiplayer, dropping the money for this download is a no brainer.

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Console Monster

The multiplayer is probably the best part of this game. It combines simple fun and “pick-up-and-playability” very well.

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PALGN

A fantastic title for the Xbox Live Arcade because it's easily accessible and a game you can spend hours or minutes on.

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360 Gamer Magazine UK

This is a great looking arcade game with a very solid feel to the gameplay. It’s appeal is definitely retro in terms of the game’s simplicity, but lends itself to Live multiplayer brilliantly.

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Extreme Gamer

A fun game for what it is. Rolling a ball, or marble only can be entertaining for so long. You really need patience and enjoy rolling puzzle games to get into this for the long run.

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IGN

While Marble Blast Ultra is an entertaining distraction, it's not much more than that. There are plenty of unique physics to how the ball performs on different surfaces and flies through the air, lots of different textures you can apply to the marble with distinctive, appealing effects, and a few cool sound effects, but the game will get old faster than you'd like.

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GameSpot

Offers a decent challenge, but boring multiplayer a lack of variety drag it down a bit.

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MS Xbox World

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.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 9.4 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Martin M. gave it a7:
I could not get the multiplayer version to work. Kept on saying that i could not play on xbox live. Other than that good graphics.

Spencer H. gave it a10:
This game is great. none of my friends who have 360's have this game and when they come over, it's like they are addicted becase they always want to play Marble Blast. If you are into ARCADE games, this game is a must.

Daz gave it a10:
I wondered whethe to spend my first microsoft points on this game and now i've played it for ages i'm glad i did. The 60 levels are divided into 3 groups of 20. the first are easy and require only a few 'second attempts'. the second intermediate set are tougher but except for a few of them they didn't cause me any particular headaches. The third set, which i have just started are distinctly harder and take about 10 to 15 mins to go through each one. How you are supposed to do these in par times of 1 min 20 secs i've no idea. On top of the regular single player game there is the option to try to find 20 hidden eggs scattered about through the levels. Currently i've found 17 of these with the help of a guide from the internet. I did enjoy the challenge of getting them though. The multiplayer is acceptable and i have played it for only about 30 mins in total. Overall though this is a great xbox live game and for the money it might give you some variation from PDZ, project gotham or call of duty. Recommended.

Freelance Journalist gave it a9:
Best graphics and most in-depth engine of any Xbox Live Arcade game yet. It plays like Monkey Ball with power-ups in place of the cute characters. Lots of variety and tons of boards, and the addition of a decent multiplayer cements it as a must-have Live Arcade download.

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What The Critics Said

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