When I was a kid one of my favorite arcade games was Marble Madness.  I even had it on the NES, that’s how much I liked it.  So I’m always up for playing and reviewing any kind of marble rolling maze game, whether it be Super Monkey Ball, Marble Blast Ultra, etc.  So I definitely snapped up the chance to review Marble it Up, downloadable on Switch.  It’s kind of a cross between Super Monkey Ball and Marble Blast Ultra.  In fact, many of the team members of Marble Blast Ultra worked on this game, too!

You view your marble in a third person perspective as you roll it around short mazes and obstacles and try to reach a goal as fast as possible.  If you reach it in a certain time, you can get bronze, silver, or gold medals.  Completing worlds with a certain number of medals will unlock new levels and marbles for you to choose from.  Usually you just have to make it to a goal in each level, but sometimes you must collect a certain number of gems scattered about a maze before the goal can be reached.

One new feature in this game is that you have the ability to jump with the B button.  You can also collect power-ups like extra time, high jumps, floating while falling, and speed boosts that you activate with the Y button.  You’ll have to contend with obstacles like ice, elevators, anti-gravity floors, bumpers, and more!

The only problems I had with the game are very minor.  Graphically, there’s not a whole lot of visual variety between levels.  Plus there’s not a lot of gameplay modes outside of single player.  Would’ve been nice to have multiplayer marble races or something like that.  But other than that, I really liked this game.  Definitely a keeper.

Kid Factor:

Nothing really violent or objectionable here, unless you have a problem with marbles falling off platforms into an endless sky.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, but not necessary just to play.  Marble it Up! is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews