I grew up with the perils of Marble Madness on multiple platforms, but played it most on the Sega Master System. Rolling the marble around increasingly tricky contraptions set the template for many other great rolling ball platformers to come. Developer James Oliver was inspired enough to create Marble’s Marbles, his second marble game (following the excellent Mighty Marbles), as a homage to the title. It brings along almost everything the original title did so well, and adds a few new ideas into the mix, too.
At launch, there are four worlds with five levels each, and each world is uniquely themed. The castle world focuses on dark dungeons, swinging platforms to jump between, and timed switch doors. The 8-bit world has lots of moving and rotating platforms to sync up with and not fall off. The sky levels have platforms connected by metallic beams and spirals to roll along that deceive you in their simplicity. Lastly, the pinball levels don’t have an A to B route like the rest. Instead, they ask you to complete certain tasks to open the gate under the flippers on the table and reach the exit. They are more freeform, and play closer to a skatepark trick mode as you’ll be riding ramps, tilting platforms, and surviving lots of bouncey pillars and walls. All the levels contain collectables and judge the player on three stars for speed, collectables, and lack of deaths and respawns. Marble’s Marbles is a game of two difficulty tiers. Simply seeing and completing all the levels is one tier. Getting gold stars for perfection and speed is quite another.
The marble physics are predictable and consistent for the vast majority of the time. There is a bit of early slowness as you build momentum, but the marble will pick up speed quickly. Ramps are a regular obstacle to overcome, and whilst the marble is a bit floaty in the air, it is consistently floaty whenever you gain air time. That allows you to course correct a bit mid-air, and over time, understand what kind of run-up is required to cross gaps. Very occasionally, you may have a jump or a drop between platforms that requires a bit of judgement because the isometric view doesn’t give the perfect vantage point. Players can rotate the camera in 90-degree increments, which solves most of the issues. It’s usually down to how fast you roll off a ramp that causes a few bits of trial and error.
Levels do have checkpoints scattered across them to help, and collectables found before a death stay with you, which is a nice concession. The checkpoints aren’t everywhere, though, so there is a true penalty for getting it wrong. In theory, players have endless lives, but there is a generous time limit applied to each level, which you will run out of eventually. Honestly, the time limit is more about deciding your top score than cutting you off, so if you think a time limit will stress you out, don’t worry. Not once did it curtail my attempts.
With its retro PS1 aesthetic and moody sound effects, Marble’s Marble has a gritty, grubby undertone to it. Each level unlocks a new marble design, and whilst it’s for cosmetic purposes only, it’s nice to build up your collection. There’s also one last quirk to mention… the death scream. Whenever you fall off the stage, a loud, low-res “nooooooo” screams out like it’s stolen from an 1988 arcade horror cabinet. It is loud, funny, and utterly unnecessary, but it forms part of the retro, gritty charm of the game. I’m glad it was included.
If you are a fan of Marble Madness, Ballance, Switchball, and InFlux, you’ll be right at home with Marble’s Marbles. It sits right at the top tier of marble games to enjoy and then be challenged by. The developer has said a post-launch update will add more levels due to the game being received so well. This is great news and will keep you rolling for longer if you pick the game up at a later point. Highly recommended.
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