| Marble Blast | |
| Developer: | GarageGames |
| Publisher: | Monster Studios |
| Engine: | Torque Game Engine |
| Released: | December 13, 2002 (Marble Blast)[1] May 2, 2002 (Marble Blaster) May 9, 2003 (Marble Blast Gold)[2] |
| Genre: | Puzzle-platformer |
| Modes: | Single-player |
| Platforms: | Xbox Windows Mac OS X Linux |
Marble Blast is a 2002 3D platform game. It was pre-installed on some Apple Inc. computer systems like the iMac, iBook, and Mac mini. It was also available for Windows operating systems as well as various Linux distributions. It was remade for the XBOX Live Arcade during Marble Blast's final years.
The game was originally released in December 2002 as "Marble Blast" and then updated in May 2003, being renamed Marble Blast Gold. During the same year at some point, it was also licensed to eGames to be resold under the name Marble Blaster.[3]
The sequel, Marble Blast Ultra, was released in 2006 for the Xbox 360 platform with new features and improved graphics, sometime after the enhanced version of Marble Blast for the XBOX Live Arcade[4] which released one year earlier. Marble Blast XP, a version for the Net Jet online game system, has updated graphics and a marble selector.
Basic gameplay involves taking the perspective of an autonomous marble moving on its own from a start pad to an end pad, without falling out of bounds. Stages may contain hazards to make this more difficult. The player controls the marble spin, movement, and can also make the marble jump, therefore administering movement. There are a variety of power-ups available, which are collected by touching them with the marble. Some stages must be completed within a qualification time, to increase difficulty. Each stage also has a "Gold Time", an additional challenge to complete the stage in a specified time-frame. Each Gold Time is always possible but usually involves finding hidden power-ups and/or taking shortcuts. Some stages require a number of gems to be picked up before the stage can be finished. There are 100 stages, categorized by difficulty: 24 Beginner, 24 Intermediate, and 52 Advanced, totaling 100 stages in the entire game. The Xbox version of the game includes additional features, including nine new stages, easter eggs, and an online leaderboard.
Marble Blast was one of several games created by GarageGames using the developer's proprietary Torque Game Engine, first created for the first-person shooter Tribes 2.[5] Retail versions of Marble Blast were shipped by GarageGames in June 2003, having previously been available on the developer's website.[6] On 10 May 2005, the game was also released as an online download for the Xbox as part of the Xbox Live Arcade service.[7] [8] [9] Marble Blast Gold was also preinstalled on Mac computers, including the Apple Mac Mini.[10]
Marble Blast received average reviews from critics.