It carries one of the most extreme and satisfying proofs of Bushnell's Law in any game I've played - and even in the Advanced levels, as the game pulls out all the stops, you begin to wonder if you've even seen the full extent of your marble's potential. What you haven't learned from that barebones analysis is how stunningly good the marble's physics-based controls are: it carries real weight and momentum, and while it takes the simplest press of the W key to roll, you get the sense that you can take it in any direction you want. You roll around stylish cartoony levels to get to the finish line.

Marble Blast Gold was a cheap little game from 2001 that you may know if you have ever owned a mid-2000s Apple iBook, as I did - and that you have certainly never heard of otherwise, for reasons I'll discuss later. If there's anything I am rating 5/5 here, it's this.

On the other hand, this is my favourite fucking game of all time. Viewed objectively, I am probably the least qualified person to talk about this game. I still couldn't pass 75% of the game's Advanced levels even if I tried (not to mention all of the custom levels.). I think I hit some kind of personal skill ceiling when I was like 14 and have never improved at it since. I don't know man, you try reviewing your favourite game of all time that nobody you know has even heard of.Ī preliminary disclaimer: even after eleven years of playing Marble Blast Gold, I am still utter shit at it.

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