While we are still waiting with bated breath for an announcement for a new Super Monkey Ball game, the creators of Marble It Up! have decided to give SEGA a run for their money by coming out with an all-new game. This new title is known simply as Marble It Up! Ultra, which doesn’t sound all that impressive at first glance. Despite this, the developers have stuffed this new game with so many new features that improve on the original game that I would be shocked if SEGA doesn’t take some notes from this new entry. Let’s dive right into everything that is Marble It Up! Ultra!

The original Marble It Up! came out in 2018 from the developers Blueteak, The Engine Company, Shapes and Lines, Arcturus Interactive, The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild, and was published by Alvios Inc, and Bad Habit Productions. This alone makes the game have the most collective amount of developers and publishers that I have ever seen for a single game. At first, that made me feel a bit concerned about the overall quality of the game before I played it.

Marble It Up! just had a single-player mode but shined through the inclusion of the Steam Workshop where various players could create their own maps. There is also a competitive side of the game as there are leaderboards for you to compare yourself to other players. Marble It Up! Ultra has taken that competitive experience and amped it up to insanity with all of the new features that have been added.

The first big feature to talk about is the brand-new 10-chapter campaign, which definitely seems to be similar to that of Super Monkey Ball in terms of overall designs where each chapter gets more and more difficult. While Marble It Up! Ultra doesn’t have a story attached to the chapter campaign like its Monkey-filled counterpart, it is just as enjoyable to get through.

While I have been making a big comparison so far between these two games, there are some major differences. Super Monkey Ball works by controlling the stage and flipping certain switches to manipulate them. Marble It Up! Ultra, however, works by controlling the Marble that you are using and gaining certain power-ups that are scattered on the stages. 

Speaking of power-ups, one of the greatest things brought to this new entry is the inclusion of multiplayer mode. The multiplayer mode includes five game types; Gem Hunt Free For All, Gem Hunt Teams, Soccer, Sumo, and Zombie. All of these game modes are amazingly fun and make great use of the power-ups that exist in the game. The maps for these modes are all based on the levels that exist in the single-player campaign. From my experience, the most popular mode appears to be Zombie since it was overwhelmingly voted for whenever it popped up in the queue. 

On top of all of this, the game has a vast array of cosmetics for making your marble just the way you want it. Everything from marble designs to weird hats and vibrant trails are yours to unlock through a variety of means. The cosmetics have an overall good balance between ones that nicely work together and others that look absolutely wild when paired. That should allow you to be able to find the perfect look for both multiplayer and single-player. My current look is the Emerald Vein marble with a Pickaxe embedded in the marble and a simple green sparkling trail to follow it.

During gameplay, there were no bugs that I could notice in both multiplayer and single-player. This is quite the achievement and to me proves why 2023 has been one of the greatest years in gaming since a majority of releases have come out with no or minimal bugs. The frame rate also seems to be buttery smooth at 60+ FPS, which is amazing considering the complexity of certain stages in multiplayer and the amount of speed that some players can pick up during these matches.

The hit detection, which is essential for the Zombie and Soccer multiplayer modes, is perfectly polished so that every hit actually counts. There were even a few close calls that luckily didn’t count because the hit detection seems to be absolutely spot on! The only thing that I can count as a negative is that most of the fun I had was experienced through multiplayer, which is reliant on a healthy player-base. Right now the game definitely has that, but I just hope that players will stick with it and continue to breathe life into this game.

Overall, I believe that Marble It Up! Ultra is a great experience for those who are looking for some challenging time stages or for some multiplayer shenanigans with friends and others. While it may not have all of the story or character flare that comes with Super Monkey Ball, it is a perfect game for those fans who are looking to scratch that monkey itch. If you are looking for other games similar to this, consider checking out Alexx Aplin’s review of Viewfinder right here.

A PC review copy of Marble It Up! Ultra was provided by Alvios Inc. and Bad Habit Productions for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Marble It Up! Ultra

29.99

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Great Controls
• Seemingly No Bugs
• Great Hit Detection
• Good Amount of Players

Cons

• Most Fun Reliant on Thriving Multiplayer