Occasionally here at Player2.net.au, we will play something that deserves your attention but probably doesn’t need a full review written for it. Be it DLC for the latest AAA title, a little indie game or even an Android/iOS title. We play these titles for a blockbusting amount of time (2 – 5 hours) and report back to you the reader on what we found. So grab your popcorn and settle in for the latest episode of Blockbuster Gaming.
Blockbuster Gaming – Marble Mountain
PC, VR
Virtual Reality descends upon us this year and with it a slew of games are sure to follow, eager to jump on this exciting bandwagon. I always thought it made sense that we’d see quite a lot of titles from the Indie scene as they weren’t necessarily bound by the marketing laws of mass market appeal and would, therefore, be able to push their creative ideas straight from the developer’s minds to your computer screens.
Before you get too excited though, although Marble Mountain is indeed VR compatible, it’s hardly going to win the most innovative title of the year. In fact, the game itself is very reminiscent of Marble Madness, which game out in 1984. For those too young to remember the good old days (read: you’re not an old fart like I am), this game had you control a marble with the goal of making it to the end of the course in the fastest time possible without falling off the edge or smashing yourself open on the floor. And Marble Mountain has taken this almost like for like but with a smoother physics engine, better visuals and puzzle elements thrown into the mix.
During a run through of any level, you can collect some totems, collecting every single one of them on any course will then unlock a special skin for your marble, which you can swap out at any time. The game eases itself upon the player very casually and the learning curve, or more preciously, frustration curve, is very narrow and it’s not until you reach some of the more advanced levels which may have you looking at a section for a minute or two before you realise the obvious answer.
Quite frankly that’s about all there is to this game, it’s short and sweet and anyone checking this out shouldn’t expect any more surprises. That in itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing either, this is a game that the younger audience would find appealing and enjoyable as the puzzles aren’t entirely hard but various sections will have them scratching their heads or fine tuning their hand-eye coordination. And of course, let us not discount that this is VR compatible and I’m sure many people out there are looking for games left right and centre to test out their new hardware.
Adam Rorke
