Marble Madness
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| Marble Madness

Before Mario bounced his way into the world's affections, before Sonic sped into view, and at a time when exotic Japanese consoles seemed like alien technology, there was the humble little ZX Spectrum 48k.

Two Spectrum games in the late 1980s ignited passions for the medium – Bubble Bobble and Marble Madness. The former has seen plenty of love since, but the latter has been cruelly neglected.

Trust EA to produce a timely mobile conversion, and dredge up some childhood memories into the bargain.

Don’t lose your marbles

The premise is simple and has been much copied in recent years. You must manoeuvre a little marble from one end of each twisting course to the other, avoiding vertical drops and odd-shaped enemies along the way.

Though there's none of EA's usual 'Deluxe' or 'Revolution' suffix shenanigans to signify a major overhaul, Marble Madness is no simple port. The levels are split between originals and all new additions, and you can play the main game with either type or a mix of the two.

We have to say that newer levels aren’t a complete success. The themed stage idea (Egyptian, Atlantian, etc.) is slightly tired, and the tendency of these stages to throw you around is slightly nauseating. Still, they do provide a good dose of variety to the sparser, tighter originals.

Ageing gracefully

The game retains the functional isometric viewpoint of the original, but the potentially awkward controls have been sympathetically handled.

There’s the option of changing the D-pad to either move the marble at 90 degrees or 45 degrees to the natural lines of the level. Or you can do what I did and opt for the numerical pad, with the advantage of dedicated diagonal buttons.

While we’re glad to see the game keeping the original perspective, it’s a little disappointing to see that the graphics have only had a relatively slight overhaul. It’s a bit of a missed opportunity to take a really bold artistic direction considering the simplicity of the raw materials.

Despite being a bit of a plain Jane, though (which is strangely un-EA-like), Marble Madness is a case of substance over style. It retains the timeless solidity that all the best games of old possess, as well as the uncanny ability to keep you coming back for another go.

Marble Madness

Despite being a fairly conservative update of the maze-running original, Marble Madness retains all the vital elements that hooked us all those years ago
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Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.