Published: 21 Mar 2026
- Developed and Published by: The Marble Collective
- Released on: 2018 (MIU! Ultra released on 2023)
- Genre: 3D Rolling Platformer
- Rating: 2.5/5
Having grown up with the original Marble Blast series (Gold, Ultra, and the myriad of user-created levels and mods throughout the years) and absolutely playing it to death, seeing a brand new spiritual successor featuring some of the original developers felt like a slam dunk for a future game to enjoy and pour hours into… alas, replicating the magic is really difficult. It does basically everything that a successor to Marble Blast “should” do, take the same general game formula, make a few iterations and give it a slick coat of paint - but in other ways its definitely stripped back for a broader, more “casual” audience (e.g. few power-ups, few friction types, no blast, removal of diagonal movement, a speed cap) and despite the game being 99% similar, I really felt the numerous minutiae changes that exist compared to the original, up to and including the physics engine (which is actually very similar to the original, but it feels different in some unshakeable way) - comparisons which are unavoidable, and even extend to other aspects of the game including both the visual design and the level design. By all means, Marble It Up! is a well made 3D marble rolling platformer that does a lot right, but personally it instead serves as a hard-earned lesson on expectation management.
