Maybe the most overrated game on XBLA.
After a purchase, I really had a chance to get into the game. I then noticed that this game might be the most frustrating and annoying game I have played since 'Joust'. First off, the single player game was fun for awhile, but quickly grew tiring and boring. Obviously there is not a story or much else to do other than go through each level trying to beat it as fast as possible. This gets real old after a few levels and I could only play this game for about thirty minutes at a time without feeling like I was going to have a lobotomy.
The controls are infuriating at times and the game just becomes annoyingly difficult too quickly. The camera is god-awful and got me 'killed' many times. By the time I got to the third set of challenges, the annoyance with this game grew to it's peak. So then I thought I would give the multi-player a shot.....
Playing online is another mundane affair that has you rolling around maps trying to collect more gems than your opponents. Zzzzz. Every once in awhile you get to ram your opponent off the side of the map or into a hole sending him to his death, but other than that it was even more boring then the single-player.
Marble Blast Ultra isn't a 'bad' game, really. It just isn't nearly as good as most people are saying it is. The game doesn't look that great. The music is friggin' terrible and repeats over and over. And the fun of the gameplay wears off quite quickly. I realize this might be one of the first games that people downloaded back when the 360 came out (during the console's 'dead' period for games), but looking at a game this flawed through rose-colored glasses just because of that reason doesn't make it a good game. At least you can get it for $5 now.