Marble Blast Ultra rocks

#1 It looks like the Xbox version with ice cubes for barriers.

Am I right? :-p

#2 Eh...Not at all. It has multiplayer for one thing. Not to mention a great use of Shaders. They also added in checkpoints which, in my opinion makes it much more fun. It's also in quite a stable build right now. Only a few levels had placeholder art. It really does play well on the 360 though. Not to mention an excellent use of shaders.

#3 Agreed, MBU rocks!
Had a great time playing it!

#4 Wow. I did not get to try it but it is awsome!

#5 Michael, it's actually, under the hood, almost an entirely different game. Clark Fagot did a lot of work on the physics to make them tight over the network for multi-player, but when you play you won't notice a difference. A lot of level geometry has been re-done with a bit of a different style, and Alex added a lot of geometry, arches and such, that give the game a more consistant feel, and also let us splurge a bit more on graphics since we can assume a consistant, powerful system (Xb360).

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I can honestly say it's not just a port. It's a fully developed game. Some levels may be familiar, but it's not at all a straight port.

#6 From the demo most of the levels seemed exactly the same CSG wise, but as Pat just said, the physics being redone really does make a difference gameplay wise. Its a completely new game.

#7 Personally, I strongly prefer the old PC version. I don't care at all for multiplayer (I've not played it and never will), and the mouse-keyboard combo is a lot more adequate control in my opinion for this game. Some levels that are similar or the same between the two games were fun in PC and are a continuous frustration in the console for me. I have big problems for example navigating paths with the pinball things that push you out of the level: its radius of collision seems to be bigger than the model.

I also dislike the checkpoint mechanics. In most difficult levels they are a waste of time because it is almost impossible to get the par time if you need to use one. Maybe others options such as a "go back in time" bar (like in the new Prince of Persia series) could have worked better.

I like the new bomb power and the easter eggs, however (would have been great if the eggs would give you something to see, such as a gallery of developer's comments or images; I understand those are the kind of features that usually don't fit in the schedule).

I'm sorry to sound so harsh but I'm a little disappointed, given the big expectations I had and the good feeling of the first levels. Maybe my opinion will change when I get more practice with the horrible gamepad.

#8 How can you say you don't care for the multiplayer if you haven't even played it? its the most addicting thing about MBU imho. I love it, no longer do I wake up and play a few games of Geometry Wars before work...now its MBU.

jetpacks + skiing would have been cool though ;)

#9 Jose, I use to be like you. Had to use my mouse and keyboard. But now, I can't imagine going back to MBU without a gamepad.

#10 There is an easy way of settling the dispute between the effectiveness of mouse/keyboard vs. gamepad:

Hopefully, when MBU comes out for Windows/MacOS, the multiplayer will be linked to the same servers as the Xbox Live Arcade. From there, we can see whether the top ranking players (such as myself, hopefully :) ) play on the Xbox 360 or the PC.