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Kororinpa: Marble Mania (Wii)

• Developer:
• Publisher: Konami
• Genre:
• Official Website: http://www.konami.com
• Score: 5 of 5: Purchase

Marble Madness. Marble Blast Ultra. Super Monkey Ball. There's something satisfying about rolling a ball through a complicated 3D world toward a goal. Marble Mania captures this feeling extremely well even if it does start off a little too slowly for its own good. It's obvious that Marble Mania's slow start is intended to allow the player to figure out the Wii controls, but the park levels - all ten of which feel like a tutorial - are too simple for their own good. It's when the marbles are rolling about on candies and cakes in the second pack of stages that things really start to get interesting.

The concept is a simple one, but games like this are one of the things the Wii and its motion-centric controller were designed for. There are no button presses used during the core gameplay. Everybody can play because the controller explanation is a simple "tilt the controller to move the world." No analog stick means that you can simple and easily tilt the world in such a way that your marble is moving forward and slightly to the left. The Wii remote makes this motion an elegant one that I can't even fathom how to perform with nothing but a pair of analog sticks.

Kororinpa's biggest flaw, of which there are only two, is that it is too short for its own good. With only 50 levels, you'll be done with the puzzle mode of Marble Mania in a weekend. To counter this, there is an optional objective - a difficult to reach crystal - on each stage and a handful of bonus marbles to unlock. Each marble has its own weight and physics so you're honestly unlocking new marbles - not merely skins - to take through the game's levels. Some of these make a different sound, some move faster through the levels, and some roll differently. Two marbles of particular note are the football and the panda marbles. The panda is relaxing as well as adorable. It can be looked at as an easy or relaxed mode due to its slower speed and (at least perceived) more forgiving bounce. If Marble Mania features a hard mode, it is the football marble. The football marble isn't a marble painted like a football; it's a marble shaped like a football. And it rolls just as awkwardly as it should.

Marble Mania's second flaw is the multiplayer. What should have been a cutthroat competition is more of a leisurely race. In the single-player game, orange crystals must be collected before the goal is active. This mechanic is begging for a multiplayer mode. Three crystals will activate the goal, trouble is that there are two players and only five crystals. I just thought of that, and I don't make video games for a living. That's why it stings that the only multiplayer mode we have is a ghost race. You can't even slam into your opponent's marble and send him off the edge to make sure you win the race. It's a test of skill, and although the mode is appreciated there need to be more options. Multiplayer does one thing phenomenally well, however, and that is control implementation. Everybody who owns a Wii, regardless of peripherals purchased, can play Marble Mania with a friend because player two has the option of controlling his marble with the Wii remote's nunchaku attachment, and the motion detection works just as well with the nunchaku as it does with the Wii remote itself.

Kororinpa: Marble Mania is a good game with good physics and interesting levels. It's nice to see a game implement Wii controls so well that I can honestly say I wouldn't want to play this game with any other control method because they're just not accurate enough. If you're a fan of puzzle games, especially marble or physics based ones, then Kororinpa: Marble Mania will make a great addition to your Wii library.

Apr 24, 2007 | 0 comments
Justin Last