Welcome Time Wasters!
The mobile burnout continues this week as I stick to PC for my gaming needs. That’s honestly just fine with me. The tactile controls that aren’t present with a touch screen suit me better anyway. Even if they do give me trouble in Marble Trap.
Marble Trap is a type of game that I’m sure many of us have played in the past. It has the player taking control of a marble and guiding them through various levels while avoiding obstacles. There’s always something simple, yet fun, about these types of games. That’s why I never shy away from them when I see one pop up.
The biggest problem I have with Marble Trap isn’t the levels or gameplay. Rather, it’s the controls. Unfortunately, the game does not have support for gamepads. That means players are left with WASD or the Arrow Keys if they want to play this game. If this would’ve been 10 years ago, that would be fine. However, the ease of hooking up just about any controller to a PC makes support for them more necessary. Even when it comes to browser games like this. There’s just no arguing that the player has better control over the marble with an analog stick instead of four separate keys.
With that out of the way, I will say that Marble Trap is still enjoyable as is. It doesn’t really do anything groundbreaking, but is rather just an okay way to kill some time. The levels start out easy enough to ease the player into the gameplay. Then they start to ramp up in difficulty to challenge the player on their way to the end.
Visually speaking, I have some issues with Marble Trap. The first is that all of the visuals in the game are a bit jagged looking (You can’t tell in my screenshots, but it’s obvious when playing.). I’m not sure if this was done intentionally to be retro, but I’m always of the opinion that there’s no sense in emulating low-poly gaming visuals. It hasn’t aged well like sprite art does. Instead, just smooth out those lines and gives us some crisp, clean looking models.
There’s also this weird disconnect between the marble and the levels in Marble Trap. I know this is really nitpicky, but the marble doesn’t fit in well with the rest of the game. Levels all have this grassy, almost pirate feel to them with cannons and axes, but the marble looks like something more sci-fi. It’s just one of those small things that keeps the game from looking cohesive.
The audio in Marble Trap is completely forgettable. We’re talking the most generic of sound effects and background music that is easily forgotten. I won’t say it gets in the way of the game, but it doesn’t really help it much, either.
Overall, Marble Trap isn’t really something I can recommend spending time with. It’s just a bit too clunky and lacks the stitching to make it feel like a completed product. I know this is probably just made by a single person on their off time (Actually, it looks like I’ve reviewed one of their games before.), but I have to point these kind of problems out. If that developer somehow stumbles across this review, don’t take it as anything personal. Instead, just work to be better.
Marble Trap earns 2 GiN Gems out of 5!