Marble Champions Preview

Take on the role of a coloured sphere of glass to become the winner in a race that has you facing off against other marbles as you fly down a track, trying to get to the front of the pack to cross the finish line first. Developed by one person, Luc Versleijen, Marble Champions seems to channel the action that happens during a marble race, reminiscent of the Fubeca Marble Runs that were popular online in 2021. Instead of being a part of a team that would select marbles to send down a track, you are the sphere, and like in a standard racing game, you are trying to take turns, avoid obstacles in your way, and hit the speed spaces to give yourself a boost to try and get to the front of the marble rainbow.

You are given a gift box when you start the game. Inside is a pink and white marble called Twilight Tracer. Each of the marbles in the game has its own unique stats: Speed, Acceleration, and Bounciness, which makes each of the spheres control it differently. The stats for the Twilight Tracer are all balanced, with all three at the midpoint of the bar, making this a good choice to start with.

On the Racer Dashboard, you have the Main Menu, where you will see there are multiple modes that will be available to challenge in Marble Champion; League, where you compete and rise through the divisions to become the marble champion; Quick Race, where you practise controlling your marble during a run; Tournament, where you race against other players from around the world; Daily Challenge, where you compete against other players to try and get the best time to earn credits' and Local Play, where you face off against friends and family. Since Marble Champion is just a demo, we are restricted to playing a short League Experience or one Tournament called Treacherous Pathways. Even though the game hasn’t totally been released, there is still a tonne of marble racing to do here!

As you begin, you are given a tutorial on the controls — well, not much of one, as the only thing you need to know is how to move using the left thumbstick on a controller or the arrow keys on the keyboard. Up moves you forward, and you will have to roll side to side to avoid obstacles in your way, like pinball machine-like bumpers that will send you flying if you hit them, holes in the floor that make you all to your death, or red spiky objects that will make you explode on impact when you collide with them. Besides the obstacles in front of you, you will need to try to keep your marble on the track. If you fly off, you will be destroyed and will need to start back at the last checkpoint that you passed. There are yellow boost pads on the track that you need to drive over to give you a boost of speed. This also lets you destroy your opponents by smashing into them. If you don’t utilise these boosts, you are sure to be at the back of the pack.

If you have ever played Fall Guys before, you will surely feel like you are racing in a minigame that has you facing tonnes of other competitors to be the first over the line. Some races have 75 marbles facing off, while others have up to 100. This leads to a crazy, hectic experience where your main goal is trying to survive. Do you keep to yourself and just focus on the oncoming obstacles, or will you try to destroy your opponents to send them back to the last checkpoint? Keep in mind that the only way you will get credits to unlock new marbles or advance in the league is to make sure you place in the top 10. The first-place finisher gets 25 credits, the second one gets 18, the third gets 12, and so on, with the player in 10th getting only one credit. There are other ways to earn credits based on stunts that you performed during the race, how many balls you destroyed, and how many credits you picked up on the track.

As you play, you will unlock new marbles by winning races and completing challenges in the tournament, like winning 10 races to get the Dazzling Decimator, finishing in the top three 10 times, or getting the Killer Instinct reward for destroying 50 marbles. These will also give you credits that you can explore in the Marble Collection menu. You can swap which of the marbles you will be racing with from the ones you have unlocked. Here, you can also buy new ones to add to the collection. Some aren’t unlocked until you complete a specific task, but there are a tonne of cool-looking ones there that you can purchase with credits. I would have loved to have had this collection of marbles as a child. I spent so many recesses trading with other kids to get the fanciest-looking ones I could find!

The visuals in Marble Champions are bright, colourful, and make you feel like you really are a marble on this track. The courses feel like you are racing on a Hot Wheels course, high in the air, where any fall leads to your death. There is a huge variety of textures on the racetracks; some look like plastic, while others feel like a slalom carved out of wood that sends you careening towards the finish line. There are checkpoints placed along your short race, so if you are destroyed, you won’t have to go too far back, but the races are usually quite short, running from 30 seconds to two minutes, so they won’t last long. To accompany the fun visuals, we have an upbeat and catchy soundtrack that fits in very well with the action and doesn’t feel like it was repetitive or distracting from the gameplay.

If you are a fan of racing games, titles like Fall Guys, or even marbles in general, Marble Champions is definitely a game to check out. It’s a lot of fun, and I can’t wait to try out the other modes that aren’t currently available. While we are waiting for the full release, do yourself a favour and download the demo, as you are sure to have a fun time.