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Marble Saga Kororinpa Review
Like its predecessor, Marble Saga Kororinpa is disarming in its simplicity; players must safely navigate a marble through a maze, collecting gems and items along the way. The formula earned Kororinpa: Marble Mania mild critical praise, and Hudson Soft has added a slew of fresh content to the sequel.
The most blatant new feature is the unsuccessful inclusion of a narrative in a game that doesn't warrant one. Instead of being driven by simple fun, you are now motivated to move through the puzzles by an ant named Anthony, whose colony is in peril and can only be saved by securing the mythical Golden Sunflower. While Anthony and his plight are endearing, interaction with him is severely limited. The story merely end caps an otherwise self-contained game.
Beyond the fledgling story, Marble Saga: Kororinpa succeeds where its predecessor fell flat. Saga includes more than 150 levels in seven unique areas. Taking advantage of all of the Wii's capabilities, 30 of these levels are specifically designed for the Wii Balance Board, which trades precision for novelty. Online leaderboards allow you to compare your high scores to others worldwide, and a new level editor lets you design your own unique stages and share them with friends. Even Miis are integrated in a small way.
The intelligently designed stages offer a well-balanced challenge even without bumping the difficulty to hard. The intuitive controls react well, tainted only with the occasional perspective issues that turn some tricky corners into exercises of luck rather than skill. At times this issue is further aggravated by an inconsistent checkpoint system -- they are entirely absent from some levels and over-abundant in others. Still, Marble Saga: Kororinpa's simple concept and complex execution make marbles fun again - no plastic toys needed.
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