Kororinpa: Marble Madness (Wii)

Kororinpa is a well-made game.  It's also very easy.  Some of those last levels are hard, but not excruciating.  Still, it's a really short game.  A gamer should be able to do the 45 levels in under 3 hours.  There's other stuff to do, too.

Finishing the game opens up "Mirror" mode.  Mirror is a lost  variant on every level except those that require you make a left/right choice.  Also, throughout the game you get trophies and secret gems (they're green).  WIth some arcane formula, winning trophies (for fast times), completing levels, and secret gems converge to unlock background music, marbles, and Secret Levels.

There are 15 Secret Levels, but I don't have them all yet.  Secret levels aren't necessarily hard.  Most have tons of gems and challenge you to do it the fastest.  The rest are built on a theme design and have some of the more unusual setups.   They also explore some game mechanics that seemed a little cruel for the main game.

The background music is, unfortunately, forgettable, though some classic Hudsonsoft tunes are in there.  The unlockable marbles are very unique.  Each marble uses a different set of physics "tweaks."  Marble mass/inertia/acceleration, maximum speed, bounciness, and slipperiness are adjusted.  I really like the cat marble.  It lets out a little squeal everytime it drops.

The part of the game that I can't give a fair shake to is the competition aspect.  It times each run in each level.  I think a competition between friends and family could get heated.

The game engine is really accurate with the Remote.  It will do a full 360, but the camera goes nuts if you go 180 in either direction.  The camera is unfortunately the weak point of the game.  It's fixed. You can't roam the level with it on pause, either.  That would make the secret gems too easy to find.

Overall, the levels do not completely take advantage of the controls that Kororinpa has.  I'm guessing they had a deadline and stuck with what they knew worked.  I'd love to see a sequel with 200 levels or so.  Don't change the engine at all.  More levels with different marble tactics would do just fine.  The current 45 levels are a little overpriced at $40.