Sparkle Unleashed is the latest in the Sparkle series of match three marble shooting games from popular independent developer 10tons. The series overall has enjoyed success on various platforms, including Android, iphone, and PC as well as consoles, and now, (like it's developer), makes its debut on Xbox One as well as other consoles.

What can you say about the genre by way of introduction? We've all encountered this type of game before; even if only in passing. Let's see if Sparkle Unleashed can stand out from the crowd, or at least hold it's own.



Adding a plot to this type of game must be one of the most surreal and abstract things in gaming lore, however 10tons have endeavoured to do so. In Sparkle Unleashed you must fend off an evil darkness that threatens to encapsulate the world. How do you fend off an evil Miasma?? You do this of course by arranging marbles into rows of three matching colours before the row of ever advancing marbles disappears down a hole into the subterranean darkness. Silly me! Now if only the world had realised this most effective method of thwarting evil before now!! If only the Poles had arranged marbles in sequences as soon as the Nazis invaded. The rest of Europe could have been spared!! If only Spartan King Leonidus and his 300 warriors had piddled about with their marbles instead of trying to block the massive Persian Army at the battle of Thermopylae. The Greek alliance may have prevailed!

Ahem, anyway! Enough satire for now. Back to the game..............

The main difference in SU is that the marble launcher hangs at the bottom of the screen and is moved left and right along the playing field. Think of it as being like the paddle in Arkanoid or other breakout games. There are two modes of play; the story mode and survival mode. In story mode you move across the world map by marble matching your way through 108 stages of ball based tomfoolery. The map encapsulates a variety of areas, from swamps to deserts etc. Every so often you encounter a lit brazier and you can choose one of a selection of 18 power-ups to add to your arsenal. These power-ups are vital to survival. Every third match in a row that you make, causes a random power-up icon to appear on screen, and is unleashed as you shoot it. Revealing power-ups is vital to survival as the game progresses, so you really have to plan your strategy to achieve multiple matches in succession rather than just clearing the obvious matches that may be available at a given moment.

In survival mode, you are placed in a given arena and must simply survive for as long as possible. At the end, you are awarded between 1 and 5 stars depending on how long you survived.



To further complicate matters, there are also chained orbs which you must match once to unlock the chains, and then once more to remove the orb. There are also rock orbs which can only be removed by matching orbs next to them.

Visually and sonically, SU is ok. The graphics are sharp and colourful. The soundtrack is provided by award winning composer Jonathan Geer and is actually superb.  The gripe for both elements though is variety. SU would have benefitted from a more varied range of backdrops and ditties, particularly for major console versions.

Achievement wise, there is a good, fun set for 1000GS to go at, including cheevs for the difficulty levels and one for achieving a 30x multiplyer.

Conclusion:-

Sparkle Unleashed is a fun game overall. It plays smoothly and is great for a quick blast. It is a good example of a marble shooter, or a puzzle game in general for that matter. Content wise, it feels like a good tablet game and could have been padded out with a few new modes and a bit of graphical variety for the big console versions, even if it meant a slight price increase. I would also like to have seen a bit of character added. Perhaps a bit more from the narrator for example, or some animated backdrops.  Perhaps these things can be considered by 10tons for future versions as the core of the series is very good.  There are three difficulty levels to pad things out though, and to be fair, I did play a long time before things started to feel a bit samey. Having said all that, I will recommend this game to fans of Zuma et al, especially when you consider the low price point.

For a fun blast, you can do a lot worse.

7 big purple balls out of 10