Marble Galaxy

Originality is something we all aspire to – who wants to follow the crowd and do what everybody else does all the time? If you've ever downloaded a ringtone, changed your handset's wallpaper or simply stuck plastic jewels on the case, it's exactly this that you're after, in your own way.

It's also something game developers ought to pursue. After all, who wants another lifeless pinball/Tetris/Zuma puzzle game clone?

Certainly not Infospace, that's for sure. And to prove this it's come up with Marble Galaxy which – oh, hang on – mixes pinball and Zuma. Hmm.

To its credit, the developer has added an element of golf to the mix, too, and the result is actually quite fresh. Well, how many other galactic-marble-firing-into-holes games can you think of? Exactly.

It all starts with you zipping into space to challenge four other players at this convoluted game where, apparently, it's big bucks – you can forget about the Premiership once you leave our universe, obviously.

'Challenge' is a loose term, actually, as you'll never compete head-to-head with any of them. Instead you're presented with a table that's furnished with speed boosts, valleys, hills, black holes and more. Most importantly, there are coloured holes and into these holes you must fire similarly-coloured marbles.

It's here that the Zuma and pinball elements of Marble Galaxy come to the fore, as you've got to gauge your angle and shot power with finesse. More often than not there's an obstacle in the way, requiring you to pull off a bank shot or compensate for the pull of a black hole.

It's also where the golf influence raises its head, because you're only allowed to miss twice before you effectively fail the table. Although you have up to six marbles at the start and you get points for however many you hole, you won't score a medal unless you're reasonably accurate.

Hole all your marbles and you win gold, miss one and silver's yours, miss two and you're lucky to scoop bronze.

These medals are essential as they're the only way you can open up the deeper tables. With each computer player – or 'host' as they're known – holding court over just five levels initially, you'll need to score and score highly in order to access the other 15 they each offer.

Combine that with the five bonus tables that each host has (you get one bonus table for every four gold medals earned) and you've got a potential 100 tables to tackle. And believe you me, it'll take you some time.

No small part of this is due to the sheer precision required from you in both aiming your shots and getting the power right. Fire your marble too hard and it'll scoot over the hole without dropping; too soft and it won't get there. Controls that tend to be rather fiddly don't help – it'll look like you've got a shot aimed in the right direction only to realise too late that it's more than a little cockeyed.

These angles have to be expertly judged, and there's an enormous amount of frustration when a hole seems to be impossible to reach. It's a frustration that doesn't fade and, in fact, only increases as you progress onto the harder tables. However, it's balanced by the fact that scoring the elusive gold medal is very satisfying.

The trophies you can pick up along the way also help as you're rewarded for completing a table under a certain time or by using a particular number of rebounds. Whether it's enough to keep you hooked for any longer than it takes for you to get stuck is debatable; while you'll probably open up all 100 tables within a few hours' play, it's unlikely you score medals on them all or even attempt to.

Because, despite the somewhat unique mix of influences, Marble Galaxy becomes tired far too soon. Slyder, a vaguely-similar game where you fire a slippery green blob across hazard-filled tables, is much more entertaining in the long term, for instance, largely thanks to its charm and the fact that it's not based on anything we've come across before.

This leaves Marble Galaxy stuck in Earth's orbit: it's a fabulous pinball alternative, certainly, but as a puzzle game it's not quite got the firepower to be an intergalactic success.