Sparkle 2 is a fun and addictive marble shooting game. It stays faithful to its predecessor in terms of general gameplay, music style, and graphical effects, but everything seems that much more refined. Several improvements make it much more playable than the last version.
Although there is a story mode, I wouldn’t really call it a story. It’s just a reasonably timed break after a few rounds of intense levels. Sparkle 2 now features quite good voice acting to the story narration, which is always something I like to see in independent games.
The entire interface should look very familiar to those who played the last Sparkle game. The player advances by completing each level, which translates to a day’s worth of progress on the map. It’s linear and doesn’t offer choice in terms of choosing where to go on that map. I love it because I just want to do marble puzzles. I don’t want to spend time trying to figure out which levels are easier than others and in general just spend time and energy wondering about other things.
In terms of playing in the level, I believe it has been dramatically improved. Marbles can be very effectively swapped in the launcher, so one doesn’t have to purely rely on luck. For this reason alone, I was able to progress very fast in this game. With this ability I can now reach higher combo numbers, which generates more special bonus effects that make my task at hand much easier. It also feels very satisfying too when a huge chunk of an area is wiped clean in one spell.
By playing more, new perks are added to your arsenal. The player needs to customize and choose between the perks and activate them. Thus, some form of reasoning and strategic thinking is required, but I believe if you are fast enough and with some luck, you can beat any level with sheer brute force. Send those marbles flying as fast as you can. However, doing so probably defeats the purpose of the game so you should try and learn about the perks and how they can help you efficiently clear all the marbles.
The only complaint I had when I was playing Sparkle 2 was that my left thumb got tired very quickly. I had to constantly pull the left stick in order to aim the launcher. I don’t see a way the developers can get around that, maybe that’s why there are cutscenes so one can rest their fingers a little bit every once in a while. Sparkle 2 is best experienced in short bursts rather than a continuous playthrough.
Summary
In conclusion, Sparkle 2 is a well-made marble game even if you have never played any of its past iterations. It is the most played puzzle game on my console by far because of its casual nature. However, I can’t help but realize that it feels like a mobile title. When a game makes the jump to consoles, it should feel like an experience worthy of a larger screen and different set up. Just pushing mobile games to the big screen really doesn’t cut it anymore. Unfortunately this is Sparkle 2’s biggest downfall. However, given its low price, I would still recommend it to gamers looking for a casual experience. It’s a lot of fun despite the fact that it’s something best experienced on a phone.
Xian was a regular ICXM contributor between 2015–2017, publishing 162 articles across game reviews, Windows and PC, and Xbox news. Their work focused on hands-on reviews, platform commentary, and breaking-news reporting during the Xbox One X launch year and Microsoft’s wider Play Anywhere / UWP gaming initiative.