Mercury Meltdown review

Archer Mclean's Mercury was one of the very first PSP games to be widely discussed and it felt like it was a perfect match for the new Sony handheld. It looked impressive, it was stylish and it felt like an original concept, especially with the inclusion of tilt controls.

When it was finally released the tilt control was removed and it was awkward to play, just a little bit too dull and not much more than a slightly puzzlier version of Monkey Ball. Now there is a new Mercury, with Archer Mclean's name thoroughly scrubbed away from the title. Is it any better?

Engineering Chemistry

There are certainly changes this time around. The graphics have had an overhaul and gameplay wise there are a few changes too. The biggest of the changes is that you now alter the state of your Mercury by changing the temperature by running over certain devices. Making the Mercury hot makes it flow faster and split easier, cooler turns it into a smooth ball to roll around with to go around pinball style tracks. At no point does it feel like they are making much of a difference though, just something extra to include on the back of the box.

Much is carried over from the original, the highlight has to be splitting your mercury into two distinct parts and then controlling them both at once - even better changing their colour to make a third colour for opening switches. This is a game with a lot of clever tricks up its sleeve and it certainly hasn't removed any. If you liked Mercury there is every chance you'll enjoy this.

Lysergic Acid Diethylamide

The stylish look of Mercury made it stand out and made it feel perfectly suited to the PSP. Changing it completely seems an incredibly odd decision, especially to what they have now. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that, but this just looks garish.

It's been sort of cel-shaded - in that some things have a black outline, some don't. Levels brightly coloured, machines are different bright colours and backgrounds are different bright colours again. Nothing goes together, nothing looks stylish or designed. In fact it looks like a child's colouring book, slap a few bright colours on and it will look nice. Colours don't work like that, sadly especially in this amount.

Table of Elements

Those garish machines that are dotted around serve various purposes - from changing state and colour as mentioned above to teleporting, activating two different kinds of switches, warping gravity and at least ten different ways of attacking you. With just a single sentence explanation in the manual they still take up almost 3 entire pages in the manual there are so many.

The living creatures amongst them are incredibly annoying. Most just attack you in various ways for no reason other than to be a pain really. One is used for completing puzzles though, requiring you to block its path so it will move over a switch. Get it right first time and it seems simple enough, but if you get it wrong it can make levels impossible to finish. Incredibly annoying, but worse than that it just doesn't seem to fit in. Oh, and "gravity benders" that can fire your mercury miles into the air and require a small area to land on are possibly even worse.

Result of Study

Mercury Meltdown is hard to recommend. From the ugly graphics, the ridiculously complicated levels, the long loading times, the analogue stick that never feels up to the job, the structuring that means you can finish all the levels in the zone but not be able to progress without getting higher scores. Worse than all those combined though is that it just feels lacking in charm. It never feels like a thrill finding out what is around the corner, it feels constantly like a chore. It's just not addictive and that is the one thing it should be.

If you do take to it though it is vast - 160 levels to get you started with more available to download. As well as bonus games that are unlocked as you go - racing, rodeo and puzzle game Metrix. None make much difference to the game, but it's nice that they're there. After finishing playing it for this review I promise I'll never play this game again and that speaks volumes, sadly.