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The sequel to Mercury is a puzzle delight.
Mercury Meltdown is a lot like the Super Monkey Ball games. You control a blob and you have to move this blob from the beginning of a stage to the end. You don’t control the actual mercury ball but simply tilt the world around it using the analog nub. As expected, the game gets markedly more challenging as you clear stages. The game introduces switches (some color-cored), narrower ledges, and even traps along the way. To combat this, your reflexes have to get tighter as you split/merge your blob (or blobs) and even turn them into different colors. Additionally, the game plays up the mercury element since you have to alter the blob’s density by cooling or heating it.
The game rewards you with new worlds and stages the more you play. The game does open with a fair amount of stages so you have some leeway in choosing which one to play. As you play, you’ll build up a mercury meter and once this is full, you’ll unlock a new world. The game includes about 160 stages, all of which are a blast and get progressively and satisfyingly more challenging.
Aside from the main game, Mercury Meltdown Remix has some party games. Metrix, a Tetris-esque game, is the best of the group. Instead of being presented with pieces, though, you create them by merging different blocks into a piece. Other minigames include a racing game, a curling game, and others but none of these are particularly engaging. There is also a battle mode that uses the singleplayer mode’s stages and allows you to compete with an opponent. The minigames and battle mode aren’t particularly in-depth or fleshed out, but thanks to multiplayer they do help the game’s replay value.
Most puzzle games aren’t particularly great looking but Mercury Meltdown addresses this by focusing on style. This is a very colorful, cel-shaded game and it looks great on the PSP’s screen. Aurally, the game’s music is okay and the sound effects are good but nothing mind-blowing.
Mercury Meltdown offers a lot of bang for your $20. The game has a strong core gameplay and great stage designs, which get progressively harder but also more challenging. Definitely worth picking up for fans of the genre. -- Jake Wilson, PGNx Media
---- Jan 30, 2007
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