Reviewed: October 21, 2006
Reviewed by: Mark Smith

Publisher
Ignition Entertainment

Developer
Ignition Entertainment

Released: October 3, 2006
Genre: Puzzle
Players: 1-2
ESRB: Everyone

8
8
7
9
8.7

Supported Features

For those who didn’t get to play the original, Mercury Meltdown is quite simple in premise; navigate a blob of mercury around increasingly complex level design, trying to reach the finish without spilling too much over the sides before you get there. It was a clever idea in 2005 and it gets even better this year with all sorts of new rules and game mods.

The first thing you’ll notice is the new look. The original Mercury had a very high-tech, polished look about it, but Meltdown makes a huge leap into an almost comic, cel-shaded style, not unlike the old Jet Grind (or Jet Set) Radio games. Everything from the wacky menus and test-tube progress meters to the fonts and intentionally hand-drawn style of the HUD gives this game a deceptively kid-like feel.

But that would be your first mistake. Meltdown is hard, and once the tutorial and the first few throwaway levels are behind you this game rears its ugly head and demands you use all of the skills you hopefully learned from the first game. If you never played the first game, expect a healthy learning curve to get up to speed.

Thankfully, the new presentation style, unlockable labs, and 16 levels at a time to choose from, is a huge improvement from the linear path of the first game that required you to play and perfect each level before moving on. Now, if you get stuck you can explore within the lab and even unlock new labs and more levels.

There are several objectives to master in Meltdown, the first being to reach the goal with as much mercury as possible. There is a required amount as indicated by the test tube icon, but getting to the end with 100% is always preferred and rewarded. The clock is always ticking giving you another par to shoot for, and then you have those elusive Bonus Stars you’ll want to collect to unlock the party games.

Controls are pretty much the same with a few minor improvements. The analog pad moves your blob of mercury around the level with some scary physics and realistic momentum, especially when you start slipping along icy sections of a level. You can rotate the camera to view the action in full 360-degrees with 90 and 45-degree snap options or free rotation, and you can even tilt up for a top-down view.

As you navigate each level you will encounter all sorts of environmental hazards and interactions ranging from doors, bridges, bounce pads, and conveyors to gravity benders, air jets, and even Huebrick, a color-changing cube you can move around to activate pressure pads. These all play important parts in the grand puzzle of completing the levels in each lab.

Of course the main mind-bender and ultimate test of your dexterity comes in manipulating multiple blobs of mercury at the same time. You can now use the D-pad to select between solo and multi-blob tracking making things much easier to deal with. Throughout the levels are sharp corners or changes in elevation that allow you to intentionally break off a portion of your main blob creating two or more smaller blobs.

Your reason for this is the Color Mixing puzzles that require some basic knowledge in primary (RGB) colors and the dexterity to move multiple blobs into various color booths scattered about the level, then after changing each blob, reunite them to make new colors. This almost invariably includes passing through color-coded gates along the way. A handy color chart on the HUD will help you remember that purple+green=blue.

Mercury Meltdown seems to offer a much greater replay potential, with various objectives that can’t always be obtained in the same pass. There is also a new Ghost mode that you can toggle on and watch your best performance play out alongside your current run. If you happen to beat your ghost your new performance will replace the old.

Multiplayer has been totally enhanced with a fun Battle mode and a great collection of Party games. Hooking up to host or join a Wi-Fi game is extremely simple and there is even Game Sharing if you want to let a friend sample the fun with an 8-level demo. Look for future downloadable content to make the Mercury Meltdown experience last even longer, even if you do have to use your PC as a bridge to get that content.

Battle mode isn’t so much a fight as it is a race. The “battling” comes into play with the pick-ups, which are now replaced with new items that either help you or hurt your opponent. Things like speed boosters, magnets, and some truly evil items like Lights Out and Reverse Controls will have your opponent cursing you. These races take place on the game’s main levels so learning them in solo play will give you a definite advantage.

The Party games are wildly unique and totally fun and can thankfully be played alone when you don’t have a friend with a PSP handy. You’ll first need to unlock them by picking up those Bonus Stars in the main game – finally an incentive worth the effort. These games are challenging, addicting, and a blast to play over and over, offering a great reason to keep playing this title long after you have mastered the lengthy solo game.

Rodeo puts you in a small arena with a circling fan that tries to blow you off. Paint assigns each player a color and they must race to fill in as much of the level as they can before time runs out. Shove is a mercury version of shuffleboard, Race is just what you think it is, and Metrix is a puzzle game that has you placing colored blocks to create groups of three or more. All of these games have various rules, pick-ups, and modifiers that keep them fresh and exciting no matter how many times you play them.

Animation is fluid, especially that of the mercury which strictly adheres to the rules of physics, gravity, and momentum. Camera control is functional and configurable and you can always find a good angle for the challenge at hand. You can even pause the game and do a free-look study of the level to plan your strategy.

Sound effects are pretty standard. Mercury doesn’t make that much (if any) noise while it rolls around colorful platforms, but there are a few key effects for doors, mechanical and electrical objects, and a few fun sounds for power-ups, etc.

The Party games are a total blast and well worth the effort to unlock them. I had nearly as much fun with them as I did the core game, and thankfully, you can play alone when human competition is not available.

This is a great game to test your brain and your dexterity, and with improved load times and a great design where levels only last a minute, Mercury Meltdown is a great title for the gamer on the go.