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Mercury Meltdown Revolution

Wii Review

By Sam Gittins - 25th June 2007 22:23

"Mercury Meltdown Revolution is a well realised puzzler with a penchant for precise physics, treacherous traps and a disdainfully devious difficultly level"

Simplicity, often it is the way forward and other times it can be seen as a shortcoming for games, and complication is a mixed bag. Mercury Meltdown Revolution is different, as the controls are suited to the concept and executes it very well in this fun yet relatively short lived physics-based puzzle game.

The premise is straightforward, you guide your shimmering blob of liquid metal through a crazy cartoony world full of tricky traps and devious devices; and the aim? To progress through a series of wacky labs avoid the dangers and escape without spilling your precious mercury.

This is not a completely built from the ground up Wii title but instead it takes what it already had from the PSP variant and expands on it greatly with more precise controls thanks to implementation of true motion sensitive controls. Yet due to the preciseness of the controls by utilising the Wii-mote in handlebar mode which reacts well to the state of the art blob physics; it creates both an entertaining and engaging experience.

Cel shaded graphics coupled with techno / metal tracks are the order of the day here and while the combination is hardly anything spectacular or particularly original it does suit the game and creates a n adequately acceptable atmosphere both audibly and aesthetically; the result is nice- just do not expect to be blown away.

Even though the main selling point for this iteration is the implementation and interaction introduced by motion based controls, both Wii-mote and classic controller are supported and with surprisingly satisfying results. Arguably movement seems more responsive but the same actions with an analogue stick do work well, and it is just a shame that the CC has a design flaw of the sticks being positioned too high, otherwise this would be an equal option.

Although the first few levels do not even register on the difficulty scale, after only the first ten trays the difficulty becomes noticeably harder. It fails to get any easier either and it is perhaps this aspect of the title which lets it down because while it may contain in excess of one hundred and fifty courses and a wealth of obtainable extras which are worth getting, most simply will not have the skill or the staying power to play beyond even a third of what is available.

Gameplay can be likened to the Wii launch incarnation of Super Monkey Ball; interestingly in places it is superior to a certain spherical simian sequel, such as the handlebar method of control which is more responsive and less cramp inducing than the wrist twisting pointer posture. In other areas it really is lacking though and for every deviously designed solo trial by fire curse-worthy course, it would have been nice to have more diversity to alleviate the frustration of failing to finish for the five hundred and fifty fifth time; a slight exaggeration but the point still remains.

Mercury Meltdown Revolution is a well realised puzzler with a penchant for precise physics, treacherous traps and a disdainfully devious difficultly level. Its complete omission of a mode for multiple players however on a console that is perfectly positioned to provide it is a completely missed opportunity; ultimately it is a suitably and satisfyingly substantial single player success but it had potential to be more.

Comments

Markcullinane Says:
June 25th, 2007 at 17:46 \|\| Total Comments: 8

I second that. I'm impressed with this game. Excellent controls, and plenty of levels to get through. It's very hard though.

Darkflame Says:
June 25th, 2007 at 19:28 \|\| Total Comments: 961

£18 on Play.com

Darkflame Says:
June 25th, 2007 at 19:29 \|\| Total Comments: 961

(just thought Id better post that before anyone thinks of going to the monopoly of GAME(station) to buy it)

Eraser Says:
June 26th, 2007 at 04:19 \|\| Total Comments: 505

excellent game!

Azmol01 Says:
June 26th, 2007 at 04:19 \|\| Total Comments: 901

For those who hate GAME, well just to let you know GAME didn't buy all of the Gamestation branches, any Gamestation inside a Blockbuster is still owned by Blockbuster. The rest i.e. the ones not inside a Blockbuster store are now owned by GAME and will for a while at least operate under the Gamestation brand. The Blockbuster owned stores will be re-branded into a new business in due course.