The puzzle
game market for the PSP so far is owned by Lumines, but more are just around the
corner. Archer Maclean’s Mercury is one of these titles, and while it’s not
quite as addicting, it offers a unique and challenging adventure.
In Mercury
you guide a ball of mercury (go figure) through mazes of various obstacles to
light a beacon at the end of the treacherous path. To move the mercury the
entire field is tilted using the analog stick allowing gravity to do the work.
The analog stick is essentially the only means of control; all other buttons are
used to move the camera around. To aid as best as possible the camera can be
tilted up or down, zoomed in or out, rotated either way and for instances
involving multiple blobs the focus can be shifted between all in play.
Mercury is
broken up into six different worlds, each featuring 12 levels. The main point of
each level in Mercury is to guide your blob to each beacon to light them. The
progress of Mercury is very balanced, and early levels give players enough
practice to identify goals in later levels.
Even though
the final goal of lighting beacons stays the same, levels are separated by the
type of challenges presented. There are percentage levels, race levels, task
levels, combinations of any two types, and finally boss levels that feature all
three.
Percentage
levels focus more on obstacles to overcome, since the beacon at the end of the
level requires a minimum weight to activate. On the left side of the screen is a
filled tube showing how much mercury you have with arrows pointing to a certain
level. As you lose mercury, the level drops, and if it drops past the arrows you
lose. Various things can cause you to lose mercury, like dropping bits off the
edge of a level or zaps of electricity.
Race levels
give you less time to reach the goal, but are also more straightforward. These
levels seemed to be more maze-like with fewer traps. The time left can be seen
in the upper left corner of the screen.
Task levels
are more puzzle-based, and even though other types of challenges have puzzle
elements, task levels are not obvious right away. They require color changing
and mixing, and typically have multiple beacons to light. The bottom left corner
of the screen displays how many beacons need lighting, and how many of which
have been lit.
Mercury’s
levels are very creative, and the designs of some areas are perfect for messing
you up. For instance, a percentage level may feature a section with conveyor
belts going in opposite directions – a great way of breaking up your ball of
mercury. There are many other types of feats that stand in your way, such as
mercury-eating creatures, teleporters, vacuums, color specific filters, pitfalls
and much more.
One thing
that took me some getting used to was the absence of an auto-save function. Most
games use one these days, so when I first started playing I hadn’t saved my
game. I came back to find myself a whole world behind, so make sure to save
manually.
Even though
the gameplay is a lot of fun, Mercury is pretty light on the bonus features. All
that’s offered is single player, multiplayer, options, and a movie viewer. The
movie viewer has all the currently unlocked world intros as well as the trailer
for the game. The intros are quite impressive and capture the essence of each
world.
Mercury took
a fairly old and plain play style and gave it character and complexity. You’ll
be surprised at how addicting guiding a ball of mercury through dangerous mazes
of doom can be. Even though there isn’t much reason to replay conquered levels,
the game has good length and is a very fun challenge.
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Gameplay: 8.5
The gameplay is
simple, yet the situations are complex. The simple interface makes the game more
enjoyable and allows the player to focus more on the deep puzzles and constantly
changing ball of mercury.
Graphics: 7.8
All of Mercury’s
gameplay hinges on the excellent physics of the mercury and how it reacts to its
surroundings. The effects created by the mercury as well as the backdrops of the
levels are very impressive, though not the best seen on the system.
Sound: 7.9
The sound effects
fit Mercury quite comfortably, giving it the right compliments at the right
times. The soundtrack is full of soothing electronica that makes a nice
background to the brain racking.
Difficulty: Medium
Mercury is very
easy during the first half of the game, and some puzzle-game players may feel
short-changed. But I promise if you stick with it, the difficulty ramps up and
later puzzles become mind-bendingly complex.
Concept: 8.3
Mercury is like a
liquid Marble Madness. Awesome Studios made the Marble Madness idea more
challenging and interesting by adding the fluid element, which works extremely
well and allows for more puzzle solving situations.
Multiplayer: N/A
Since this game hasn’t quite
made it to store shelves, there isn’t much of an online community for testing
the multiplayer. It should prove very interesting, though, and add much to the
replay value.
Overall: 8.1
Mercury is a
great puzzle game and a worthy contender so far to the others available on the
PSP. The unique gameplay and puzzles, as well as the balanced increase in
difficulty, makes for an addicting and rewarding experience. There may not be
too much replay value in this one, but it’s definitely entertaining enough to
give it a shot.
