The first thing you'll notice about Mercury Meltdown is that the game has been given a very colourful overhaul. Whilst the original title was realistic and had themed levels Mercury Meltdown feels like more of a cartoon. The game is now cell shaded, which is sure to either impress or disappoint many people. Everything is so much more colourful than Archer Maclean's Mercury, including the menus which have had a splash of paint thrown over them as well.
Ignition have thrown a splash of paint over everything.
Despite the visual changes the main game hasn't changed all that much. The main mode in single player is divided up into seperate labs. You'll begin in Astro lab and there are sixteen stages in eight labs. You'll need to complete a certain number of levels before unlocking the next lab. The game keeps track of your high scores and the more Mercury that makes it to the end of the level the better. There are also bonuses scattered around the levels and collecting them unlocks party games. In the first game you were given a time limit to complete the levels in, now there is a par time. Each level has a par time and completing the level in par time will net you a higher score. However, if you do exceed the par time then you can still complete the level, you just won't get a high score.
Your mercury blob now has four different states as well. The mercury can be normal, hot, cold or solid and will react differently according to what state it is in. One of our complaints about the original Mercury was that the camera often got in the way. Just about all of the buttons on the PSP now control the camera in some way, so you can zoom in, zoom out, rotate or tilt the camera up or down. You can actually go into the free look mode by pressing select. The free look mode fives you hints on what each of the objects do in a level, so you'll often find yourself pressing select as soon as a level begins to plan a strategy. The camera does take some getting used too and it would be a lot easier to control the camera with two analog sticks but Ignition have made use of the PSP's face buttons pretty effectively.
On certain levels you'll need to mix colours together and spit your mercury in pieces to progress past a checkpoint, for example mixing green and red together will give you yellow. A colour chart stays in the top right hand corner so you'll know which colours to try and mix together. Aside from worrying about changing your mercury into the correct colour you also need to navigate through each area without falling off or encountering a hazard. There are plenty more hazards in the levels and there are also a few objects that will help you on your way to completing the levels. There are around forty objects spread throughout the levels and you'll need to quickly work out what each of them does so you know whether to avoid the object or move towards it.
Red blob, now where do I go from here?
Outside of the single player mode there are a few hidden extras. The game supports online play, although one of the difficulties of having the game so early is the fact that we were unable to find anybody online, but setting up a game appears relatively seamless. The game also supports game share, so if only one of you have a copy of the game then you can play against each other. The game also has an area hidden away in the extras for downloadable levels. Whilst there are obviously no downloadable levels yet we assume that there will be some made available shortly. It would be good if these downloadable levels featured a theme, such as Halloween or Christmas, but either way they should be just as colourful as the existing levels. It's also worth noting that the loading in the game has been improved extensively, so you're only going to be waiting for a few seconds for anything to load, which improves the pick up and playability of this game.
Also hidden away in the extras section is the playground. The playground is a circular dome that has a variety of objects for you to "practice on". You can take an upclose look at objects like the grav bender, the crumble block and more. The playground helps you get used to some of the contraptions that you'll be utilising in the single player campaign. Unless you're totally new to Mercury you're really only likely to visit the playground a few times. Collecting the bonuses located in the single player mode will unlock party games. There are five party games consisting of rodeo, race, metrix, shove and paint. All of the party games can be played in single player or multiplayer. In rodeo you simply need to hang on as long as you can whilst a tray tips around, a fan also tries to blow you away. A pickup has been included which slows the fan down. The race mini game is self explanatory, you basically just need to race your mercury around a track. Metrix is a puzzle challenge, you have to actually line up coloured blobs to form a row of three. Metrix is surprisingly deep and should be rather popular in multiplayer. In shove you have to shove your mercury to the centre of the target, doing so will net you the highest amount of points. In the final party game, paint your mercury leaves behind a coloured trail and the objective is to cover more of an area with your trail than your opponant. All of the party games feel like they've been thought about extensively and they provide a great distraction from the single player campaign.
One of the racing party games.
Visually the game is very colourful and this means objects in the game stand out rather well. In the first game a lot of the levels took place with some beautiful backdrops, in this game it feels more like you're in a lab. The game isn't pushing the PSP so it runs at a smooth frame-rate and you can zoom in quite close if you so desire. Whether you like the cell shaded look or not is up to personal opinion, but Mercury Meltdown doesn't suffer because of the visuals. Everything is certainly a lot more vivid than in the predecessor. Just like the visuals the sound is very upbeat. The sound only plays in the background and loops pretty frequently, but it doesn't seem like much of a focus was placed on the audio.
Even after you've completed the single player mode (which is incredibly lengthy and even features a few secrets) there is still plenty to do in Mercury Meltdown. You've got the party games, online play, downloadable content and even the ability to save replays. Even the single player mode offers an incentive to come back and play through again, so whilst the original Mercury could be completed rather quickly this one features a lot more content.
Mercury Meltdown is a worthy successor to it's predecessor. Gameplay wise the game is rather similar - the difference being the mercury now exists different elemental states and you now have greater control over the camera. The levels are a lot more elaborate and there are plenty more objects which can help or hinder you. There is so much content in the game that it will take you an extraordinarily lengthy amount of time to unlock everything, the party games, in particular the metrix party game is addictive and you can play multiplayer in a heap of different modes. It's not fundamentally different but Mercury Meltdown is a thoroughly enjoyable title that is just fun to play.
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