With the exception of memorising all fifty states and capitals, writing down long stretches of maths formulas, or being forced to shower with other naked students in P.E., learning the periodic table was probably the most aggravating thing I had to do in school. No number of word associations of mnemonic phrases to could help the average C student remember all 118 chemical elements.
Kind of makes one wish that a game like Mercury Hg was available during the pre-Internet days of high school; a puzzler built around the concept of chemical elements, Mercury Hg is actually Ignition’s fifth game in the Mercury puzzler series, and the first to be released on both Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network.
The goal of Mercury Hg is to navigate a lifeless blob of mercury to the finish line in each of its many levels. Players aren’t actually controlling the mercury itself, but rather tilting the entire grid-like level in multiple directions in order to skilfully move the liquid around every twist and turn, while taking care to keep the grey goo from slinking off the stage.
Being a liquid, the mercury can be split into several bodies using the stage geometry, which becomes crucial for solving several of the puzzle stages. The downside to this is that the physics engine can also work against you, as veering too close to a level’s edge can cause the mercury to spill out, thus shrinking in size. While it is still possible to complete most stages with just a tiny speck of mercury left (just as it is also possibly complete a level when the timer runs out), the real goal is to finish quickly and with much of your original composition intact in order to achieve those high scores, which also factor into unlocking more bonus levels.
Speaking of unlocking, Hg features a level-up system of sorts, where performing well in each stage as well as collecting the DNA strands in each level will put points into your overall profile. When you reach a certain point threshold, you’ll unlock another part of the periodic table (which means more levels, naturally). Easier said than done, considering how tricky the game gets in a short amount of time. It doesn’t help that the camera is often an obstacle itself, feeling both floaty and imprecise, while the controls take just as much getting used to, and would clearly benefit more with a tilt-like control scheme rather than analogue control.
Mercury’s most palpable feature involves the use of colour to solve puzzles; similar to THQ’s de Blob series, players can plop their gooey gumball underneath painting vats that change its colour, a requirement for activating certain switches and continuing onwards in the level. For switches requiring a specific colour not found in a paint vat, the goal of the player is to split the mercury in two, have both halves sprayed in their respective colours, and then reform and combine into the required colour in order to activate the switch. It’s a neat mechanic that should have been emphasised more than instant deaths by falling.
The soundtrack features the usual mix of electronic and techno that fits right in with the clean Portal-style fonts and colours, but is also limited to a small handful of tracks. This is where the custom soundtrack feature comes in handy… in fact the game encourages you to set up your own playlist while the background dances along to your chosen beat. It’s a commendable touch, but is nothing more than minimal window-dressing that doesn’t factor into the gameplay whatsoever (save for the fact that it spares you from having the game constantly load up a new song every time you restart a level).
In short, Mercury Hg is an inoffensive puzzler with a cool theme, but would have been far better suited for the iPad or any other device supporting tilt functionality (no word if the PSN version performs better with its Sixaxis controls). It should also be noted that a big chunk of the levels are restricted to a DLC pack that costs extra, which is especially unfortunate given the otherwise shortness of the game. If you’re willing to put up with the less-than-precise controls along with the extra DLC cost, you could do a lot worse than this semi-educational puzzler.
Mm, I was always interested in the Mercury series but never actually got a chance to play any of them. Not sure if I would after this review.
27th October 2011, 10:56 PM - reply - report
I played Mercury Meltdown Revolution on the Wii and it was pretty fun. Unfortunately, I picked it up at a car boot sale and the disc was pretty badly scratched. It’d freeze up on some vital level and I never managed to finish the game.
28th October 2011, 9:02 PM - reply - report
Haha, unlucky I suppose. I’m not quite into these puzzle sorts of games though.
2nd November 2011, 12:31 AM - reply - report
Same :(
7th November 2011, 7:32 PM - reply - report
I downloaded the trial and was seriously disappointed. I didn’t find it fun at all.
28th October 2011, 5:19 PM - reply - report
Looks like a bit of a crazy puzzle game. For some reason I just got reminded of an awesome game I had on the N64. Can’t remember the name but you were a glove which controlled a ball and you had to get the ball to the end of each level. Really loved that game.
29th October 2011, 1:33 PM - reply - report
That’s Glover, I remember that too!
29th October 2011, 2:43 PM - reply - report
Yea! That’s the one. I need to buy an old N64 again from the US or Canada! I really would like to play some of the games I still have.
2nd November 2011, 12:30 AM - reply - report
I still have Sega if that counts :(
7th November 2011, 7:32 PM - reply - report
Maybe… but N64 > Sega imo. Lol, sorry.
9th November 2011, 12:56 AM - reply - report