Mercury Meltdown started as a little PSP title back in 2005
to compete with other franchises such as madness and Sega’s own Super Monkey
Ball. The first Super Monkey Ball title on the PSP was not that great so gamers
decided to give mercury meltdown a chance and loved it. Mercury Meltdown
requires Balance, Agility and fast thinking. It is a great combination that
comes very few times on new IP’s. It wasn’t until Mercury Meltdown Remix that
it made its way onto consoles. Back then
you could only get it on PS2 or PSP. Now with the power of the Wii, Wii owners
can get the same addicted game play they experienced back on their PSP’s with
Mercury Meltdown revolution.
Mercury
Meltdown revolution is the third installment in the mercury meltdown franchise.
The title is cleverly done which makes it seem like if a 3 is being made from
the words. With Revolution you will need to use your Wii-mote to move the
tables in order to guide your Mercury to its destination. The game features
over 150+ levels, a great soundtrack and great controls.
150+
levels mean that there are other levels you can play that don’t necessarily tie
into the story line or solo play. When you play single player mode you will
need to beat certain stages in order to move on to the next level. In the game
you will go from lab to lab collecting mercury as well as bonus stars to unlock
extra features. These extra features include bonus games such as: Rodeo, Paint,
Shove Race and Metrix. These bonus games are similar to the ones in single
player you will need to score a certain amount of points to move on. Scoring
points is really easy, just have 100% of your mercury and collect all the bonus
materials and beat the level in the time required. You don’t necessarily need
to place first to move on but you will definitely need to be in the top 5 to
qualify for the next round. You will not move on if you: fall off, Get the
lowest score or loose mercury on levels where a certain amount is required.
The
bonus points give you extra points and if you collect enough you will unlock a
few extra blob colors as well as levels. You will not be able to collect all
the bonus points at first and if you have no idea you will probably need to pay
a visit to gamefaqs.com in order to find out how you can get those points. If
you have played Mercury Meltdown before you know what I mean, if you haven’t
then let me give you an Idea.Some Bonus
Points will be floating in mid air while others will be on top of the walls
with no way of getting up there. If you cannot get the bonus points then you
can still get a good score if you pass the level and then just come back to
collect the points, you can take all the time in the world because you already
beat the level and unlocked the next.
To move
the control all you have to do is tilt to the point of destination. You have to
move carefully though cause one wrong tilt can send your blob of mercury
flying. While this may seem hard to do it is actually quite simple. The controls
handle the movement really well and if you don’t like using the Wii-mote you
have an option to use the Classic controller. It sucks that you cannot use the
gamecube remotes because not all of Wii owners own a classic remote. But the game really handles the motion
sensitivity really well so there’s really no need for the classic controller.
If you
are looking for great graphics then keep looking. Mercury Meltdown Revolution
features cel-shaded graphics that don’t really hurt the game but it doesn’t
help it either. One great thing about the graphics is that it is really hard to
notice the game’s pixilation since most levels are square shaped. The game does
support 480P but unless you look real closely there is no difference.
The
soundtrack is probably one of the best one’s out there. Most of the game
features Techno and Dance Music which is actually more fun to listen to if you
like that type of Music. Heck you can even access the soundtrack via the
options menu and listen to the music when not playing the game. Each Song has
its levels that actually match to the music. For example a real tough level
will get you a Halloween type song a race track looking level will get you a
real techno fast song and an average level will get you an average song.There are a total of 54 tracks and while all
of them are not great most of them are.
The
only criticism that I can give Mercury Meltdown…..well there are many things
that I can criticize Mercury Meltdown about but my main criticism is that the
game could just be a port of the PSP version of Mercury Meltdown Remix. There are
a few levels that also make an appearance on the PSP version as well. I cannot
confirm if this game is a direct port because I only played a few levels on the
PSP version. All I can say is that there are some levels featured on the PSP
version.
The game
features about 8 to 10 hours of game play depending on how fast you play
through the levels and how well is your balance. You can unlock extra features
by playing through the game. After the game is beaten all you can do is just go
back and try to beat your own score. There is no Multiplayer or Wi-Fi, but for
only 20 bucks this game isn’t really a bad deal.
Closing Comments:
Mercury
Meltdown Revolution will only keep you occupied for so long before you get
bored. The cheap price tag is really a temptation and is also one of the main
factors people look for when buying a game. There is really nothing new added
to the series except for maybe a few new levels and the replay option that will
let you share it with friends. If you played remix and unless you want to try
out the new control setup then you should get this game. If you played remix
and don’t feel like going playing it all over again then you should definitely
avoid this game.
Game Play: Nothing new added to the series. If you’ve played
Remix, you’ve played revolution. 6/10
Graphics: Really sharp graphics with great mercury physics.
The Mercury really looks like real life mercury. 7/10
Sound: Really great soundtrack. If you see the soundtrack at
a music store it is a must buy if you’re into techno or Dance music, as well as
clean and crisp sound effects. 10/10
Control: a great use of the Wii’s remote, great balance and
very responsive. It also gives you the option to choose which control you want
to use.8/10
Life Span: 8-10 hours of game play with only a few extras to
unlock that don’t really add much to the game play. 5/10
