Mercury Meltdown Remix (MMR) is so named because it’s essentially the same as
the PSP version of the game redone for the PS2. In light of this I will start
out by telling you that if you have the game on PSP then there’s no real reason
to pick it up on the PS2. All you’ll really get out of owning both games is a
few extra levels with the PS2 versions, so if you really feel like playing
Mercury Meltdown at home you may as well pull out your PSP and kick back on your
couch. That being said I know that there are plenty of you out there who either
don’t own the PSP version of the game or don’t own a PSP in the first place, so
let’s take a look at the game from the beginning…
MMR is in some way inspired by the old game in which you used a couple of
knobs to tilt a board and maneuver a marble through a maze while avoiding holes
in the board. MMR replaces the marble with a viscous ball of silver mercury and
the mazes with more elaborate puzzles, but you’ll still need to get the ball
from the start to the goal by tilting the puzzle board and letting gravity do
the work of moving your ball along.
While gravity is needed to keep your ball rolling, it can be your nemesis as
well. The game’s puzzles don’t have any guardrails and if you get too close to
the edge you’re liable to send your ball into oblivion. One of the advantages of
playing with a ball of mercury is that the ball can be split up into smaller
balls and later recombined. If you get too close to the edge, you may leak off
some mercury but it doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll take the plunge. As long as
you make it to the end with some mercury left you’ll complete the level.
Completing the puzzles involves more than just staying on the paths. There
are various traps and contraptions that will conspire to push your ball over the
edge or split it up into multiple balls. You may even have to split your ball
yourself to simultaneously activate multiple switches. There are also
color-coded puzzles that will require you to dye your mercury into various color
combinations, moving pathways, ramps, bridges, and more. There’s a lot of
variety to the puzzles for a game in which you’re essentially just tilting a
board in various directions. The puzzles are all timed, but thankfully you can
keep playing after time expires although you won’t receive as high a score as
you will by beating the time limit. I say “thankfully” because the time limits
are rather aggressive, especially on some of the higher level puzzles.
MMR can be an enjoyable puzzle game, but only for those who don’t mind using
their reflexes as much as their minds. Strictly cerebral puzzle gamers may find
it too frustrating to try and keep the ball from plunging over the edge all the
time. While I’m on the topic of caveats, I should mention that the game
advertises that it comes with a set of party games but doesn’t mention that it
will take you a while to unlock them and when you do they don’t support
multiplayer play. Lastly it seems that MMR was ported directly from the PSP
version and as a result the puzzle boards were originally designed for a
widescreen aspect ratio. This means that you’ll sometimes feel that you can’t
quite see enough of the puzzle to figure out what to do next and be faced with
some trial and error that wasn’t found in the PSP version of the game.
In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated:
75%. Mercury Meltdown Remix is a good choice for
those who like puzzle games that require you to use your reflexes along with
your brains.
