Mercury Meltdown Revolution

Written by David Taylor  on March 30, 2007

Final Glimpse: As the temperature rises, so does Al Gore's heart rate? or maybe that's just the pizza grease?

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The puzzle genre has made a reemergence in recent years with popular titles like Lumines and Meteos. The Wii console seems to be greatly benefiting from this phenomenon. With upcoming titles like Bust-A-Move Revolution, Wii puzzle fans are no doubt happier than an overmedicated child with imitation Ritalin. Enter Mercury Meltdown Revolution, the third entry in the puzzle series and ?Wii-make? of the Playstation 2 version from last year.

For those unfamiliar with the series, here's the gist: you must navigate a glob of mercury through a series of stages whilst avoiding obstacles. It's sort of like Rosie O'Donnell's daily commute to The View set. Those who remember the classic Marble Madness will be somewhat familiar with this formula. However, the difference here is that the mercury glob is able to take different forms according to the temperature. The mercury may change from solid to liquid at a certain degree. The player must be careful, for a few mistakes may cause a bit of mercury to slosh off the edge of a platform, making the ball smaller. In addition, the ball can fall apart and come back together ala Terminator 2.

A lot of strategy comes into play by turning the glob into different colors. For instance, turning the glob red will allow the player to activate red switches and pass through red walls. The player must at times mix colors together in order to create the necessary tint. And here you thought kindergarten was only for eating paste.

This ?Wii-make? adds thirty new levels to the hundreds available on the older, Playstation 2 incarnation. The object in each of these levels, much like a date with Tara Reid, is to simply reach the goal. In between the player and his or her objective are tricky angles, teleporters, warps and other hazards that may drain your mercury. If the glob is totally diminished, it's game over.

The player controls the blob by holding the Wii-mote horizontally and tilting it side to side. This is a great control method in theory. However, recent players of Sonic and the Secret Rings may be understandably skeptical. The player also has the option of using the Gamecube or classic controllers.
The game features a number of unlockable mini-games. These include a racing game with the aforementioned blob and a puzzle game reminiscent of Bust-A-Move's color matching

The game is essentially an enhanced port of the PlayStation 2 version. It has a cell-shaded cartoon look that is pleasing to the eyes, but don't expect anything revolutionary.