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This thread has been linked to the game 'Mercury Hg'.
We’ve now reached that time of year gamers everywhere look forward to. The final four months brings with it its long list of AAA titles running right up to Christmas. Uncharted, Batman, Gears of War, Zelda, Battlefield, Sonic... I could keep going. But while I’m obviously excited by all the big budget titles due to come, I also try to give some of the smaller downloadable titles a try such as the very charming Mercury Hg and while it may not be a big name brand, it is definitely a game that deserves your attention.
Mercury Hg sees you manoeuvring a small blob of quicksilver around a series of platforms whilst trying to make it to the end in one piece. Much like the Super Monkey Ball series here you’ll need a steady nerve and plenty of skill as you tilt your silver blob while facing narrow ledges, magnets, ramps, conveyor belts and other challenging obstacles. However (and here is where I believe Mercury Hg has the edge over the simian filled title) you can even split and control two (or more) separate blobs of mercury at once. This can lead to some interesting ideas especially when it comes changing your mercury colour. For example while getting to a finish line may require you to become green the only colours you can change to are blue and yellow. Solving this is a matter of splitting your mercury on a sharp corner and manoeuvring them in order to become one of each. Then it’s a simple case of blending them together again. Just when you’ve mastered one mechanic you are thrown head first into another and that’s why at times Mercury Hg beats SEGA’s puzzler hands down.
The game is split into three main modes each offering a nice variety of stages and missions. The first is ‘Discovery Mode’ which can be considered the real meat of this package. Here you’ll tackle sixty increasingly difficult stages whilst completing a handful of objectives on each. While simply getting through will more often than not move you forward, should you want to fully complete it you’ll also need to beat the level in a set time, collect all the atoms spread throughout or (and perhaps most tough of all) get 100% of your mercury blob to the end with none of it dripping off the edge. Some of these can be performed in one attempt and in a rather smart move it isn’t necessary to complete all the objectives in one go preventing any frustration. ‘Bonus Mode’ features twenty open stages with the aim being to collect small vials of Mercury and finish losing nothing whatsoever. Finally ‘Challenge Mode’ is series of groups (containing anything from two to five levels) with specific objectives to be completed over the span of all the courses. For example you may need to collect seven atoms and finish in a total time of under sixty seconds. With each group having several difficulties this is definitely where you’ll find the most demanding moments in the game. Also a nice final touch is the ability to race the quickest ghosts online as well as compete in leaderboards for every single stage in each mode.
Visually Mercury Hg is nothing outstanding with an overall simplistic look that favours clear and crisp surroundings over high details. Oddly enough though you can’t help but admire the look and feel of this game with its large emphasis on science. Stages are named after elements from the periodic table while as I’m sure you’ve noticed you are actually controlling one yourself! The music isn’t anything special but with the added bonus of being able to play any tunes on your hard drive who really cares?
So far I’ve been singing Mercury Hg’s praises and while it is a really enjoyable game that isn’t to say it’s perfect. The difficulty can often be all over the place with levels shooting from easy to tough as nails in just a matter of minutes. Occasionally you’ll also find moments of major slowdown making the game unplayable. Luckily it’s just a case of restarting the level but it’s annoying nonetheless. Lastly it’s a shame that a multiplayer mode wasn’t included to add to the fun as the idea of racing against others online or split screen offered huge potential.
But that’s just nitpicking in what is essentially an excellent game at a refreshingly low price. Mercury Hg offers enough challenge and a lot of content (even before mentioning the soon to be released downloadable packs) so if you’re looking for a decent distraction then spend the 400 points. You won’t regret it.
8/10
Mercury Hg sees you manoeuvring a small blob of quicksilver around a series of platforms whilst trying to make it to the end in one piece. Much like the Super Monkey Ball series here you’ll need a steady nerve and plenty of skill as you tilt your silver blob while facing narrow ledges, magnets, ramps, conveyor belts and other challenging obstacles. However (and here is where I believe Mercury Hg has the edge over the simian filled title) you can even split and control two (or more) separate blobs of mercury at once. This can lead to some interesting ideas especially when it comes changing your mercury colour. For example while getting to a finish line may require you to become green the only colours you can change to are blue and yellow. Solving this is a matter of splitting your mercury on a sharp corner and manoeuvring them in order to become one of each. Then it’s a simple case of blending them together again. Just when you’ve mastered one mechanic you are thrown head first into another and that’s why at times Mercury Hg beats SEGA’s puzzler hands down.
The game is split into three main modes each offering a nice variety of stages and missions. The first is ‘Discovery Mode’ which can be considered the real meat of this package. Here you’ll tackle sixty increasingly difficult stages whilst completing a handful of objectives on each. While simply getting through will more often than not move you forward, should you want to fully complete it you’ll also need to beat the level in a set time, collect all the atoms spread throughout or (and perhaps most tough of all) get 100% of your mercury blob to the end with none of it dripping off the edge. Some of these can be performed in one attempt and in a rather smart move it isn’t necessary to complete all the objectives in one go preventing any frustration. ‘Bonus Mode’ features twenty open stages with the aim being to collect small vials of Mercury and finish losing nothing whatsoever. Finally ‘Challenge Mode’ is series of groups (containing anything from two to five levels) with specific objectives to be completed over the span of all the courses. For example you may need to collect seven atoms and finish in a total time of under sixty seconds. With each group having several difficulties this is definitely where you’ll find the most demanding moments in the game. Also a nice final touch is the ability to race the quickest ghosts online as well as compete in leaderboards for every single stage in each mode.
Visually Mercury Hg is nothing outstanding with an overall simplistic look that favours clear and crisp surroundings over high details. Oddly enough though you can’t help but admire the look and feel of this game with its large emphasis on science. Stages are named after elements from the periodic table while as I’m sure you’ve noticed you are actually controlling one yourself! The music isn’t anything special but with the added bonus of being able to play any tunes on your hard drive who really cares?
So far I’ve been singing Mercury Hg’s praises and while it is a really enjoyable game that isn’t to say it’s perfect. The difficulty can often be all over the place with levels shooting from easy to tough as nails in just a matter of minutes. Occasionally you’ll also find moments of major slowdown making the game unplayable. Luckily it’s just a case of restarting the level but it’s annoying nonetheless. Lastly it’s a shame that a multiplayer mode wasn’t included to add to the fun as the idea of racing against others online or split screen offered huge potential.
But that’s just nitpicking in what is essentially an excellent game at a refreshingly low price. Mercury Hg offers enough challenge and a lot of content (even before mentioning the soon to be released downloadable packs) so if you’re looking for a decent distraction then spend the 400 points. You won’t regret it.
8/10
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We’ve now reached that time of year gamers everywhere look forward to. The final four months brings with it its long list of AAA titles running right up to Christmas. Uncharted, Batman, Gears of War, Zelda, Battlefield, Sonic... I could keep going. But while I’m obviously excited by all the big budget titles due to come, I also try to give some of the smaller downloadable titles a try such as the very charming Mercury Hg and while it may not be a big name brand, it is definitely a game that deserves your attention.
Mercury Hg sees you manoeuvring a small blob of quicksilver around a series of platforms whilst trying to make it to the end in one piece. Much like the Super Monkey Ball series here you’ll need a steady nerve and plenty of skill as you tilt your silver blob while facing narrow ledges, magnets, ramps, conveyor belts and other challenging obstacles. However (and here is where I believe Mercury Hg has the edge over the simian filled title) you can even split and control two (or more) separate blobs of mercury at once. This can lead to some interesting ideas especially when it comes changing your mercury colour. For example while getting to a finish line may require you to become green the only colours you can change to are blue and yellow. Solving this is a matter of splitting your mercury on a sharp corner and manoeuvring them in order to become one of each. Then it’s a simple case of blending them together again. Just when you’ve mastered one mechanic you are thrown head first into another and that’s why at times Mercury Hg beats SEGA’s puzzler hands down.
The game is split into three main modes each offering a nice variety of stages and missions. The first is ‘Discovery Mode’ which can be considered the real meat of this package. Here you’ll tackle sixty increasingly difficult stages whilst completing a handful of objectives on each. While simply getting through will more often than not move you forward, should you want to fully complete it you’ll also need to beat the level in a set time, collect all the atoms spread throughout or (and perhaps most tough of all) get 100% of your mercury blob to the end with none of it dripping off the edge. Some of these can be performed in one attempt and in a rather smart move it isn’t necessary to complete all the objectives in one go preventing any frustration. ‘Bonus Mode’ features twenty open stages with the aim being to collect small vials of Mercury and finish losing nothing whatsoever. Finally ‘Challenge Mode’ is series of groups (containing anything from two to five levels) with specific objectives to be completed over the span of all the courses. For example you may need to collect seven atoms and finish in a total time of under sixty seconds. With each group having several difficulties this is definitely where you’ll find the most demanding moments in the game. Also a nice final touch is the ability to race the quickest ghosts online as well as compete in leaderboards for every single stage in each mode.
Visually Mercury Hg is nothing outstanding with an overall simplistic look that favours clear and crisp surroundings over high details. Oddly enough though you can’t help but admire the look and feel of this game with its large emphasis on science. Stages are named after elements from the periodic table while as I’m sure you’ve noticed you are actually controlling one yourself! The music isn’t anything special but with the added bonus of being able to play any tunes on your hard drive who really cares?
So far I’ve been singing Mercury Hg’s praises and while it is a really enjoyable game that isn’t to say it’s perfect. The difficulty can often be all over the place with levels shooting from easy to tough as nails in just a matter of minutes. Occasionally you’ll also find moments of major slowdown making the game unplayable. Luckily it’s just a case of restarting the level but it’s annoying nonetheless. Lastly it’s a shame that a multiplayer mode wasn’t included to add to the fun as the idea of racing against others online or split screen offered huge potential.
But that’s just nitpicking in what is essentially an excellent game at a refreshingly low price. Mercury Hg offers enough challenge and a lot of content (even before mentioning the soon to be released downloadable packs) so if you’re looking for a decent distraction then spend the 400 points. You won’t regret it.
8/10
Mercury Hg sees you manoeuvring a small blob of quicksilver around a series of platforms whilst trying to make it to the end in one piece. Much like the Super Monkey Ball series here you’ll need a steady nerve and plenty of skill as you tilt your silver blob while facing narrow ledges, magnets, ramps, conveyor belts and other challenging obstacles. However (and here is where I believe Mercury Hg has the edge over the simian filled title) you can even split and control two (or more) separate blobs of mercury at once. This can lead to some interesting ideas especially when it comes changing your mercury colour. For example while getting to a finish line may require you to become green the only colours you can change to are blue and yellow. Solving this is a matter of splitting your mercury on a sharp corner and manoeuvring them in order to become one of each. Then it’s a simple case of blending them together again. Just when you’ve mastered one mechanic you are thrown head first into another and that’s why at times Mercury Hg beats SEGA’s puzzler hands down.
The game is split into three main modes each offering a nice variety of stages and missions. The first is ‘Discovery Mode’ which can be considered the real meat of this package. Here you’ll tackle sixty increasingly difficult stages whilst completing a handful of objectives on each. While simply getting through will more often than not move you forward, should you want to fully complete it you’ll also need to beat the level in a set time, collect all the atoms spread throughout or (and perhaps most tough of all) get 100% of your mercury blob to the end with none of it dripping off the edge. Some of these can be performed in one attempt and in a rather smart move it isn’t necessary to complete all the objectives in one go preventing any frustration. ‘Bonus Mode’ features twenty open stages with the aim being to collect small vials of Mercury and finish losing nothing whatsoever. Finally ‘Challenge Mode’ is series of groups (containing anything from two to five levels) with specific objectives to be completed over the span of all the courses. For example you may need to collect seven atoms and finish in a total time of under sixty seconds. With each group having several difficulties this is definitely where you’ll find the most demanding moments in the game. Also a nice final touch is the ability to race the quickest ghosts online as well as compete in leaderboards for every single stage in each mode.
Visually Mercury Hg is nothing outstanding with an overall simplistic look that favours clear and crisp surroundings over high details. Oddly enough though you can’t help but admire the look and feel of this game with its large emphasis on science. Stages are named after elements from the periodic table while as I’m sure you’ve noticed you are actually controlling one yourself! The music isn’t anything special but with the added bonus of being able to play any tunes on your hard drive who really cares?
So far I’ve been singing Mercury Hg’s praises and while it is a really enjoyable game that isn’t to say it’s perfect. The difficulty can often be all over the place with levels shooting from easy to tough as nails in just a matter of minutes. Occasionally you’ll also find moments of major slowdown making the game unplayable. Luckily it’s just a case of restarting the level but it’s annoying nonetheless. Lastly it’s a shame that a multiplayer mode wasn’t included to add to the fun as the idea of racing against others online or split screen offered huge potential.
But that’s just nitpicking in what is essentially an excellent game at a refreshingly low price. Mercury Hg offers enough challenge and a lot of content (even before mentioning the soon to be released downloadable packs) so if you’re looking for a decent distraction then spend the 400 points. You won’t regret it.
8/10