Customer Reviews

Mercury

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Talk about addictive! Mercury may seem really simple at first - but the more you play it, the more you really get hooked on its gorgeous look and feel.

OK, first, remember that old game Labyrinth with the marble? Or for younger people, remember Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball? In these games, you rotate the floor and gravity then pulls a ball here and there. Your aim is to roll the ball to a goal.

Mercury makes this SO much more fun. Instead of a solid marble, you now have a blob of mercury. In current uber-safety days, few kids know the joy of playing with mercury. But back when we cared little about heavy metal poisoning, many of us would break open thermometers and play with the silvery metal. It bobbles along coherently - and if you break it into smaller bits, they re-form quite nicely. It's a really cool liquid metal.

So to get to play with it virtually gives you all of that fun without the brain damaging effects. You can get it to break into smaller globules, and have each globule follow a different path. You can color your globules, turning the silver into glowing blue, red, green, and other colors. Even more amazingly, you can recombine the colors to form new colors! If you need a purple globule for a given task, you might first split your big silver glob into two smaller blobs. You'd turn one blue and one red. Recombine them together, and you get purple!

The logic puzzles combined with careful manipulation over thin paths and around holes really tests all of your skills. There are no blazing guns and bloody limbs here - just you, your little 'world' and your shiny blob of mercury. It is so addictive that I easily run out of battery power on the PSP while I focus on playing with the silvery circle.

As in all games, things start out easy and then keep progressing to test your skills. You can always go back and re-play older levels to try to get 100% on each as quickly as possible. The more you perfect your mercury skills, the easier it is to get through the more difficult tasks.

Highly recommended!

Even though this is considered a puzzle game, this game is more about dexterity than puzzle solving. To get the blob of mercury to split in half, go through all kinds of contraptions, be recombined, and do all the other things you are asked to do, is a rather entertaining challenge. Sometimes you will have to put some thought into working out a good strategy, but most of the time it is just about not losing your sphere.

This is one of those games that looks relatively simple at first (even graphically, although technically, some of the things they do with graphics are pretty amazing), but it can keep you entertained (and sometimes frustrated) for hours...

Metal Gear Acid was the first PSP game i bought, and thoroughly enjoyed it. So when it came time to picking up a second game for the Psp, this one was a no brainer. It's a lot like Marble Madness, but with the really fun dynamic of playing it safe with the liquid metal Mercury (which is really bad for your health in real life). You don't wanna spill it and the thrill of getting through the levels and playing it over and over again is a rush.
It actually reminds me of the same thrill i get playing through the VR missions on Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance for PS2, you play each level over and over again till you're perfect at it, it becomes an obsession... people complain that the game is too short or gets hard too fast... well as far as it being hard.. practice makes perfect, the controls are very easy and tight, so the negative reviews to the gameplay being hard are really just a matter of taste. As far as the game being too short, my recommendatin is speeding through it at first, then going back through it 10 fold till you've conquered it, then play against a friend!

All in all this game is a great find for a great system. Its not a waste of money, its a definate Keeper!

I haven't been able to put this game down since I bought it (well, I had to put it down because I was playing it so long that my left hand started cramping up). The grapics are incredible and the movement is amazing. I love puzzle games and this one is challenging and addictive. If you're not a person who has the patience and persistance for solving puzzles, this game isn't for you but if you are a person who loves puzzles, this game is a "must have" for your collection.

As soon as I saw screen shots of this, I knew I had to get it. I was a big Marble Madness fan back in the day, and this is the closest thing I've seen since. While the control is certanily different, concept is somewhat similar. Gameplay is great, graphics are great, and it is very addicting! I was a little discouraged at first when the levels started getting very difficult....but once you take the time to get into them, it's a great feeling to be able to conquer each world! Highly recommended!!!

So I purchased Wipe Out Pure and got blown away by an amazing racing game on the PSP. Than I purchased Metal Gear Acid and was blown away by the depth of the game play and story line. With both games conquered I needed another PSP game fix and fast! There were quite a few to choose from but the beautiful graphics and unique game play brought me to the world of Mercury.This game is like a mixture between super monkey ball and marble madness. It provides really challening but not impossible puzzles. Even when you have trouble passing a level you are determined to finish. The more you play the better you get. The lush landscapes and tight control make this a great puzzle to get your hands on and will compliment your PSP game collection quite well. Another fantastic PSP game experience making this system a very worth while purchase. I hightly recommend it.

I'm finding this game interesting...Kind of reminds me of Marble Madness from the 80's. Graphics are great and the control is very tight. Some of the levels are quite challenging and have taken several attempts to get thru. If you are into fast paced action I doubt you will like this game. If you like solving puzzles I'd give it a try.

Lately, we've been reading and hearing about the need for more "casual games" for the Sony PSP. A casual game can be played during those random free moments that we might get from time to time during our busy day, like waiting at your doctor's office. Sadly, there is a shortage of such games for the PSP. The majority of PSP games tend to have very steep learning curves, require a lot of involvement, and are not suitable for starting or stopping at any given moment. Can you imagine the doctor's nurse calling your name, while you're in the middle of playing Metal Gear Solid! "Hey wait a minute please, I'm in the middle of a game here". Well, you get the idea, I think. There is a time and a place for casual games.

On the other hand, you want the game to be captivating and interesting. So you have to find a balance between having the game be easy to learn, but at the same time, give you enough gameplay to make it interesting. I have spent many months looking and waiting for such games for the PSP. And this just might be the perfect one.

Archer McLean's Mercury has a very simple concept: use gravity to move a ball of mercury through increasingly difficult obstacles in order to activate a switch at the end. Basically, using the analog stick on the PSP, you tilt the platform to make the mercury move. Some levels might also require you to split the ball, color the ball, or combine the balls. At the start of each level, you will be given the conditions for success. Those conditions will be different for each level. You have to complete several of these obstacles for each level. What makes this game ideal for casual gaming is that there is a time limit to complete each obstacle. These time limits are short and you are allowed to save at the end of each obstacle, whether you are successful or not. At the early stages, you might have sixty seconds to take your mercury to the end. Basically, you can start and stop just about anywhere in the game without losing your progress. And the game is interesting and captivating enough that you would rather play instead of surfing the internet during your lunch break.

Because Mercury is in 3D, success in the game will require the use of your problem-solving skills and your imagination. You will not see all of the obstacles simultaneously. So you will have to use your memory and your abstract thinking skills to guide the ball through partly-concealed hurdles.

I looked at the newer version of the game, Mercury Meltdown, prior to buying this one. I bought this one because I have seen very little information on the new game. However, this version has always had good reviews since ever since it came out. After playing the game, I can see why.

I am old enough to have played with the little blue-bottomed, clear-topped mercury mazes as a boy - before they were banned because of the mercury poisoning. I would have bought this game for the nostalgia benefit alone. This, however, is like the old mercury maze on acid and is the near perfect style of game for a graphically-rich hand-held.

The physics of the mercury movement are dead-on and the maze designs take full advantage of the unique properties of this unusual metal.

This game has been compared to Marble Madness but marbles can't be partially-spilled, split, or combined. These characteristics add greatly to the many ways to lose a round and thereby increase the challenge and addictiveness.

Wisely, the designers require use of the analog nub for play. Most of the twists and turns are at right angles so the D-pad would make the game too easy. However, I agree with some reviewers that the difficulty level advances too quickly. I have not yet made it past the last maze of the second world and if the difficulty continues to elevate I may never see all of this game.

I got this for cheap but based from online recommedations and I don't particularly like it. Steep learning curve and dated graphics/game play. Kind of a neat idea that may be cleaned up in the newer edition but after trying this I'm not that interested.