	Archer Maclean's Mercury
	Developer: Awesome Games Publisher: Atari Release Date: Out Now Players: 1, 1-2 wi-fi	Words By:
Puzzle games and handhelds go hand-in-hand, the most famous of all of course being the Nintendo Gameboy and Tetris, which made the handheld an instant global success. Of course Sony PSP has its fair share of puzzles games, including the incredible Lumines, but Mercury is a little different from the others out there. It’s like a mix between Super Monkey Ball and Marble Madness. You have to move a puddle of mercury from one point in a level to the goal. Various hazards can halt your progress, such as holes, and enemies, and there of course is a time limit to play against too. It’s not always just a case of getting to one point either. Sometimes you’ll have to change the colour of your mercury to get through doors or activate pressure pads, and you’ll even have to split the mercury into several pieces and take them to different colour changers to activate a special door, which is a mixture of the two colour changers (red and yellow make orange etc)… You control the mercury by moving the analog stick around. There is a good range of control, and you can gently move the mercury, or push the stick all the way and it will slip away very quickly. The games levels are 2D maps, but with 3D walls, ramps etc, so getting a good view of things is vital. Fortunately you have full control over the camera, and can zoom it, spin it around, tilt it and pretty much move it to any angle you desire to get a decent angle on things. It can be quickly fiddly to get it right, and of course mid-game you might need to adjust the camera which can be a bit of a pain at times, but after a bit of practice you’ll be able to swing it around into the desired position very quickly. All four face buttons and the two shoulder buttons are used for moving the camera around. The game starts off with a tutorial, showing off the various level types and requirements throughout the game, and then you go through different themed worlds, which is where the games main levels are held. There are 72 levels in all, and they can be played in both single player and multiplayer with two people (currently untested). Mercury is a very pretty game, with some lovely looking levels and effects. The mercury itself is very slippery, and looks very convincing as it reflects, animates, splits and rejoins itself again. Think about the T-1000 in Terminator 2 and you’ll get a good idea about its smoothness. The main gripe I have with the game is the loading times. The main game boot is huge, and levels take a good ten seconds to load too. It’s not really what you want or expect from a handheld game, but that is the drawback with using a disc format for a console. Apart from that, and getting used to the camera system, Mercury is a very solid, enjoyable and challenging puzzle game, and should definitely be on your “to buy” list for PSP.

Best Bits
- Nice twist on the marble madness-style puzzle game
- Lots of interesting levels
- Very good controls

Worst Bits
- The load..
- ...times
- Camera takes some getting used to


by: DC