Tilt away...
The developer tells us that Mercury Meltdown Revolution features 'state of the art' blob physics. Unfortunately my knowledge of blobs in videogames is extremely limited and I didn’t pay much attention during Science lessons at school so I’ve nothing to compare this blob’s movements to; but I'm not going to argue. The blob reacts naturally to any obstacles in its path; squeezing through narrow doorways, breaking up into smaller blobs if you hit a sharp corner and reacting to the various states (fast, slow and solid) that it encounters. At the beginning of each course you begin with a full, silver coloured blob of mercury and by adopting a logical approach you need to manoeuvre as much of the blob as possible to the finish line. Each level has a set time limit and if you complete the maze before the timer reaches zero you receive bonus points. Along the way you can pick up bonuses, which are normally tucked away in a hard-to-reach area, forcing you to rely on patience and your steady hand in order to reach them; collect these extras and you'll unlock a number of party games that can be played with friends.
The slightest touch of the blob on any object can result in it splitting into smaller blobs and because you're tilting the maze rather than controlling the actual blobs themselves you’ll need to be even more careful with the controls to ensure parts of the substance don't fall off the edge. The mercury gauge shows the percentage of mercury left on the level and if you manage to lose too much on the journey then you’ll fail the challenge; the more of the blob you can get to the finishing line, the more points you'll receive.
The mercury blob reacts, exactly as you’d imagine, to the environment and is used in many interesting ways, including activating pressure pads which open doors, jumping through tele-porters or moving and guiding other objects in the maze. There are also plenty of hazards that are designed to slow down your progress or make the journey trickier, such as sticky conveyor belts to slow the blob down, slippy conveyor belts to speed it up in an attempt to throw you off the edge, and conveyor belts that move in different directions. There's a wealth of well thought out ideas which ensures that each journey through the maze is a different experience, where you need to think carefully which route to take and forge out a plan to overcome the obstacles before jumping straight in.
