You may have seen or played Mercury when it sloshed onto the PSP or Wii, but now it’s oozing into HD with Mercury Hg on Xbox Live and PSN. This action puzzler plays a lot like other ‘tilt the ball around a maze’ games like Marble Madness, Super Monkey Ball, or Xbox LIVE’s classic Marble Blast Ultra. (360 version reviewed here)

Gameplay remains the same. Tilt a maze around with the control stick to guide a blob of mercury goo to the end goal. Don’t let it fall off the surface, because if all of the glop spills out, it’s Game Over. Sometimes you’ll have to run over switches or paint your blob a certain color to bypass an obstacle to reach the finish line. You can also split your mercury into two, have both blobs get colored, and then meld them back together to mix the hues into a new color! That part gets tricky!

Scattered about the mazes are atoms, and if you collect enough, you’ll unlock extra stages, challenges, and bonus modes. You can also earn bonus award atoms if you complete a level with 100 percent of your mercury blob intact, if you collect all the atoms in the level, or if you finish the maze in a given time.

Even though the graphics are simple, they look pretty sharp in HD with lots of neat, trippy effects. Some of the driving music is pretty catchy, too, but if you don’t like it, you can also make your own playlist with your favorite uploaded songs. Play control is solid with the analog stick, and best of all, at only 400 points (5 bucks) you get a lot of levels for your money.

Kid Factor:

Nothing objectionable here. Even though the instructions are text only, reading skill isn’t necessary because everything is pretty easy to figure out on your own. Younger gamers may get frustrated at the later, more difficult levels, though. But with endless tries, it’s not too bad. It’s a stretch, but the game could be considered slightly educational since each level is represented by an element on the Periodic Table. Good for if your kids are studying Chemistry in school. Mercury Hg is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews