November 19, 2007 - The life of a ball of mercury is not an easy one, even more so for one that’s subjected to the tests in the Mercury Meltdown series of games. Every lab is a torture scene of colors, electricity, and extreme temperatures. But this little blob doesn’t let up. The latest title in the series, Revolution, brings the experience to the Wii, adding a whole new method of control that completely changes the game and adds a little more to it too.

The gameplay itself is similar to, if not exactly like, the game’s previous two titles on the PSP and PS2. You’re presented with a series of laboratories, each which consist of a number of levels. The goal of each of these is simple: put your blob on the finish line. This sounds easier than it is, because along the way are any number of tricks, traps, and foes that you must circumvent if you are to reach your goal, and that’s not counting the possibility of just falling right off the edge of the level into oblivion. There are literally dozens of obstacles for you to avoid or use: things to change your blob’s temperature (and therefore viscosity), pumps that will push it around, devices meant to tear it apart, and the list continues.

The most important of them all, however, are the contraptions that change the color of your blob, an attribute that is crucial to solving many of the game’s puzzles. The color determines if many things can be operated such as gates, switches, and even the finish line itself. Many of the puzzles also revolve around splitting your blob into parts, coloring each, and blending them back to form a new color to pass a particular section or unlock a particular gate.

Each level has, essentially, three accomplishments: beat it with your entire blob in one piece, beat it before a timer runs down, and collect all the bonuses in the level. Going back to previous levels has a point, for as you complete these objectives, you gain various unlockables. These range from simply giving your blob a new skin to gaining access to some simple, diversionary multiplayer mini-games. They don’t exactly have a lot of depth to them, but they’re fun to play around in, if just for a few minutes between other levels in the main sequence.

Normally, a third iteration of a game that hasn’t really changed many of its gameplay mechanics would be somewhat frowned upon, but Revolution is in a unique place because the new control style on the Wii makes the game much more different. Essentially, to move the blob you must tilt the board, and to do this, all you must do is tilt the Wii Remote. The level of control is remarkable, and tilting the remote is simple and intuitive. The only thing that presented any real problems was the camera, which would sometimes not know what to do in certain situations, or which part of a split-up blob to track.

Likely the biggest problem with this title is the rehashing of previously seen content. People who have played the PS2 and PSP versions are going to recognize a lot of the same levels from previous games, and there doesn’t appear to be any additions to the lineup of interactive elements to a level. However, anyone who is new to the series will likely enjoy this title far more than they would the rest.

It’s quite simple to say that if you’ve yet to play a Mercury Meltdown game, Revolution is by far the one to purchase. The controls are intuitive and feel right, the graphics are colourful and stylized, and the gameplay is addictive. People who have played previous titles can also have some fun with this, but seeing a lot of the same content again is going to be a little tiresome. Still, the game is cheaply priced, and considering the amount of gameplay you can squeeze out of it, the game might just be right for anyone after all.