Mercury Meltdown (Wii)

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Written by  :  Steve Thompson (126) Written on  :  Mar 05, 2008 Platform  :  Wii Rating  :

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Summary

Severely Underrated Retro Fun Comes To The Wii

The Good

No doubt, the Marble Madness comparisons have ultimately occurred before. This game could also be compared to Super Monkey Ball in some aspects. The great thing about this title is the challenge. What separates this from other "ball games" is that your ball can actually break apart adding a new layer of difficulty to the already intense maze environments you'll encounter.

The sheer challenge of completing this game - I mean really completing everything - will seem staggering. This is especially true for casual gamers who may get a lot of mileage out of the game due to the difficulty. There are a ton of levels each containing their own unique challenges.

One of the many blessings about this game is also the controls. They sure do feel tight when you consider how many Wii games had motion control that felt iffy. No one is to blame in this game if you die except you - the controls feel great.

The Bad

This is one scenario where I'm not a fan of the cel-shaded graphics. I normally stand behind and love the style, but just something about the way they are done in this game isn't that great. Don't get me wrong - the mercury itself looks quite cool, but the levels and the mercury just don't mesh graphically for me.

Another aspect that I wasn't pleased with was the music. It's quite repetitive and, to maximize the experience, you'll probably end up turning it off from the options menu. For an arcade game, the music is what you'd expect, but some nice ambient music would've really complimented the overall vibe of the gameplay and not distracted from the experience.

The Bottom Line

A retro gem in a sea of re-hashes and knock-offs. This game can probably be found relatively cheap since, as far as I know, it bombed upon release. Fans of Super Monkey Ball, Marble Madness, and the like will absolutely love playing this game. There are plenty of levels and things are challenging from the first set (called "labs" in the game). Attempting to 100% everything will keep players busy for countless hours too. It's truly a shame that this game will no doubt go under the radar when it comes to the fond Wii back-catalog most remember years from now. I would, however, strongly recommend this game to any retro gamer looking for a challenge as they will be stumbling upon one of the great unknown Wii games!