Gamers had mixed feelings about the first Mercury, myself included. While it was a great puzzle game, there were many distracting annoyances in the gameplay and overall design. Well, Mercury Meltdown for the PSP is one of those sequels that does everything a sequel should.

Mercury Meltdown still plays exactly like the original. The goals, controls, and overall ideas are untouched, which is great. The basic idea is to guide your blob of mercury to the checkered flag. As you progress, the path to the checkered flag becomes more perilous, requiring the player to avoid obstacles or utilize devices to aid in achieving their goal.

The single-player mode in Mercury Meltdown has a much nicer flow this time around. Levels are represented by empty test tubes, and these test tubes are grouped by zones, or “Labs.” An empty test tube is a level yet to be completed.

In the previous Mercury, players had to complete each level within a certain time limit. If time ran out, the level was failed. This time around the timer is still in place, but it is not required to finish before it is up. Instead, players are rewarded more points for finishing within the time frame.

Each level also had to be completed before moving on to the next. In Mercury Meltdown, players can now choose any stage they wish in each Lab. If one stage is particularly difficult, it can be skipped for the time being. Labs are unlocked by the amount of mercury you have accumulated from all your completed stages. While it isn’t necessary to complete each level with 100% mercury, the amount of mercury you finish with is important in unlocking the next Lab.

Each level’s completion is gauged by three elements: percentage of mercury, time, and bonus items collected. It is possible to lose some mercury while maneuvering to the goal in each level, so once you’ve completed a level the amount of mercury you have left is calculated. The test tube that represents that level is then filled with that amount of mercury. If you finished without losing any mercury, the test tube is filled and corked.

Finishing a level within the time limit will earn you a sticker on the test tube, as will collecting all the bonus items in that level. If you complete all three of these tasks, your test tube is then corked with a golden cork. This is really nice for all those perfectionists out there, because tracking the level of completion for each stage is now quick and easy.

Mercury Meltdown isn’t just more of the same, though. There are plenty of new gadgets and mercury-altering devices this time around. There are now things that cool off or heat up your blob, making it thicker or thinner, respectively. You can even turn your blob into a solid ball to ride pinball-style rails.

Party Games is a new mode that really expands on Mercury Meltdown’s gameplay and replay factor. As you play the main game and fulfill certain requirements, Party Games will be unlocked. These are fun “pick-up” games that don’t last very long, but provide a great breather from the sometimes stressful puzzles. A couple examples of these party games are Race, where you race your blob on a track for top times, and Rodeo, where the object is to keep your blob on a floating piece of land as long as possible as a fan tries to blow you off.

Load times are extremely fast, and even non-existent at times. This is very nice, since long load times were an issue with the first. Now restarting levels takes no time at all, so attempting to perfect levels is now painless (the actual perfecting is another story).

A few other notable features are Game Sharing, downloadable levels, and replays. Now a friend without Mercury Meltdown can join in the fun using Game Share. You can also save the replays of your most proud victories to share and compare with friends.

Mercury Meltdown corrected the problems with the first, and left the rest untouched. All the unlockables and extra features really add to the replay value, and the ease of tracking your progress to 100% completion makes it seem a lot more feasible than in the first. Plus, it’s fun! If you like puzzle games or a nice mental challenge there’s a slim chance you’ll be disappointed with Mercury Meltdown.  

Gameplay: 9.0
With the addition of new gameplay elements, and the main idea left untouched, Mercury Meltdown feels nice and fresh. Now it’s even more fun to play with all the new challenges and game modes.

Graphics: 8.0 
The graphics got a bit of an upgrade. The mercury is now cel-shaded, causing it to stand out against the background. The environments surrounding each stage are a lot more detailed then before as well.

Sound: 7.7
The sound effects pretty much stayed the same, which is a good thing, but the soundtrack took a small step back. It’s still decent, and has a nice variety, but certain songs can start to get a little too catchy.

Difficulty: Medium
Once again, Mercury Meltdown starts nice and slow to get gamers into the groove. Not to worry, levels get increasingly complicated and difficult as you progress. The new free-look option and camera controls makes navigation a lot more convenient, though.  

Concept: 8.5 
Ignition did an excellent job of listening to the complaints and praises of Mercury fans to deliver a great sequel. Eliminating the distracting problems of the first title they were able to make the original gameplay idea expand into a much more enjoyable experience.

Multiplayer: N/A
Unfortunately I wasn’t able to track down another PSP owner to try out Game Sharing or multiplayer at the time of this review.

Overall: 8.6
Mercury Meltdown is not only a great sequel, but a solid puzzle game. The gameplay is easy to understand, and the difficulty slowly builds so you never feel like you can’t handle what’s ahead. Gamers looking to expand their PSP library or their mind should check this title out.