mercury meltdown impressions.

Superb game let down strangely by....

i)No intelligent camera positioning whatsoever beyond zooming in and
out. Since there is pretty much only one path through each level this
couldn't have been that hard. Some of the later stages of the game are
as much to do with altering the camera position camera as they are with
contolling the blob which is annoying. The camera will also follow
whatever the biggest blob is (once the mercury has split) when it falls
off the edge. Leaving you disorientated when the camera snaps back
abruptly - and usually leading in death.

ii)The shadow on the blob isn't dark enough, making it very difficult to
judge jumps and landings. I haven't found practice on older courses
helps when facing any new 'jumping challenges' only repeated play of the
course that is causing the problem. This can take a long time.

All these niggles relate to actually seeing the position of the blob in
the game area. Why transparent blocks or a more linear type of jumping
mechanism weren't used I don't know but it is the only time the game
feels unfair. It pisses me of that this being the best version of a game
long in development that they couldn't come up with anything better.

Apart from that though it probably has one of the best and most balanced
control schemes I've ever used. The whole game is polished, addictive
and great if you like this sort of thing.
It reminds me of some of the best c64 puzzle arcade games. Bounder,
Thing on a spring - stuff like that. Really tough but fun. Good music too.