I guess that everyone must have, at some time or other, come into possession of one of those games where you have to steer a ball bearing through a maze, by tilting the game, whilst at the same time avoiding plunging you ball down a hole and out of the game. Well, now you can play a similar game on your PS3.

Mercury Hg, from UTV Ignition Games is an affordable PSN title. The game is based around the periodic table of elements. That alone should create the cold shivers in older gamers, with their collective memories of much of their youth wasted trying to remember this stuff in the first place.

You control a mercury blob, through sixty levels; the basic idea of the game is to tilt the platform so as to make the mercury flow in a particular direction preferably towards the end zone. To make it tricky to get to your goal, a number of differing obstacles are placed in your way - although, in truth, none of these do not yield to some good old fashioned common sense, so there is no puzzle which you cannot solve.

To spice up, what would otherwise be a fairly simple idea, UTV have included a number of in-game features, including new tile types, like doors and moving platforms. The way that the mercury interacts with its surface can also be altered and objects like the Smartfloor only appear as you role towards them. All of this to a beat pounding track, or if you prefer you can get the game to play some of your own music.

There is a leader board, for you to challenge yourself and see where you stand with the other players.

It’s not an original game, but there are enough new elements here to stop it from being boring. The presentation and execution of the game is pretty slick and it’s an easy game to pick up for ten minutes, or an hour, at a time.

7

Charles Packer