Mercury Meltdown Revolution is the sequel to the massively acclaimed Mercury, which was released back in 2005 for the PSP. Although the planned motion/tilt sensor add-on for the PSP was never released, the game was still a hit - enough to justify a sequel, Mercury Meltdown and its PS2 counterpart subtitled Remix. Now Mercury has found its way onto the Wii, which could very well be a perfect fit for the game, thanks to the inclusion of the tilt sensor in the Wiimote.

The controls for some Wii games end up being needlessly complex and almost ruin the gameplay experience as a result (see SSX Blur) but in Meltdown the controls are so simple that literally anyone can pick up and play with no problems whatsoever. All you have to do is hold the Wiimote. That's it! Just in case you're not familiar with the series, Mercury Meltdown is all about guiding a fluid blob of mercury around a series of increasingly fiendish 3D levels riddled with obstacles, traps, devices and gadgets. However, as with Super Monkey Ball, you steer your blob by tilting the whole level, rather than having direct control over where it flows. The Wiimote in your hand represents the level on the screen, so if you want to make your blob slide forwards then you simply tilt the Wiimote and the level duplicates your motions. The controls are sensitive enough to allow the tiniest of adjustments but not too sensitive to the point where a tiny twitch sends your blob hurtling off the level.

As it so rightly states on the back of the box, Mercury Meltdown Revolution does indeed have excellent "State of the Art Blob Physics", with your little blob of mercury reacting exactly as you would expect. The blob physics are affected by the size of the blob, its temperature and other external factors like the gravity modifiers you sometimes find in the levels. All this attention to detail in terms of the physics and controls make Mercury Meltdown Revolution immediately intuitive to anyone who picks it up. For those who would rather use the classic controller, there is the option to do so, tilting the level using the analogue stick, but when the Wiimote controls are this precise and intuitive there's absolutely no reason to do so.

There are over 150 levels to puzzle through, ranging from the effortless and immediately obvious early levels to the infuriatingly perplexing ones that will have you restarting many times over. On the way to unlocking all the levels and bonus mini-games you will have to navigate complex mazes, traverse narrow platforms, change gravity, teleport, change colour, split your blob into multiple blobs, mix the colours of two blobs to create different ones and much, much more. There is a vast number of objects in the game that can affect your blob and to explain them all would take a very long time indeed, so instead I'll focus on one of the core concepts - the paintshops.

Sliding your blob through a paintshop changes its colour. There are various reasons you may have to change colours, such as moving through coloured force fields and activating coloured switches. One of the more interesting aspects is the way you have to mix colours to make new ones. For example say there is a purple switch that you need to trip to get to the finish line and there are two paintshops, a red and a blue. To create a purple blob you need to find something sharp to slide your blob into, causing it to split in two, then you must manoeuvre the two blobs into the respective paintshops. Once you have a red and a blue blob, simply join them back together to get the purple blob and trip that purple switch. A puzzle involving splitting your blob into two is just one example, as there are puzzles in the game where you'll need to split into many more individual blobs to accomplish your objective. As I've said this is but one of the many different objects that will affect you and your blob; most of the time, multiple objects and puzzles are combined together to make even harder levels.

A major annoyance is playing a game where the view is restricted because of bad camera design or control, but thankfully the times you find your view obstructed because of the level are so rare that it's not ever an issue, and even when your view is blocked it's a simple matter just to hit the d-pad on the Wiimote and rotate the view to your liking.

Unlockable mini-games become available to those who manage to complete levels with 100% of their blob intact, or who beat the timer. One of the nice features of Mercury Meltdown is that should the timer hit zero you can still continue, but with a penalty on the points you score. This means you're not constantly under pressure to rush recklessly through difficult levels; you can take your time and finish all the levels at your own pace. The only things that can actually cause you to lose are plunging over the edge of a level or having your mercury zapped away from traps. And should a level prove too difficult to complete, you can simply skip that one as levels are unlocked in groups and only a certain percentage of each group has to be completed before the next group is unlocked. Genius!

One of the main differences between Revolution and the original Mercury is that the graphics have taken on a cel-shaded style, with more quirky edges and patterns. That's not to say that the game doesn't look good though; the levels are rich and colourful, and the many different aspects of the game from the blob to the various traps are all animated exquisitely. Put simply, Mercury Meltdown Revolution may not be the most graphically demanding game for the Wii, but it still looks gorgeous. The music meanwhile ranges drastically from electro to rock to something that sounds almost like rave. Nonetheless, the soundtrack is good and the fact that there are so many different styles of music means that you're not stuck listening to the same generic background music that many puzzle games have throughout the majority of their levels. The only gripe I have about the music is the celebration music when you get the top score on a particular level - to say that it is rather irritating would be an understatement.

Mercury Meltdown Revolution is definitely a title that every Wii owner should consider picking up. The ability for Meltdown to be played by all ages and by the casual gamer through to the most hardcore make it a game that almost everyone can enjoy. With a time limit to meet for those who want to get 100% completion or that you can simply ignore and take your time puzzling away at leisure, the game is both accessible and challenging for any skill level. If you even slightly puzzle games then this game is for you - don't be fooled by its simple look and cartoon-style graphics, because beneath its sleek exterior beats the heart of a very addictive and absorbing puzzler that will have you glued to the screen for hours at a time.

Reviewed by Scott McCabe for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).