PSP: Archer Macleans Mercury, Complete
Archer Maclean is a UK games legend, the man behind such titles as Dropzone and International Karate Plus, as well Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker and Archer Maclean's Pool. The quite amazing thing about the man is that he coded all these games all by himself! Now head of Awesome Studios, he is behind the `other' highly enjoyable puzzle game making a name for itself in the still small world of PSP software: Archer Maclean's Mercury. Mercury was already in development when the PSP was announced, and it just so happens that the new Sony console was the perfect venue for this quirky game, which has already been compared to Marble Madness and Super Monkey Ball. In reality it is quite different to both, and involves moving the mercury blob of the title round a selection of brain-taxing mazes. The game introduces a new concept to the ball-in-maze ideal. Because, you're not moving a ball around at all, but a blob of mercury that can split into upto sixteen smaller blobs. Ideally, you'll want to get the whole blob through the maze to the exit. But in some cases less will do. Extensive testing has ironed out any nasty bug, with the result being a beautiful, relaxing environment where you become totally responsible for your success or failure. In this respect the game is very much like Super Monkeyball - there is a soothing purity to it. Archer Maclean is no stranger to puzzle games - his Jimmy White game contained puzzle levels which were highly acclaimed at the time. Mercury stands out in stark contrast to the overproduced, underdeveloped games that blight the industry these days, just as Archer Maclean's small team does compared to the enormous development teams that are flogged by industry bigwigs. A sound choice for the discerning PSP owner.
