Archer Maclean's Mercury

Mercury is a fresh innovation in puzzle games. Providing an addictive challenge across its 72 levels, its simple gaming mechanic merely requires players to ‘tilt’ each level in order to manoeuvre the blobs of mercury, with various switches, platforms, obstacles and hazards standing between level goals.

Powering Mercury is a ridiculously sophisticated engine which calculates every gloopy part of the liquid metal as it bends and melds around everything in its path. As the digitised mercury smoothly ebbs and flows under such simple controls, players experience the purest form of gaming imaginable.

Despite requiring no complicated controls, the game itself is grinningly taxing. Puzzle elements vary from needing to split the mercury into several coloured component parts – each of which will be affected by the degree of tilt – in order to open gates, activate switches, etc. The maze-like environments require lateral thinking in order to navigate the mercury from start to finish – with the sprawling 3D levels often requiring devilish-yet-hit-yourself-when-you-work-it-out solutions.