Project Mercury | a Review
originally published on 23/09/2022;
Hello everyone, I am the exterminator, G.E.M.Simov, a super soldier who gets sent on missions that no one else is fit for, come to tell you about Project Mercury.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it.
Gameplay
Project Mercury is a 2D sidescroller… With a gun. The arrow keys will move you (the Player) around - mainly Left and Right - Z will make you jump, C will be your shooter - you shoot with C - and X is the X factor. It’s something most intriguing, something I’ve not seen in many games.
With X you stop yourself from moving and take aim. You repurpose the arrow keys to be your means of aiming. By doing so, you can shoot in all eight directions - up, down, left, right, up-left, down-left, down-right and up-right. Or you could say North, South, West, East, but who does that?
Either way, being able to do that turns out to be something really cool - conceptually, and also quite neat in practice. Standing on a platform overlooking an enemy you’ll land upon if you jump off the platform? X, take aim, and fire! Clean up the road!
It’s quite cool, whilst also not really messing with the normal means of taking aim in that kind of game - that being walking and shooting in that direction.
There’s also grabbing onto walls and climbing up said walls. That was a very interesting addition - as long as you jump at a wall, you grab onto it and can climb up and down. You can even shoot!
Now, the things you shoot are enemies. There’s a bunch of them - flying fleshy saucers that tend to be stationary but sometimes aren't, there are ones that fly and go in circles, then there are ones that run at you from right to left and then disappear beyond the screen, never to be seen again… And more.
There’s also a hover-bike riding section - a bunch of ‘em - and they’re pretty neat. The hover-bike controls as one would expect it to - can go forwards and backwards, can also jump. While riding it, the Player gets to shoot, and the X key works as it does in ‘walking’ mode.
There are bosses to be fought, too, though they aren’t as fun as I would have wanted them to be.
You’ve got health and you’ve got lives. Most enemies take away 1 plip of health, and you’ve got 10 of those, but some (bosses) take away 2. When you kill an enemy, it might drop a little star-thing, which star thing restores 2 plips of health. Lives - you lose those when you run out of all your health plips OR when you fall from a cliff, but there does not seem to be a big effect on anything - if you lose your lives, that is.
Dying does put you back at the start of the level, old-school style. In fact, this game feels like an homage to old Metroid games. It is almost as Metroidvania as it’s gonna get, excluding the backtracking. Maybe it’s Megaman-esque, then? Or the best way to describe it would be as a Run-and-Gun?
There are extra weapons to be had, by the way. Not extra weapons, but extra weapon modules (which are kinda like new weapons, let’s agree). There’s platforming, there are traps, and everything is very well done. Absolutely.
I can’t find anything to point at and say: this is not good. Gameplay-wise, this game is SOLID. And that’s good. Maybe the only issue is that most bosses seem very ill-prepared to handle a dude who just sticks to the leftmost side of the screen and shoots them without moving. Other than that, though, this is funky.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, this game is somewhat hard. That is to be expected, but again, one ought to let others know. Only 20% of players have gotten the achievement to beat the first boss, so… Keep that in mind.
So, with that being said, 3/3
Presentation
Having faced the strengths of this game, let’s go ahead and observe its… Weaknesses. The presentation is a mixed bag. On the one hand, it does not look bad at all and is quite evocative of Tron, reminiscent of Neon and all that good stuff. It has that look of the old-school games, barely any visuals but still something resembling something else.
Enemies are various and interesting visually, locations are predominantly one color but get to show off their quirks, if we may so call them. There’s a measure of specificity and uniqueness to every level.
Animations are a bit wooden, but then again there’s no need for overly elaborate animations in a game like this, especially if it is going for the look Project Mercury has gone for.
Sounds are okay, almost exactly as one would expect, but… The music is quite grating, heavily repetitive and very inspired, but ultimately lacking. 2/3
Story
The story is tremendously simple. A strange bunch of creatures shows up. Goons were sent to check them out. Goons go MIA. YOU (the Player Character) get sent to investigate and conclude how to deal with the creatures.
Guns blazing, time to murder while looking for the MIA goons. Find each one, each one dead… But the last one is still missing. Conclusion - must eradicate all the creatures, as the creatures are dangerous, and must find the last goon. Do battle, lots of battle.
You sneak into their hive and find missing goon… Uh-oh, possessed! Fight ‘em off! There’s also some hive-mind queen heart whatever creature spawner, kill it! Something, however, isn’t right.
That’s as fantastic as it’s gonna get. It’s not very deep, it’s not very developed, it’s got just enough to be interesting. I don’t mind it being so, but there really isn’t much. I will, however, admit that the concepts ‘developed’ here are quite intriguing. 2/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? Unfortunately, NO. I suppose I’m not into that kind of game if it’s lacking the subtleties or complexities of… Of a Metroidvania. 0/1
Conclusion
7/10. A surprisingly decent game. I was almost certain it was going to be a bit of a stinker, but it turned out to be a splendid little experience. I would not go as far as to recommend it to everyone, but if you’re a fan of Metroid, Megaman or Battletoads, give it a go. It’s pretty cheap, too!
I tuck it under my belt, another shining achievement that I proudly display.