Lemmings
Mindless cutesy suicide has never been so fun.
Published: June 5, 2006
Reader, beware: this review isn't going to be terribly long, mainly because it doesn't need to be. If you aren't familiar with Lemmings by now, you probably weren't too into PC games in the early 90s -- and must've missed when the game was ported to every other platform possible at the time. The concept is deceptively simple: mindless, adorable green-haired little lemmings walk in one direction endlessly, turning around only when they hit a wall. They'll walk into traps, off cliffs, into fire pits and so on, so it's your job to keep them alive, and help them arrive at their eventual goal.
This is done by assigning particular lemmings a task, be it blocking the way, building stairs, tunneling straight down, straight across or at an angle, and so on. Since every level requires that you get a specific number of critters from their trap door introduction to the eventual cave resting place, you'll have to be smart about how many of the buggers you sacrifice (some roles, like blocker, can never be undone, requiring that your turn them into a living bomb if you want to get more lemming past).
Though Lemmings is something of an update, all of the 120 classic levels are intact. One of the reasons why the series has survived for so long is because of how perfectly mixed the balance of strategy and timing is. Four difficulty levels (Fun, Tricky, Taxing and Mayhem) slowly build in more advanced techniques, and eventually it'll take a handful of careful planning, split-second timing (aided by the ability to pause and issue a single Lemming a role) and just a wee bit of luck. Often times the end result looks like you MacGuyvered the solution out of an Escher-esque series of labyrinthian tunnels and staircases.
Ah, but if that were all the game offered (even with gussied up looks), it would only be a half-decent puzzler. Instead, in a rather ironic twist, the folks at Team 17 (architects of the Worms franchise, which some would say borrowed liberally from the Lemmings series) have added quite a few levels of their own. The 36 new creations seem weighted a little more towards figuring out how to strategically use the fewer numbers of critters you've got rather than requiring perfect timing (though there are moments of that too).
In addition to the newer levels and the classics, Team 17 decided to let players toy around with making their own puzzles (y'know, so you can see just how hard it is to make a level fun and difficult). The level editor isn't terribly intuitive, and the PSP's d-pad works well for selecting creatures while playing the game, but actually building stuff with it doesn't quite work as well. Still, it's functional, and it's there, and best of all, you can share your designs with others via any of the PSPs connectivity means. In a nod to the Studio Liverpool folks, Team 17 is supposedly designing more levels that can be downloaded through the PSP. So far, we haven't seen official stuff, but the community-built levels are actually quite well done.
Aside from the fan- and Team 17-created levels, the biggest change to the series has been the graphical overhaul it was given. The PSP's 16:9 screen is a very natural fit for levels that were already laid out horizontally, and the developers did a great job condensing down the basic controls into something that works on the PSP. You can zoom, pause, select skills, assign them and scroll through the level with relative ease, and this makes staring at the high-color 2D artwork all the more entertaining. In fact, the only 3D elements in the game are the lemmings themselves, and the brief zoom through an apparent polygonal world in the background before settling into the familiar view.
It's a better fit than you'd imagine, and though it certainly doesn't tax the PSP at all, it does make for a nice mix of traditional 2D art (you hear that, Sony? 2D is not a bad thing). The same mix of light occult themes with more adorable shapes (cuddly skulls, anyone?) gives the game the same feeling of adorable sadism that permeated the original version it's just... well, cuter.
Much has been made over the years about the soundtrack to the game (it was certainly ahead of its time back with the games first game out), but I honestly didn't find the audio as a whole to be amazing. Competent, sure, and plenty familiar -- some classic tunes are recycled here -- but it's not terribly stunning stuff. About the only sound effects you'll hear are the adorable cries of pain or yippies as the lemmings arrive home. Cute, but not stunning.
And really, that's how I feel about the game as a whole. It's cute, and undeniably addictive (the number of times I said "just one more level" to myself at 4AM puts me way past addict stage), but it's nothing that's going to blow anyone away. In a way, that's a good thing. This is still the same simple concept that worked 15 years ago, albeit updated a little with fancier graphics.
The controls work, the new levels are at times better than some of the best old stuff, and the online enabled options (once they really take off) will add longevity weeks after you finish the main game. Let's just hope they get on those downloadable map packs here soon.
This is done by assigning particular lemmings a task, be it blocking the way, building stairs, tunneling straight down, straight across or at an angle, and so on. Since every level requires that you get a specific number of critters from their trap door introduction to the eventual cave resting place, you'll have to be smart about how many of the buggers you sacrifice (some roles, like blocker, can never be undone, requiring that your turn them into a living bomb if you want to get more lemming past).
Though Lemmings is something of an update, all of the 120 classic levels are intact. One of the reasons why the series has survived for so long is because of how perfectly mixed the balance of strategy and timing is. Four difficulty levels (Fun, Tricky, Taxing and Mayhem) slowly build in more advanced techniques, and eventually it'll take a handful of careful planning, split-second timing (aided by the ability to pause and issue a single Lemming a role) and just a wee bit of luck. Often times the end result looks like you MacGuyvered the solution out of an Escher-esque series of labyrinthian tunnels and staircases.
Ah, but if that were all the game offered (even with gussied up looks), it would only be a half-decent puzzler. Instead, in a rather ironic twist, the folks at Team 17 (architects of the Worms franchise, which some would say borrowed liberally from the Lemmings series) have added quite a few levels of their own. The 36 new creations seem weighted a little more towards figuring out how to strategically use the fewer numbers of critters you've got rather than requiring perfect timing (though there are moments of that too).
In addition to the newer levels and the classics, Team 17 decided to let players toy around with making their own puzzles (y'know, so you can see just how hard it is to make a level fun and difficult). The level editor isn't terribly intuitive, and the PSP's d-pad works well for selecting creatures while playing the game, but actually building stuff with it doesn't quite work as well. Still, it's functional, and it's there, and best of all, you can share your designs with others via any of the PSPs connectivity means. In a nod to the Studio Liverpool folks, Team 17 is supposedly designing more levels that can be downloaded through the PSP. So far, we haven't seen official stuff, but the community-built levels are actually quite well done.
Aside from the fan- and Team 17-created levels, the biggest change to the series has been the graphical overhaul it was given. The PSP's 16:9 screen is a very natural fit for levels that were already laid out horizontally, and the developers did a great job condensing down the basic controls into something that works on the PSP. You can zoom, pause, select skills, assign them and scroll through the level with relative ease, and this makes staring at the high-color 2D artwork all the more entertaining. In fact, the only 3D elements in the game are the lemmings themselves, and the brief zoom through an apparent polygonal world in the background before settling into the familiar view.
It's a better fit than you'd imagine, and though it certainly doesn't tax the PSP at all, it does make for a nice mix of traditional 2D art (you hear that, Sony? 2D is not a bad thing). The same mix of light occult themes with more adorable shapes (cuddly skulls, anyone?) gives the game the same feeling of adorable sadism that permeated the original version it's just... well, cuter.
Much has been made over the years about the soundtrack to the game (it was certainly ahead of its time back with the games first game out), but I honestly didn't find the audio as a whole to be amazing. Competent, sure, and plenty familiar -- some classic tunes are recycled here -- but it's not terribly stunning stuff. About the only sound effects you'll hear are the adorable cries of pain or yippies as the lemmings arrive home. Cute, but not stunning.
And really, that's how I feel about the game as a whole. It's cute, and undeniably addictive (the number of times I said "just one more level" to myself at 4AM puts me way past addict stage), but it's nothing that's going to blow anyone away. In a way, that's a good thing. This is still the same simple concept that worked 15 years ago, albeit updated a little with fancier graphics.
The controls work, the new levels are at times better than some of the best old stuff, and the online enabled options (once they really take off) will add longevity weeks after you finish the main game. Let's just hope they get on those downloadable map packs here soon.
