Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

Lemmings was a huge puzzle game hit when it was released for the PC in 1991.  The little green-haired guys made their way from their lair to their exit through some latent abilities given to them through the player.  Otherwise they would walk in one direction and never stop.  Getting as many Lemmings home as possible was the object of levels, but sometimes the good of the many outweighed the good of the few.  Since that time a couple of sequels were released on several different systems, none of those games matched the success of the original, with the possible exception of Lemmings 2: The Tribes.  Now Sony is trying to bring back the original game with a remake for the PSP.

Lemmings is similar to Tetris in that it’s simple to learn and play, but the difficulty goes up with each level.  The object of Lemmings is to direct the little green-haired guys from the starting drop-off point to the exit door.  The Lemmings move one way if not given a little direction.  Giving these Lemmings a little direction is the only standing between them and certain death.

The original Lemmings has relatively simple graphics, but yet showed a lot of character in the movement of the Lemmings.  The PSP version keeps the character of the Lemmings intact.  You might be a bit surprised at how much personality they have.  The blocker holds out his arm.  The digger works his way diagonally down into a hole with his pick.  The basher uses his hands to dig through areas.  These little touches make the Lemmings come to life.

The game does get a subtle graphical overhaul for the PSP.  Color backgrounds that fit the level are shown behind the levels instead of the black background from the original game.  The actual level graphics have a claymation feel to them, giving them depth instead of looking flat.  Still, the graphics are nothing to write home about.

The music in Lemmings has a whimsical tone.  The music feels like something coming from a 16-bit sound board made using modern hardware.  The synthesizer-heavy soundtrack is very upbeat.  Different areas have a different theme to them, like the lava levels have a mysterious mood to them while the Egyptian level has something that sounds like it came from that era.

The added sound effects are a nice touch.  When a Lemming enters the Exit, you hear a high-pitched “Yippee!”  If a Lemming falls too far you hear a “Splat” that is still funny, even if it is a bit sadistic.  Even the “pop” from an exploding Lemming sounds like a cork coming out of a champagne bottle, giving the event a less serious tone.

You control a cursor with the D-pad.  This cursor highlights a Lemming to grant a skill to.  The analog nub moves the camera to see the different parts of the level.  The L and R buttons switch which skill you assign to a Lemming.  You pause the action using the Start button and can still assign skills to the Lemmings while paused.  Pushing Circle fast forwards the action, and Triangle zooms in and out of the level.  Finally, Select brings up menu options.  These commands all seem to work well, but the controls would have felt more natural if the D-pad and analog nub controls were switched.

Being able to pause the game really helps you to plan how to solve the level, especially those that have multiple entrance points.  Zooming in allows you to select the specific Lemming you want which is helpful when they get bunched up together.  Fast forwarding allows you to finish the level quicker when you know all you have to do is wait for them to move to the Exit.  These little extra controls help the game to transfer well to the PSP.

The game features the eight skills from the original game.  The Climber climbs up objects instead of turning around when he reaches an object.  The Floater uses an umbrella to parachute down long distances.  The Bomber blows himself up and leaves a small hole where he stood.  The Blocker stays in one spot and turns around any Lemmings that walk into him.  The Builder lays down steps in front of him to form an upwards diagonal stairway.  The Basher smashes into a wall like the Incredible Hulk to make a tunnel.  The Miner digs diagonally.

Solving the puzzles takes a bit of creativity.  Each level you are given a specific number of skills to grant to the Lemmings.  This means you can’t assign every Lemming a specific skill.  You need to pick and choose.  You also need to have a sense of timing, especially with the Bomber skill.  You’ll need to bash your way through walls, build steps to avoid traps, and use blockers to change the direction the Lemmings are going.

The difficult of the game ramps up slowly.  The first few stages are rather easy, but you will get to the point where you’ll need to pause the game to get your strategy figured out.  Those who played the original game on the PC won’t find that much new though.

Each of the levels has a timer, and most of these are only a couple of minutes.  This makes Lemmings excellent as a portable game.  The load times are relatively short and don’t hamper the length of the game.

The PSP version of Lemmings features over 150 levels.  120 of the levels are from the original game.  If you smoke through all of the levels, you can create your own levels with the level editor.  Then you can share those levels with friends.  If your friends don’t have the game, you can enable the “Game Share” mode to send sample game levels to friends to try out. It looks like if you are a fan of the original, you will be a fan of this version.  Still, the game is a rehash of the previous game, so you won’t find anything new here, so you will want to consider that before purchasing the game.  If you haven’t ever played these games and like puzzle games, you should definitely check it out.

Gaming Trend Score

78

1. Graphics: 78
2. Audio: 78
3. Controls: 75
4. Gameplay: 77
5. Value/Replay: 82
6. OVERALL:78