Pros• Over 150 levels• Level editor included • Controls and display work surprisingly well on PSP • Small refinements make the game more convenient to play |
Cons• Still basically the same Lemmings• Display still a bit too small • Light documentation makes the level editor a bit of mystery |
Bottom LineA great return to an old classic. |
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Review
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Lemmings
Part strategy game, part puzzler, Lemmings has a simple goal: guide a tribe of green-haired lemmings through each level and to the exit, avoiding hazards such as water, flamethrowers, and mashers on the way. The trick is you do not have full control over the lemmings. One by one they fall on to the screen and start marching, heedless of danger. To get them past the hazards, you assign the lemmings one of eight specialties. Floaters can safely drop from high heights with an umbrella. Blockers prevent other lemmings from passing. Builders lay down tiles and build bridges over gaps, or platforms to greater heights. And so on. One mistake on your part could mean the deaths of dozens and dozens of trusting lemmings in just a few seconds. Many moons ago, the game perplexed lots of Amiga, Atari ST, and DOS gamers. Now, it's back on the PSP, courtesy of Team 17. The game hasn't changed very much, though it is packed with content. This edition comes with 120 boards from the original classic, and 36 new ones. The game also features a level editor, so you can create your own levels and swap them with other users through Infrastructure mode. Official add-on levels are available through yourpsp.com, and there are a few sites on the Internet where you can download user-created levels independently. Just do a search on your local gamer message board. Lemmings PSP has some useful refinements that make the game more convenient to play. There's a fast-forward button, so you don't have to wait for long stretches while the lemmings wander about. You can restart the level, so if you make a mistake it's not such a hassle to try a new strategy from scratch (for fans of the original, you can still quit the level and turn every lemming into a bomber for a spectacular exit). You can also instantly end the level the minute you have enough lemmings to complete the level's requirements. The graphics have been slightly upgraded, though not drastically so. There are fancier backgrounds now. You may be concerned about the view, since you usually have to manage a lot of tiny lemmings on a tiny screen. Fortunately, you are able to zoom in. The view is still a little small for my liking, but overall the game doesn't suffer from the transition to a handheld platform. The same applies to the controls--one slight quirk, but overall they're very well done. The left and right buttons scroll between the different types of lemmings, and the directional buttons move the pointer about the screen. Strangely, the analogue stick only moves the screen left and right (and up and down when zoomed in), and not the pointer itself. At any rate, the directional buttons do the job. Although I first played Lemmings years ago, this edition managed to hook me all over again. It's a nice, digestible game for trips on the subway or bus. The PSP does a surprisingly good job of making Lemmings an intuitively playable package. Returning to the subject of the level editor: it's a pretty powerful one, though you might have trouble finding it. The game's documentation isn't detailed at all, so here's the secret. Go to User Levels, Create a New Pack. Name the Pack whatever you wish. Once that's done, click on one of the slots marked "Empty." This will load the editor. Don't be embarrassed; it took me awhile to figure it out too. Lemmings PSP by no means does anything revolutionary to the series, but it's as solid a game as it ever was. Nostalgic gamers who can't run their old DOS floppies on Windows XP should definitely pick it up. And for you younger gamers, try Lemmings PSP and find out why we call it a classic. |
