Latest Mini Reviews
Buzz! Quiz TVSpace Invaders ExtremeEchochromeGuitar Hero: AerosmithNinja Gaiden Dragon SwordUser Reviews
There are currently 0 User Reviews for LemmingsWrite your own review for this game today and you will receive 100 Gamer Points.
Click here to register
Lemmings Mini Review
Chris Leyton
24/03/2006
Those green haired guys make a triumphant return on the PSP...
We constantly find ourselves bemoaning the lack of originality on Sony's handheld, so it's a little surprising to find a 15-year old game providing a resurgence of sorts for the PSP.
Lemmings made its mark on videogame history back in 1991 and subsequently found its way onto every platform known to man. The "save-em-up" puzzle title had players desperately trying to save a legion of lemmings from their impending march to doom, across 120 ingeniously crafted levels that kept you coming back for more. Every lemming has its day however, and the franchise soon fell out of favour with a couple of disastrous attempts at bringing the loveable rodent into 3D.
Seemingly forgotten and left to languish in the vaults of videogame lore, Sony has recently delved into its license catalogue and plucked the title to provide some much needed entertainment for the PSP. Despite the fact it's probably older then a fair number of PSP owners, we couldn't resist the chance to .
Having sold the franchise to Psygnosis and ultimately now under the wing of Sony, Lemmings on the PSP has found itself under the capable hands of Team 17, a team who took inspiration from the Lemmings franchise with their very own Worms series. I find it hard to believe that anybody would not know how to play Lemmings, but just in case you missed out, the game finds a steady supply of lemmings working their way incessantly from a start point towards an exit - the problem being a deadly arrangement of traps and chasms that stand between them. To conquer these players have to make use of a variety of different lemming skills, such as Climbers, Blockers, and Builders, to navigate across the terrain and ensure the minimum number of lemmings survive to progress to the next level. It's a puzzle game of largely unmatched brilliance, the type of concept that just isn't seen today, in a new form at least.
Perhaps the greatest testament to Lemmings on the PSP and to Team 17 is the fact they've managed to restrain themselves from deviating away from the classic formula. If anything the history of the series has taught us that as soon as the games started to deviate away from this, their popularity soon began to dwindle; Lemmings was built upon a simple concept and trying to expand upon this simply didn't work. That's not to say Team 17 have settled on a pixel perfect port of a 15-year old title, with a variety of new features that provides enough of a 21st century renovation to ensure it doesn't feel antiquated and actually improve the game in several cases. VCR styled commands allow you to fast-forward the action, which is ideal once the level is complete and you're just waiting for the lemmings to work their way towards the exit; it's also been stylishly executed with streaks running along the screen in a similar manner to speeding through a VHS cassette. Equally because everything is now rendered in 3D but retains the 2D style, Lemmings on the PSP allows you to zoom in on the action which is very handy when it comes to selecting a skill for a specific lemming. Team 17 should be applauded for the respect they've shown to the franchise, whilst ensuring the experience is perfectly suited to a handheld format; such inclusions as "CLINK" being shown on the screen to highlight when a builder is coming to the end are a god-send when you've forgotten your headphones and the quirky sound effects might drive other people close to you insane.
Lemmings on the PSP really represents the ultimate compendium for long-standing fans, and serves as the best possible introduction just in case you've never been acquainted with the green-haired icons. All of the 120 levels waged across four stages of increasingly frustrating yet nonetheless enjoyable difficulties return from the "Original", complete with the many pop-cultural references of the time; if you played through the original, you'll probably find yourself surprised at how memorable the many solutions actually are. 36 new stages featured in the "Special" mode share a similar level of brilliance to those from circa-1991, whilst suitably introducing newcomers to the joys that is Lemmings. Further still Lemmings on the PSP provides a level editor to design and share your own creations, along with the ability to download new stages from the official community website (the first of which are expected on March 31st but you'll need to have registered a Central Station handle).
Although many of the subtle changes improve the overall experience some Lemmings purists could have issues with a number of aspects, such as the removal of the button to launch Lemming genocide when everything has gone wrong (bizarrely it's still there you just have to quit out of the game to see it), along with the remastering of classic tunes and visuals to suit the Team 17 makeover - this isn't much of a problem with the exception of the pop-culture themed levels such as "A Beast of a Level".
Lemmings remains as brilliantly simple yet deviously addictive as it was 15 years ago, easily creating one of the most enthralling experiences you'll find on the PSP. Team 17 have done an excellent job of staying faithful to the original concept, whilst introducing a handful of new touches to improve the game and ensure it doesn't feel like something from days gone by.
