Back in the 1990s, Lemmings was a puzzle game that was extremely popular. This PSP version contains all 120 levels of the original, plus 36 new levels. The goal of each level is to allow the lemmings to overcome obstacles to reach the goal. Not all lemmings will make it, but each level will have a minimum amount of lemmings saved in order for you to complete and progress onwards. The lemmings will constantly be walking forward. As the player, you can assign them special abilities. They can dig holes, build bridges, climb up vertical obstacles, float down from high platforms, block other lemmings from passing, dig into the ground or blow up like a bomb. It’s somewhat real time as you determine the best way to solve the puzzle. The lemmings can die from falling from great heights, drowning or by obstacles in the level. Each the simple task of changing the direction of a lemming will require thought. While the game has prerendered 3D graphics, it retains the 2D sidescrolling nature of the original.
There are some player aids such as the ability to pause at any time. This will stop everything, and you can then look around to slowly determine what is needed. The developers also knew that waiting for lemmings to cross the level once you have a perfect solution in place is boring so you can fast forward the level too. The game’s original 120 levels are split into four sets of 30. You can only unlock up to several levels in advance after you have completed enough of the previous levels. Each level has a different completion requirement, which, in addition to the number of lemmings saved, also have a time limit. The game doesn’t have a tutorial at all, so you need to already know the premise first. Once you know what the objective is, figuring out the rest of the controls is easy. It uses a cursor-based system to select the lemmings. The early levels are naturally easier to get you used to the lemmings’ different abilities. The early levels can be finished within minutes but eventually, they will get harder and more complex so that you will need to spend more time on them.
A lot of the difficulty comes from the lemmings appearing at a constant rate. While you have one building, the lemming behind will catch up, overtake, and then go towards their deaths. Unfortunately, too many levels allow you to advance one lemming to create a path while you buy time by blocking all the later lemmings. There are some issues with the game design in that there is no “undo” action if you had accidentally made a mistake. In such a scenario, you will end up repeating the whole level which will get annoying in the later harder levels. The harder levels are annoying in that there is a requirement of saving a high number of lemmings. Just one mistake or slightly misjudged timing will cause you to fail. When it is a level tha you know how to level and it is just the way the game was designed or how the controls worked that had thwarted you, it is immensely frustrating. Wanting lemmings to face the right direction to mine or dig their way through feels like a gamble. Feels like more likely than not, they will face the other direction than the one you wanted them to.
The latter harder levels are too finnicky especially when you must resort to using tricks to have the lemmings go a specific way. Yet it relies so heavily on luck on whether they are facing the right direction or not when they are bunched up together. The worst part of the game is that even if you know the solution you must get it pixel perfect in the exact location to do that exact thing, so that it becomes unfun. For example, you know you must create a set of stairs to the top but… the angle is slightly off so that you can’t make it and it is infuriating when this happens. These levels are unforgiving in that you make a tiny mistake and it’s starting over from the very beginning for you. Furthermore, the analogue stick (or nub of the PSP) does not provide enough finetuning. The 36 new levels are much easier in comparison to the second half of the original 120 levels. A lot of the new levels lean towards being too easy, but some will require more thinking. However, the core gameplay remains the same.
Depending on your skill, the game can take anywhere from eight hours to over ten hours to complete the levels. Then if that is not enough, there is a level designer to create your own levels, as well as share and download others. Overall, Lemmings is a good version of the original game with updated 3D graphics, even though that doesn’t add too much to the experience given all the levels are still played in 2D sidescrolling perspective. The game is quite fun in the beginning, but the second half of the original levels start to introduce more and more flaws to the game. It highlights the restrictions and unforgiving nature which can lead to a lot of aggravating and frustrating moments where you know what you need to do, but the game requires such precising timing that it is painful to get it all correct, forcing you to repeat that level again and again from the beginning. It’s hard to say if the additional 36 levels are worth it if you’ve already played the original, given that while they are fun, they don’t add anything new to the formula.
-----------------------------------------------
