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Is there anybody that hasn’t played Lemmings at some point?
Herding the little blue critters through Stages of ever increasing
difficultly has been done
 on countless platforms over the years,
from it’s beginnings on the Amiga all the way to its downloadable
status on the PlayStation3’s PlayStation Store and countless
freeware clones. For those not in the know,
Lemmings was created by DMA Design, the company that went on
to become Rockstar North, creator of yet another incredibly popular
series, Grand Theft Auto, back in 1991.
Lemmings for PlayStation2, like every other iteration before
it, involves guiding up to 100 lemmings from the Entrance of the
Level to the Exit. Along the way the ignorant rodents will be
completely obvious to danger and will amble forward, even into
certain danger or off cliffs, until they hit a solid object, at
which point they will turn around and march-on in the other
direction. While the player cannot directly move the lemmings in
most Levels, they can issue commands to some. These commands are
separated into jobs which are usually limited in variety and
availability. For instance, making a lemming a Blocker will cause it
to act like a wall, ensuing following lemmings will turn around,
making a lemming a Basher causes them to bash through horizontal
walls, although not all materials, such as metal, can be bashed.
Like most other ports, the ability to speed-up the release rate of
lemmings, Pause and issue commands and nuke them all are also
available.
This command-based structure makes Lemmings a kind of Puzzle
game, where the efficiency of the player is challenged by saved
lemming quotas. The game remains as amusing as the original, with
the PlayStation2 version basically a port of the recently released PSP version, complete with the new Levels and a Level Editor. The
PlayStation2 version does have one unique feature however, the
integration of the Eye-Toy.
Although Lemmings’ Eye-Toy functionality comes with
all the problems usually associated with SONY’s camera peripheral,
i.e. horrendous functionality in everything but perfect lighting and
a need for space, the ideas are quite fun. In the twenty specific
Levels, you must use your body to stop, carry and push the little
fellas, as all commands are disabled. Although it’s by no means
perfect, as the slightest change in lighting will cause lemmings to
fall through you, catapulted into the air or inexplicably destroyed,
it is about as close as the series has come to innovation since
Lemmings 2: The Tribes.
Visually Lemmings is still the same game it was sixteen years
ago, albeit with a new Zoom feature which allows slightly more
precise interaction. The sound effects and music are as bouncy as
ever, but not only have you heard them before, you’ll have likely
heard them in this game!
Despite that fact that Lemmings is sixteen years old, it’s
still as charming as ever. The original concept holds-up well for
younger players, but if you’ve ever been anything of a gamer in the
past, you will find it tired. The new Eye-Toy functionality
is amusing for a while, but unlikely to make you want to part with
thirty-something pounds. Perhaps it’s time the lemmings were allowed
to die.
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