Lemmings (Second Review)

Title		Lemmings (Second Review)
Publisher	Psygnosis
Game Type	Puzzle
Players		1 or 2
Compatibility	All
Submission	Andy Glover

Review
For me, possibly the most fun two people can have without taking their
clothes off, Lemmings is a game that will have you screaming at the
screen.  Four levels of difficulty, thirty stages to each level, each one
progressively harder (in terms of the level that is) than the previous,
and what you have is an addictive game that goes on forever.  From the
chipmunk sounding cry of "Let's go!" at the start of each stage to the
"Computer on speed" version of "Orpheus in the Underworld", this game
cries fun from the start, and what fun it is.

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to get the Lemmings from
the entry point, to the exit door.  Easy....... you wish !  The set up of
the game is a two dimensional platform game.  The Lemmings drop into the
screen from a variety of places depending on the stage, and then start
walking to the right.  If to the right is a  long drop to infinity, then
they keep on going and are lost. If it's a wall, then they hit it, turn
around, and go the other way. The only way to stop them moving is to
either pause the game or make one of them a blocker.  This (and various
other tasks) are achieved by a set of boxes along the base of the screen.
They include, blockers (obvious) diggers (horizontal, vertical and
diagonal) climbers, bridge builders and parachutists.  You specify the
task and then click the lemming that you require to perform that task.
This can have it's drawbacks as once you have assigned a task to a
lemming, it will stick with it until the end of the stage (with the
exception of the diggers who stop once they've gone through what they are
digging, and the bridge builders who stop after laying twelve blocks of
their bridge). Therefore if you want a lemming to climb a wall, he will
climb it, but if he then comes to another wall, he will climb that as
well, even if you don't want him to.  Blockers have a major drawback as
well.  Once you have set them as a blocker, they will stay there until
your time runs out unless you blow them up.  If this happens then there is
a five second count down before they shout "Oh no !", cover their faces
and explode. The problem comes when you block on a thin bit of ground,
because the explosion will take out the ground beneath them (unless it is
ironwork) and if you have 99 more Lemmings backed up, they soon disappear
down the hole.  From my description it sounds easy, build a bridge, dig a
hole, climb a wall and then parachute to safety......... WRONG !!!.  You
are only provided with the tools absolutely necessary to complete the
mission.  Sometimes that means ten of each task, other times it means you
have one blocker, one vertical digger and that is all.  It can get very
frustrating as the stage also says how many Lemmings you have to save.
Sometimes you get 100 and are asked to save ten, other times you get ten
and are asked to save all of them.  You are also up against the clock so
there is no time to hang around.  If it all gets too much then there is my
favourite button..... the NUKE button. It gives all of the Lemmings a five
second count down and then they all blow up in rather spectacular fashion
(especially if there are 100 on screen).

 All in all an excellent game which I would recommend to anyone with an
inquisitive and problem solving mind as the perfect antidote for the
mindless shoot 'em up / racing games.  100/100

Alphabetical list.