Lemmings
REDISCOVER RETRO GAMING - CLASSIC 8-BIT NINTENDO NES
NINTENDO NES
Game Title:Lemmings
System:Nintendo NES
Players:1 Player
Genre:Puzzle
Developer(s):DMA Design
Release Date(s):1992
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Lemmings is a puzzle-platformer game originally developed by DMA Design.
The objective of the game is to guide a group of humanoid lemmings through a number of obstacles to a designated exit. In order to save the required number of lemmings to win, youmust determine how to assign a limited number of eight different skills to specific lemmings that allow the selected lemming to alter the landscape, to affect the behavior of other lemmings, or to clear obstacles in order to create a safe passage for the rest of the lemmings. The game is divided into a number of levels, grouped into four difficulty categories. Each level begins with a trap door opening from above, releasing a steady line of lemmings who all follow each other. Levels include a variety of obstacles that prevent lemmings from reaching the exit, such as large drops, booby traps, walls, pools of lava and much more.
The goal is to guide at least a certain percentage of the green-haired, blue-robed lemmings from the entrance to the exit by clearing or creating a safe passage through the landscape for the lemmings to use. Unless assigned a special task, each lemming will walk in one direction ignoring any other lemming in its way, falling off any edges and turning around if they hit an obstacle they cannot pass. A lemming can die in a number of ways: falling from a great height, falling into water or lava, disappearing off the top, bottom or side of the level map, being caught in a trap or fire, or being assigned the Bomber skill. Every level has a time limit; if the clock counts down to zero, the level automatically ends. To successfully complete the level, the player must assign specific skills to certain lemmings. Which skills and how many uses of each are available to the player varies from level to level, and the player must assign the skills carefully in order to successfully guide the lemmings. There are eight skills that can be assigned: 'Climbers' climb vertically though fall down if they hit an overhang. 'Floaters' use a parachute to fall safely from heights. 'Bombers' explode after a five-second timer, destroying themselves and any destructible landscape in close proximity, though not damaging other Lemmings or traps. 'Blockers' stand still and prevent other Lemmings from passing; Lemmings that hit a Blocker simply reverse direction. 'Builders' build a stairway of 12 steps. 'Bashers', 'Miners' and 'Diggers' dig horizontally, diagonally downwards or directly downwards respectively. While the player is able to pause the game to inspect the level and status of the lemmings, skills can only be assigned in real-time. Lemmings are initially released at a rate predetermined by the level (from 1 to 99). The player can increase the rate as desired to a maximum of 99, and later decrease it down to, but not lower than, the initial rate. The player also has the option to "nuke" all the remaining lemmings on the screen, converting them to Bombers. This option can be used to abort a level when in a no-win situation, remove any Blockers that remain after the remaining lemmings have been rescued, or end a level quickly once the required percentage of saved lemmings has been reached. The four difficulty groups: "Fun", "Tricky", "Taxing" and "Mayhem', are used to organize the levels to reflect their overall difficulty. The rating reflects several factors, including the number of obstacles you have to surpass, the limitation on the number of types of skills available to assign, the time limit, the minimum rate of lemming release, and the percentage of lemmings that must be saved. So that's the mechanics of the game over with.. On other systems this is an all-time classic puzzle game, and you would expect the same from Nintendo.. This should have been a magical installment into the all-time classic NES games, everything is there, the whole ingredients for a superb-probably-best-ever-puzzle-game to be transferred to an all time classic system. The NES.. But i'm afraid to report that there's a fatal flaw that lets the transition down, in a major way! The controls are awful!. The way the cursor moves along the screen is pathetic, it's about as slow as a snail stuck in glue! And, the fiddly way to perform an action for a particular lemming is dreadful!. Instead of simply clicking the handy bar at the bottom of the screen, just like in other versions on different systems, you have to hold down the B button, which then highlights the mini menu, and then you use the D-pad to scroll left or right. The fact that the game is still in full swing while you do this makes it much more fiddly than it should be, and this does, for me, affects the overall play-ability of the game. The transition for the rest of the game has been done really well, the graphics are sharp, the sound is as it should be, all the levels are there.. So its a shame such a great game has been let down by the silly control system and snail-like cursor! And the Verdict is...
An absolute classic awesome game let down by the controls. Go play it elsewhere! |