Lemmings Paintball

"Doesn't Play Like Lemmings, But Is That A Bad Thing?"

The Story
I have no clue what the real story is, but I guess our furry lemming friends got ahold of some paint guns and decided to make a game of it.

Graphics
8/10 - The graphics have some 3D to them with some cartoony (might be considered ''cel shading'' by some, but I'm still not sure what that is. All I've heard is that it makes the game look like a cartoon) backgrounds and animations, such as the fire. The scenery does change between things like what looks like legos, grassy fields, and ice. But what I like about the graphics is if you let the lemmings stand for a while they'll do random stuff. My personal favorite is for them to put on a top hat and tap dance for a couple of seconds. Watching the lemmings do backflips in the air when you collect all the flags is always enjoyable for me.

Sound
6/10 - While there were a few songs I liked (the menu song is personal favorite), the music is mostly just there. The sound effects are well done and appropriate. Nothing that deserves a medal, but still a bit above average.

Control
9/10 - Left click to make the lemming walk to where you click, right click to make them fire a paintball in the direction of your mouse. Left click certain things like switches to make the lemming activate it. Simple and workable. Sometimes you have to take it one step at a time. If your lemming is on one side of a narrow bridge over fire and you click on the other side, chances are your lemming will waddle into the fire. Also, selecting only certain lemmings can get a bit annoying.

Gameplay
10/10 - The only thing this has in common with the original Lemmings games are the lemmings, the traps, and having to save a certain number of them. The rest is totally new. The first difference you may notice is you directly control the lemmings. You get 1-4 lemmings a level. You must save one lemming for each flag you must collect. So, if you have each of your two lemmings with a flag and there's still one more out there, you need to restart. I've only seen them in one level so far, but there's a machine that duplicates lemmings. You then guide your lemmings towards flags and solve small puzzles such as switch flipping or walking on floors to make them rise. Oh yes, and there's red lemmings. What do the red lemmings do? They shoot at you. One hit from their paint kills. You can usually shoot back and kill them unless you're out of paint or can't shoot at them because of a level requirement. And you've got your traps to contend with. They also kill lemmings. If you get your lemmings through the stage and to the flags, collect them all (one flag to a lemming) to win!

Challenge
7/10 - Most levels are either long or ''one goof, you're out''. There is puzzle solving involved. For example, in one level I needed a green key that wouldn't appear. This made me mad until I found out you couldn't shoot any red lemmings. The next trick was dodging them. But I did find this quite a bit easier than the original Lemmings. That's not to say it's child's play. Just once you come up with a solution, it's often easy to execute.

Replay
8/10 - Lots of fun levels keep you coming back for more, but lack of will to play from frustration can occur.

Pros and Cons
Good Points:
- A lot of fun.
- The tap-dancing lemmings were a nice touch.
- Lots of levels to play.
- There's Netplay. Play against a friend.

Bad Points:
- You sometimes don't click exactly right and your lemming walks into a fire pit.
- Sometimes the lemming selection gets annoying.
- I could never get the Netplay to work.

Should I Get It?
Oh yeah. Even if you didn't like Lemmings, grab this.

Overall
To answer my synopsis, no. It is not a bad thing.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/02, Updated 10/14/02