Oh No! More Lemmings

"Good, despite a few flaws"

Introduction

I am a big fan of the Lemmings series and was very excited when I got this sequel to the original, and was ready once again to start saving hundreds of mindless lemmings from certain doom yet again. This game isn't quite up to the standards of its predecessor, but it was a very hard act to follow.

Gameplay - 8/10

The bad news is that there are just 100 levels, rather than the 120 in the original. These are split up into five difficulty ratings: Tame, Crazy, Wild, Wicked and Havoc. On each level, you must save a certain number of lemmings from certain death by making them perform skills in order to reach the exit.

Not everything is perfect; the Tame section is exactly as its name describes it, and is far too easy so you may wish to skip it altogether; following that, the difficulty level actually shoots up quite steeply with a couple of levels that are actually very daunting at first, as many of the levels in the "Crazy" section perhaps aptly involve use of unconventional methods to beat them, but after a while you will find some more straightforward levels.

There does certainly seem to be an increased puzzle element due to the large number of very imaginative levels, which is good in that the gameplay does not immediately get stale, although a few of the later levels - most notably in the "Wicked" section do seem like they are too easy; for example, Level 14 in that section is so straightforward it is painful. Luckily, most of the other levels do not disappoint and there are some that could take a lot of practise. For example, one level presents you with the lemmings coming out of a trapdoor above a drop that they need their Mary Poppins umbrellas to survive, and the exit is above a huge gap - and you have just one minute to beat it, but the solution is actually very simple indeed - I won't spoil things by revealing it.

Overall, the gameplay is very enjoyable, with just a few flaws.

Music - 4/10

Although it is very nice, I was rather disappointed that there are only six soundtracks in the game - meaning that when I reached level 7, I was suddenly treated to the same music I'd heard in level 1. The good news is that it is all very nice and doesn't make you want to turn the volume down however many times it plays.

Graphics - 9/10

Graphics are very good, with the usual excellent animation on the lemmings; they still look a bit weird when a few of them are bunched up, but aside from that it is all good. The traps that feature in the levels are an improvement on the original, including lizards that swallow your lemmings whole, griding wheels that reduce them to a pulp and - my personal favourite - laser guns that zap your lemmings when they hit the "trigger".

Like in the original, there are various different level designs, which manage to be even more detailed than before. For example, one of the styles is set around various types of red bricks and girders, often featuring oil drums and chains and hooks hanging around the place. For some reason, though, this design style gets used far too many times (in nearly half the levels, in fact), and at one point it is actually used in SEVEN consecutive levels, which had me wanting to scream: "Can't we have a BIT of variety here?"; this is a shame since the other designs are very nice looking too, with a "rocky" style with grass and cool-looking trees, a "snowy" style with ice platforms and icicles hanging from the ceiling, and also a very cool looking style with coloured spheres, golden platforms and baths of bubbling acid; this last theme makes just four appearances during the last forty levels, which is a shame.

Gripes aside, the graphics are very nice looking and certainly live up to the original.

Lastability - 10/10

Despite there only being 100 levels (and only about 79 with a reasonable level of challenge), the tougher levels will leave you scratching your head for a while and you could take some time before you finally manage to master the game completely.

Final Verdict

Definitely buy; this is great fun for all Lemmings addicts.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/03/06