Lemmings

"Best animal to hit strategy market since worms"

Lemmings is one of the best puzzle options on the Sega Genesis. Your objective is to move a target number of lemmings (the more the better) through a door set in a strategic place somewhere in the level. To make your journey possible, you have different abilities you can teach your lemmings, so they can do certain things on their expedition, such as dig, build bridges, or parachute from high places.

GRAPHICS--6
The graphics are not very cheerful, colorful, or bright. Instead they are kind of dull, bland, and they could easily have been mistaken for carpet samples at Home Depot or Menards. The sprites are drawn cleanly though, but they are usually not noticeable enough. What I meant there, is that it is nearly impossible to tell what type of lemming each lemming is. It is very hard to tell who is a digger, a parachutist, or a builder.

MUSIC--7
The music is the exact opposite of the coloring. The music is perky, cheerful., and bright, not bland, dull, and boring. The music seems kind of heavy and reliant on percussion to keep it going though. But it gets the job done, and it does not make you reach for the mute button.

CONTROL--8
The control is responsive, and does what you want when you want. Unfortunately, it sometimes can be difficult to get the Genesis controller to move where you want, when you want it. Even with this, Lemmings ranks as one of the better computer to home translations in the category of games that make up strategy. The control is better than some PC conversions today.

FUN--10
This game has a very welcome multiplayer mode. It is sort of a contest between players one and two. Both play through the same level, in the split-screen format, trying to get more lemmings to the end than the other. You and your friend do this through a whole game. (Or as much as you want to.) The score is tallied after each level, in case the controllers of both controllers are too lazy to finish the whole game.

CLOSING STATEMENT
Lemmings is one of my all-time favorite strategy games. It is a great puzzle game for the Genesis, and all Genesis owners should try it out. If possible, get the PC version though, because, as is a problem in many conversions, the PC version is better.

OVERALL--8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 07/04/00, Updated 07/18/01