"A great game in general but unsuited to the Game Boy."

Lemmings is one of the all-time great classics. Since its conception in 1991 this game proved to be indestructible, generating many sequels and clones. Lets be honest, the concept of Lemmings is pure genius so its popularity is anything but surprising. Even so, the question remains if this game was suited to all the machines it appeared on.

Graphics
Lemmings never really relied on its visuals. So long as they are clear and comprehensible, nothing is wrong. And this is where Lemmings on the Game Boy fails. I don't usually mind the small and colourless graphics of the Game Boy, accepting that this simply comes with the machine. But they are completely unsuited for Lemmings. The visuals are muddy, flicker constantly and make it hard to see what is precisely happening. They are not so awful as to make the game unplayable but they come close.

Sound
The GB also wasn't known for its musical excellence. Nevertheless it managed, on occasion, to produce several good quality sound effects and music. To bad it wasn't to be with Lemmings. Although the tunes themselves are nice enough, the sound effects are simply hideous.

Gameplay
Lemming's gameplay should be familiar to anyone with only even a faint interest in games. The goal of the game is to help the titular lemmings survive. They are dropped in a level and must make their way to the exit. On the way to this exit they encounter several traps and obstacles and it is up to the player to assign tasks to the lemmings to deal with these hindrances. The game starts out easy enough with only a handful of the critters needed alive to complete a level. Eventually they must all be saved and this can seem like an impossible task.

A wonderfully entertaining concept. It is a shame that this concept is wasted on the Game Boy. The graphics are one culprit, being too muddy and vague. Another connected problem lies with the imprecise controls. Actually selecting an individual lemming can be quite a chore. Furthermore, the game is too slow. Lemmings runs at a snails pace which can be irritating. Assigned tasks take almost forever to be completed and when a level is solved it is extremely annoying to wait for the lemmings to inch their way towards the exit. Finally, lemmings don't always seem to respond immediately to a given order. Instead they walk a few steps more before doing their assigned task. This leads amongst other things, to bashers missing their targets and bridges being build at the wrong spot. That this is extremely irritating is not a real surprise. All these problems spoil what is otherwise a truly fantastic game.

Final remarks
Lemmings is not completely unplayable. The original concept is simply too strong for this. The real problem lies with the Game Boy itself. This machine is simply not really suited for this type of game. The screen is too blurry and small and the controls too imprecise. So although I would recommend Lemmings in general, seeing that any serious gamer must have at least one version in their collection, I would not recommend this version.

Overall: 4.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/07

Game Release: Lemmings (US, August 1994)