Lemmings (PSP)

Lemmings is great if you're fast with a D-pad.

Herald rating: * * *

Anyone who has seen the classic Grant Lahood short film Lemming Aid will know what this game of the same name is all about.

The premise is simple: With a cry of "Let's go", dozens of Lemmings fall out of the sky into a dangerous landscape you have to navigate them through.

There are dangerous cliffs where the Lemmings will have to build bridges and thick walls to tunnel through and dynamite.

You act as lead engineer, directing your Lemmings along the best route and sacrificing as few of the furry white creatures as possible. It's the gaming version of Sudoku. You're fighting the clock and have to save as many Lemmings as possible.

But as the levels become more difficult, traversing the landscapes in the time allowed becomes near impossible.

The game has a level editor for you to build your own Lemming tracks.

It's great to see Lemmings back, complete with its simplistic purple-green tinged background and cute sound effects. But as nice as Lemmings looks on the PSP, it's still a game best suited to the PC, where the game gained real traction years ago after a successful run on the Amiga.

Lemmings relies on constant use of the mouse, which the developers have replaced with the PSP's D-pad controls. It means you have to manoeuvre a little box around and then click a button to select your Lemming. It can be fiddly, especially when you have hundreds of Lemmings wandering around and time is short.

The wide screen of the PSP also means the Lemmings are a little small to see in normal mode. But if you use close-up mode it cuts off some of the screen. Lemmings is worth a look if you like fast-paced strategy games and are a hotshot on the D-pad.

(PG)
Price: $90