PSP PREVIEW
Return of the Lemming
With more lives than a cat, Lemmings leap back for PSP |
Product: Lemmings
| Developer: 8bit
| Publisher: Sony
| Genre: Puzzle
| Networking: wireless (network)
| Network: 3, Easy Mobile, Fresh, O2, Orange, T-Mobile, Virgin, Vodafone
It's a mark of the different audience expectations for DS and PSP that while Nintendo's little box of tricks is overflowing with puzzles games, it's PSP's least well supported genre, well that and puppy simulations.... But with Lemmings, PSP owners will have to chance to do some thinking as well as caring - even in an abstract way - for small furry mammals.
One of the best know retro games, Lemmings was originally released way in 1990, ending up on pretty much every gaming system ever invented and selling millions of copies in the progress. Now it's being reworked for PSP, with Worm's developer Team 17 on creative duties to update the idea for a new audience.
As should be expected given the choice of creature, Lemmings is all about saving as many of the suicidal green-haired critters as possible, by setting up a cunning plan to guide them from the level entry point through the ingeniously designed fatal obstacles to the exit, within a set period of time.
Your task is made easier (or generally more complicated) by the different types of specialist lemmings available. These include the exploding bomber, the digging basher, the self-explanatory climber and builder, the floater, which can endure falling from high levels, as well as the strategic blocker. Of course, you only get a limited number of such specialists per level, making them a limited resource.
With over 100 levels, organised in five themes such as sewers, fields and forests, there should be plenty of opportunity to get your head around the many ways of losing and saving your lemmings. The game will include a simple level editor so you can create your own not-quite deathtraps. Saved onto your memory card, these can also be uploaded to the Lemmings' community website using PSP's wi-fi. And you'll be able to download other people's custom designs as well.
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