The Lemmings Chronicles

Third official entry in DMA Design/Psynosis’ celebrated puzzler series, The Lemmings Chronicles (a.k.a. All New World of Lemmings in Europe) is a disappointing entry that feels like a rushed product that was made just to cash in on Lemmings’ success.

The game is much inferior to earlier Lemmings games, without the same care and thoughtful design that the previous titles are known for. TLC takes the Classic, Shadow and the Egyptian tribes from Lemmings 2, offering 20 levels each plus a practice level. There is even a plot which continues where Lemmings 2 left off: the lemmings escaped from their island with their flying ark and have found new land.

There are new gameplay elements that actually do more harm than good. For example, for the first time in the series, there are monsters that can attack the lemmings. You can only escape from them most of the time, which makes gameplay more a matter of reflexes than brains—just frantically click the mouse to where the monsters cannot find you. In some levels, there are some already roaming around before new ones drop through the doors. This makes gameplay much more difficult, since you have to deal with two groups of lemmings—and sometimes more—instead of one sequence of marching lemmings.

The lemmings are now bigger, but they somehow seem less cute. There are also some new skills, but none of them is very exciting. To complicate matters even more, there are now objects which the lemmings can pick up and use.

Unfortunately, new additions in TLC make gameplay more confusing than they are worth, thus destroying any of the simple elegance that previous games are famous for. The game also feels more like an action game than a puzzle game, thanks to the monsters. Only die-hard fans of the series will probably have enough patience to see this disappointing underdog through to the end.

Review By HOTUD