And now for something completely different ... Lemmings!

Even the most ardent adventurer occasionally slips sideways into a
non-adventure game. I normally avoid arcade games like the plague.
My reflexes aren't quick enough to get anywhere, and because there
invariably isn't a save routine, after a few days I get so fed up
with seeing the first few levels and getting killed before I can
get any further that I give up and go back to a text adventure or
an RPG.  Then, I met Lemmings! Like everyone else, I'd seen the
enthusiastic reviews and thought - that looks good - but it was
quite a while before I finally gave in and bought it.

The idea behind Lemmings is s-o-o simple - guide the little
creatures from their starting point (a trapdoor that opens in the
sky and disgorges a stream of them) to the exit (a small archway
through which they can bunny-hop ... or should that be
lemming-hop? ... to freedom). All this is done against the clock.
Unfortunately there are lots of barriers they can meet en route
which can send them prematurely to lemming heaven. These include
cliffs that they can't climb, sheer drops down which they plummet
to their deaths, jets of flame to fry 'em, broken staircases that
they fall through and get trapped in inaccessible holes, little
whirling machines that shred them into lemming mincemeat and much
more. You think up a torture for lemmings and it's probably on the
disk somewhere.

Fortunately these little creatures, though having about as much
collective intelligence as a bowl of porridge, have a wide range
of special abilities to call on during their trek. It's a shame
real lemmings aren't so versatile.  These lemmings can dig
downwards like a dog burying a bone sending tiny clods of dirt
into the air, bash through things with their little fists, wield
lemming-size pickaxes to dig their equivalent of the Channel
Tunnel, build staircases to span yawning chasms, open teeny
umbrellas to float safely down from a great height and crawl up
vertical surfaces using the sticking ability of a slug.  And who
decides which ability they use at any one time? Yep, it's you.

While you're frantically clicking on the range of icons, each of
which gives one lemming one special ability, all of them are
trundling along in the wake of their leader - if you can call him
that ... let's face it, he's trotting along so single-mindedly he
doesn't KNOW there's anyone behind him! So sometimes you may want
to have just a few of the creatures wandering about while you,
hopefully, keep the others 'safe'. This entails using a blocker
who stands his ground, arms outstretched, foot tapping
impatiently, and prevents the others passing.

Meanwhile, your pathfinder lemmings build a safe route through.
The time has come for the rest to follow. What to do about the
blocker? This is one of the fun bits - use another icon to blow
him up. A countdown starts over his head, 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ...
1 ... the lemming claps his hands to his ears, crouches slightly,
shivers and explodes into smithereens.  If things are going really
badly, you can use another icon to nuke the whole lot of them!

You've probably guessed by now that I found this game compulsive.
So did Alan. 'Just one more try' often turned into 'where did that
hour go?' And there are several reasons why this game is ideal for

people who normally view arcade games with the same expression of
distaste that Dracula would use when offered a garlic sandwich.

The lemmings are cute with a capital C. How anyone got so much
expression and feeling into such small graphics amazes me. A
lemming bashing his way through a wall really seems to put power
behind each punch. One building a staircase will pause at the top
and shrug his shoulders if not 'told' to continue. Marching
lemmings each have a wodge of green hair that bounces jauntily
with each step.  And you haven't lived until you've seen a lemming
floating safely down from a great height, feet dangling as he
clutches his open umbrella.

Though there are 100 levels to the game (and yet another 100 on
the data disk), they start off nice and easy. Each one completed
gives you the code for the next level. Fail at a level and you can
replay it immediately by clicking the mouse.  This means you don't
have to go all the way back to the beginning when the lemmings die
- which they do, regularly. At Level 30 it goes into 'tricky'
levels, but even with these, you feel you have a chance of doing
them ... eventually. At Level 60 they start being rated 'taxing'!
When the need for sleep finally catches up with you, you know that
the next day you can continue the game from the point where you
left it by typing in the appropriate code. Alex McEwan kindly
supplied me with the complete set of codes and those are listed in
the Hints section.  Last but not least the pause icon means you
can plan your strategy in peace without wondering what dreadful
fate is befalling the little creatures while you survey their
route.

Last but not least, Lemmings is also a good spectator sport. It's
usually mind-numbingly boring watching someone else play an arcade
game; it's hysterical watching someone play Lemmings, forgetting
to set a blocker at one end of a ramp and concentrating on
building complex stairways at the other end while their lemmings
are hurtling off into the void, completely unnoticed by the
player. (If that sounds heartless, Alan and I have both watched
the other make a pig's ear of it so we've each had a laugh at the
other's expense on several occasions.) There are options for a

two-player game (not on the PC) and extras such as music, sound
effects etc providing you have a suitable set-up.

Lemmings isn't an arcade game in the strict sense. You don't
mindlessly blast away at wave upon wave of objects that are trying
to overwhelm you. There's a strong strategy element as there are
often several ways to deal with each level. When things go wrong
and you see a stream of lemmings plunging off a cliff and
disappearing into oblivion, there isn't the same feeling of
hopelessness that I get when I fail at an arcade game because I
know I can have another go. Where Lemmings scores is that it
appeals to (nearly!) everyone, whatever their taste in games.  If
you want to lose several weeks of your life, buy this game. If you
want to lose months, go the whole hog and get the data disk too!

Lemmings (ST, PC and Amiga) - œ25.99-œ34.99.
Oh No, More Lemmings - (ST, PC, Amiga) - œ19.99-œ24.99.
Xmas Lemmings (PC) - four levels of Christmas Lemmings dressed in
cute Santa suits! On SynTax PD disk 395 - œ2.50.
                                                      Sue