Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!bagate!cbmvax!amix!undrground!markg From: undrground!markg@amix.commodore.com (Mark Gardner) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games Subject: Re: Lemmings: A total disappointment Keywords: lemmings, psygnosis Message-ID: Date: 3 Apr 91 06:33:09 GMT References: <49497@nigel.ee.udel.edu> Organization: A Network Beneath the Earth - The Underground Empire. Lines: 101 PFREY%drew.bitnet@pucc.princeton.edu (PETER C. FREY) writes: > I've been subscribed to this list for some months now, and ever since > Lemmings was released, about every other message has been by a firm > supporter of Lemmings. > > After a couple months of these messages, I decided to purchase Lemmings > for myself. That proved to be an uneventful date. > > I was at first taken in by the 'cute' theme song and novel idea behind > the game. The song, which sounded suspiciously like a digital version > of the song to My Fair Lady, was redone in almost every possible way in > each level. The 'Menacing' level on Tricky was one exception to the > continuous variations of the same theme. Myself, I turn the soundtrack off in favor of the sound F/X. Ditto for just about every other game I have that offers a choice (like Blood Money). > > When I became stuck on those occasional difficult levels, the once 'cute' > and poppy song became so annoying I had to turn the sound off. > > The graphics of the program are not completely smooth. That is not my main > critique of the graphics, however. The only time I was able to see just > what a 'Lemming' is, according to the programmers, was in the intro. The > intro itself was short and inoffensive. The main critique I have of the > graphics, which look like something I would expect from Atari ST programmers > or for IBM VGA, is that the Lemmings were tiny little figures on the screen. > A friend of mine and I laughed at Robocop 2's figure of Robocop. Lemmings > are in the same vein, only more miniscule. I suppose the idea with the teensy lemming characters is to be able to see the screens as full-height instead of having to scroll vertically. Me, I find the li'l buggers cute. (Oh wait, that isn't a redeeming feature to you, is it? :-) > > The entire 'novel' idea of the game is one that would appeal to the preschool > It is cute and inoffensive, as stated above. The music is something out of > a Fischer Price game. The blowing up and shattering of the lemmings is simil > to a Tom & Jerry's cartoon, where figures are blown up like just one more > function of their lives. And what's wrong with Tom & Jerry cartoons? :-) Maybe you have to have a certain mindset for it. Did you really think the game would be some sort of drama, with lemmings agonizing over the lot that life has dealt them? :-) > > The fact that each level can be played over and over again places no importan > in each time you play. In just about every game I've played, it Matters whet > you succeed or not. > > The way the game makes a level difficult, is on a very technical level. On > the levels that were difficult, and there are very few of them, you had to > click the mouse on the Lemming to cause it to perform a certain act at a very > precise instant. If this is not done, all else is for naught, and you have > to go through the entire process again. > > You don't fail at a level because it is complex. You fail at the level becau > of one technical mistake; a mistake that you know how to surmount, only you > did not hit the button at the precise moment. This could be said for many games. Of course, in the basic shoot-em-up, this is also called "kill or be killed". Psygnosis has done a good job of making this particular video-game theme a little less xenophobic. > > I got through the fun, tricky, and taxing in little over 20 hours spent over > the first two days after purchase. By the time I started into mayhem, the > game had become too routine for me. I'll admit the two player part of the > game looks interesting, but of no tribute to the game. It looks interesting > because the monotony of the game is broken by competition with a person. Yeesh, do you SLEEP? No wonder the soundtrack was so annoying to you - I don't want to hear anything that sounds absolutely WONDERFUL for 20 hours.... :-) > > As I write this now, I am on my way to a friend's room. There, I shall give > over this annoying little game to him, to see if he finds it as simple as I. > > Sorry if this letter disturbs those enthusiastic about the game, but perhaps > the version I have is not the same as those others have found exciting..? > Perhaps, by the look of it, I was slipped a mac or atari st version of the > game with a built in emulator..? I doubt that, for I have read the box many > times. That would be too easy an explanation. Hey, you didn't like the game - it didn't appeal to you. It happens. Like I said above, perhaps it requires a certain mindset. I know folks who are absolutely annoyed by Tetris, or couldn't stand through five minutes of Dungeon Master, two other highly-acclaimed games. IT HAPPENS. Now, where did I put my joystick? :-) -MG -- "Reversing entropy is every- | Mark J. 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