Lemmings is a classic puzzle game that has appeared on a number of systems over the past 15 years and is now marching onto the PSP. If you’ve never played a Lemmings game before here are the basics. Your job is to guide the Lemmings through a series of levels, getting them from the entrance to the exit. Sounds simple, right? Well complicating matters is that the levels are filled with all manners of obstacles, from simple obstructions to bottomless pits to deadly traps. Furthermore, the Lemmings are single-minded kinds of fellows and will steadily march on ahead straight into a trap or until they hit an obstruction and turn around and head back the other way. Your job is to help the Lemmings help themselves by assigning them to special roles. There are eight different roles in the game that let you turn Lemmings into specialists such as Floaters who can safely fall from great heights with the aid of an umbrella or Diggers who can tunnel their way through obstructions to allow their fellow Lemmings through. The tricky part is that not all of the roles will be available on every level and those that are will often be limited. If you assign a role to a Lemming at the wrong place and time you may not be able to get enough Lemmings to safety within the time limit to complete the level.

Into the Valley of Death marched the six hundred...

Lemmings comes with about 150 levels in all, grouped by their general level of difficulty. If you’ve played Lemmings in the past then you’ll recognize the vast majority of the levels from the original game. The solution to the easiest puzzles is generally pretty obvious and these can be solved pretty quickly, but the harder puzzles may take you more time. On the harder puzzles it’s usually a question of first determining how to approach the solution and then doing everything with the right timing to pull it off. The hardest puzzles can be pretty devious and may have you playing through a number of aborted attempts before you get things right. In a nice touch the game makes several puzzles at each difficulty level available at once, so if you find yourself hopelessly stuck you can move on and give yourself a break from the offending level. Lemmings is also an open-ended game of sorts due to the included level creator. You can create your own levels and share them with friends or over the internet. You can also download new levels created by other players or by the game’s developers themselves. Hopefully Lemmings level design takes off as it has the potential to be a great way to extend the life of the game indefinitely.

The original Lemmings is an ancient game in the world of video gaming, but on the PSP the graphics have been updated for this generation of technology. The levels are bright and colorful and feature lighting effects that give them a 3D look even though the play is decidedly two-dimensional. The backgrounds have a cartoon feel to them and include animated effects such as flowing waterfalls to bring them to life.

Lemmings requires an enjoyable mix of reflexes and brainpower. Its level-based puzzle gameplay make it an ideal portable game and the sheer number of levels as well as the included level editor mean that you’ll be able to enjoy the game for quite sometime to come. If you’re a fan of puzzle games, you should definitely give the game a go while you’re on the go.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 86%. Puzzle fans should line up, march down to the store, and pick up a copy of Lemmings. Just watch out for any traps along the way.