Lemmings review

The premise of Lemmings is simple: you’re in charge of a herd of green-haired, rodent-like creatures who drop into 2D environments at varying intervals and march in a straight line until you tell them to do otherwise. Standing between them and safety are cliffs, assorted deathtraps and other hazards; but if you’re a quick thinker and can assign your charges the right jobs at the right times, a few of them might just make it through alive.

With a fresh new appearance on the PSP, the little critters that dominated puzzle gaming in the '90s are poised to turn a whole new generation of gamers on to their moronic shenanigans.

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Don't get too excited, though; the PSP Lemmings is essentially a repackaged version of the original. There are a few new levels, sure, and the whole thing has been given a sharp-looking 3D makeover. But underneath it all, this is the same game that’s been around since 1991.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, though, especially not if you’re picking up Lemmings for the first time. This is absolutely the best-looking version of the game. It comes with a slew of new features, and keeping your Lemmings alive through the more than 150 levels (120 from the original game plus just over 30 new ones)is just as much mental exercisenow as it was 15 years ago.

But first, the new stuff. Not only does the game look (and sound) awesome on the PSP, but the mouse-like controls - which enable you to single out individual Lemmings and assign them tasks - adapt surprisingly well to the PSP.

Sony’s handheld also enables a few small improvements, like the ability to zoom in on the Lemmings or to fast-forward through slow spots. Even better, this version includes an easy-to-use level editor to create your own stages, which can then be shared online with other players. And in addition to all that are a handful of new stages created just for this version.