Lemmings:
Initially I was really surprised when I found the three Lemmings games detailed below for free. I’ve still got a re-release of it that was upgraded to play on Windows 98 (thankfully it still plays on XP) and another one called Lemmings 3D. Both of which are very playable puzzle games (and cost me money) In fact I know someone who has only just bought these games, though they did come with nine separate versions of Lemmings most of which are not free yet. Lemmings was the first puzzle game that added something more than just a puzzler. The little spites walking to their doom actually became almost human like, and many who bought the game took them to their hearts, unlike other games that were released around the same time such as that classic Tetris. (that originally retailed at $69.99 back in 1991, which was very expensive when you compare what you pay for some of the amazing games of today for example, Assassins Creed, Crysis, Call of Duty 4 and now Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway, all of which actually cost less than the original version of Lemmings.
As it’s one of the classics I thought I’d add some historical perspectives as well as links to some reviews (most are actually facsimiles of the original reviews at the time the game was taking the world by storm, as well as some Googled images and videos, all of which should convince those who’ve not heard of Lemmings to hopefully try them out.
When you open up these games you’ll be asked for a user name. You just have to use whatever name you use when playing games. I thought at first that I’d downloaded a demo and that to unlock the full game you needed to buy a license, but no, these are free full versions, converted to be played on your PC.
When starting each game the old DOS window opens, select the VGA option then the Tandy option. Do not select high performance computer even if you have one because the game just lags really badly for some reason when using that setting. If you have any problems running any of these games, just post a question here. You'll find the download links at the end of the post if you want to miss out the rest of the history lesson. :)
Enjoy!
Various Reviews and Quotes
Historical note:
RockStar North, in one guise or another, have provided an auspicious number of modern, seminal gaming titles. In their later years, obviously, their great criminal sandbox enfant terrible captured our hearts and Daily Mail headlines (Grand Theft Auto series), but they already had our allegiance and our pocket money back in the early 80's when they were known as DMA Design. Under this name they gave us absolutely fantastic titles such as Walker (oooh - parallax!), Blood Money (ahhh - R-Type for my Amiga!), and Hired Guns (weee - one screen multiplayer!). But far and away its greatest success was in 1991 with the truly genius Lemmings. The concept for Lemmings apparently came from an intellectual exercise over a long lunch showing how small an animated character could be on screen whilst still being recognisable. It was, of course, only a small next step for the team to then start shoving these tiny green haired hominids into all sorts of grinders, flame pits, oceans, booby traps, nooses and death drops. The rest is gaming gold and fond history for anyone old enough to have been around back then. The sequels were, unfortunately, of significantly lower calibre - with the exception of Lemmings 2: The Tribes - and tended to be uninspired, such as Xmas Lemmings and Lemmings Paintball. Happy days: the gaming was simple, the system demands rock bottom, which was just as well, a last great hurrah of the ethos of the bedroom coder.
Reference: http://play.tm/review/8586/lemmings/ accessed 10th Oct 08
Who hasn't heard about Lemmings? It's almost as if they should be included in history books. The little green-haired critters conquered the gaming world in 1990 and gamers all around the world remember the times when losing a Lemming ruined their day. The whole puzzle game got portable now, it has a PSP version to be more precise, but just as fun as the original version.
Story:
Team 17 has done it again! Besides creating Worms, and the follow-ups, Lemmings is the other rabbit that this producer pulled out of the hat. 15 years may have passed since Lemmings surfaced, but the remakes, sequels or ports continue. Since we're dealing with a puzzle game you won't hear much of a story, as this is not Zelda. It's just "save the lemmings" all the way.
Concept:
Lemmings is a brilliant puzzle-strategy game featuring the green-haired critters we adored in the 1990s. The purpose of the game is saving a group of lemmings from a cruel death within the time limit by using their abilities. And it's not just two or three, as there even might be 50 of them at some point. To me, Lemmings is a combination between Worms and Abe's Exodus. It's Worms, because of the implementation of abilities for a couple of merry dudes walking around and screaming funny stuff. It's also Abe's Exodus because of the need to rescue beings, little helpless ones. In Abe there were Mudokons, here they are Lemmings. Which is better? Let the games begin!
The environments are simple and Team 17 wanted the game to be the old-fashioned way so they kept the original levels and a added a few more. It all sums up to about 120 levels of pure fun, plus 36 special levels. You can choose between four play modes, ranging from fun to tricky, taxing or mayhem. If all the tasks for the lemmings are set and you want to get out and have a beer there is no use to leave the PSP to do the job for you. By pressing the circle button you'll have the chance to fast forward all the action. You can even freeze it, for that matter, to get a better look at the opportunities that the level offers you. That's what the start button is for. Zoom is also available if you press the triangle button and you'll need it (not insulting anyone, but aren't those little green guys a bit too small?). You'll charge one of the lemmings with the task by pressing the X button and moving a cursor over him while selecting the thing to do with the L or R buttons.
Gameplay:
The gameplay won't be infernal, but not quite a ball. Most of the levels will have 50 to 100 lemmings
to be saved, but the ones in Special Mode will only have 12 little guys to sacrifice or rescue. You, also known as the God of Lemmings (the gamer for us), can choose what you want each lemming to do. The menu of choice is similar to the one in Worms, there is a sort of a table at the bottom of the screen with the abilities all lined up. Pick one and make your lemming a basher (horizontal digger), a blocker (a little guy standing still, blocking the others' paths), a bomber (kamikaze type of critter, gone in 5 seconds with a boom) or a floater (jump from high above performing a Mary Poppins act- umbrella included). Oh, did I forget to mention the builder?To me, those are the most crucial of all the abilities; they're about building walls or stairs that will aid you in the task of saving the lemmings. You won't start by sweating and tormenting your brain with impossible ways of saving private Lemming. There will be some basic tutorials at first, teaching you how to dig, climb, float or build walls and stairs.
There are restaurants in the world where the owners decided that customers can make their own pizza. Team 17 decided that you can make your own levels and implemented a level design tool. It has tons of options and downloadable content.
You can assemble pipes, columns, platforms, walls and all sorts of gadgets to make any lemming's life a living hell. You can also choose between an Egyptian, Roman, Hell or Crystal setting for the background, each with their unique looks and sounds. The gamer's worst enemy has got to be the time limit. There is no AI here, considering that this is a strategic puzzle game and the only instructions you have to follow are "save the green dudes within the time limit". That about 8 or 9 minutes, it's not very much, but it's not like it's a blink of an eye.
Video:
There was not much of a change needed for a classic like this. The original graphics (with a bit of a modern touch) would have been OK. The PSP does extremely well with adapting the old graphics and adding some polish to them.
The levels are arranged into five themes: crystal, earth, egypt, hell, roman, each with the details that come with the name. Hell will have flames drawn all over the place, Egypt will have collumns and lots of yellow and orange and I could go on about this for days. Size matters, Team 17! It does when talking about the lemmings, that are way too small for the PSP screen. They might have been small for the first PC screens, but why go cheap with the pixels on these marvelous creatures? Their animations are pure fun, those Worms-like ways of dying.
Sound:
The funny thing is that I played the game in a room full of people and when they heard the squeaking sound that announced the death of my beloved critters they asked me: "Are your lemmings dying?" Through the years, there are some sounds that remain in your memory whether you like it or not.
I first played an Egyptian level in Lemmings and I thought about turning the volume up and it was surely worth it. The Arabic (was it Egyptian?) music really gave a little je-ne-sais-quois to that level, and almost made me forget that my Lemmings were dying. The lemmings' voices will haunt you, as they tend to get a bit repetitive, but not disturbing considering that they are cute and childish.
Reference: http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/games/psp/Lemmings-Review-39794.shtml accessed 10th Oct 08
Also check out the following reviews:
http://www.angusm.demon.co.uk/AGDB/DBA1/Lemm3.html
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/magazines/C+VG/Issue124/Pages/CVG12400043.jpg
http://amr.abime.net/review_4533
ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/magazines/C+VG/Issue111/Pages/CVG11100042.jpg and ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/magazines/C+VG/Issue111/Pages/CVG11100043.jpg
http://amr.abime.net/review_2093 and http://amr.abime.net/review_2093
http://amr.abime.net/review_10892
Images:
http://images.google.co.uk/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=lemmings+game&btnG=Search+Images
Videos:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VREbKlzJ4eQ
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0JPl4K26uUU&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MQi6GxqyoBI&feature=related
and loads more:
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Download Links:
Lemmings:
http://www.bestoldgames.net/eng/old-games/lemmings.php
Lemmings 2 – The Tribes
http://www.bestoldgames.net/eng/old-games/lemmings-2-the-tribes.php
Lemmings 3:
http://www.bestoldgames.net/eng/old-games/lemmings-3.php
Lemmings Holiday: