Fresh Fish 4/FreshFish_May-June1994.bin/useful/reviews/software/games/lemmings2thetribes

Internet Message Format | 1993-07-15 | 17KB

Path: menudo.uh.edu!usenet
From: [e-mail] (Stephan Mueller)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews
Subject: REVIEW: Lemmings 2: The Tribes
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.games
Date: 1 Jun 1993 19:32:43 GMT
Organization: The Amiga Online Review Column - ed. Daniel Barrett
Lines: 355
Sender: [e-mail] (comp.sys.amiga.reviews moderator)
Distribution: world
Message-ID: <1ugasr$[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Stephan Mueller)
NNTP-Posting-Host: karazm.math.uh.edu
Keywords: game, strategy, arcade, platform, commercial


PRODUCT NAME

    Lemmings 2: The Tribes

    [MODERATOR'S NOTE:  This review was updated by the author on
    June 4, 1993, and then briefly on July 15, 1993 to incorporate
    some information from USENET.  - Dan]


BRIEF DESCRIPTION

    An addictive action/strategy platform/climbing game, featuring cute
little animated, green-haired Lemmings.


AUTHOR/COMPANY INFORMATION

    Name:        Psygnosis Ltd.
    Address:    South Harrington Building
            Sefton Street
            Liverpool, L3 4BQ
            United Kingdom

    U.S. Address:    29 St. Mary's Court
            Brookline, MA 02146
            USA

    U.S. Phone:    [phone]
    U.S. Fax:    [phone]

    (Various documents in the package list other addresses in
Massachusetts.)


LIST PRICE

    $65.00 (Canadian).
    I paid $56.91 (Canadian) at my local retailer.
    $40.00 (US) seems to be a typical price in the United States.


SPECIAL HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

    HARDWARE

        Runs on any Amiga with at least 1 MB RAM.
        Extra sound effects are available with 1 MB of Chip RAM.
        Extra RAM of any type is recognized and used to reduce disk
        accesses.

        Hard drive installation requires approximately 4 MB of hard
        disk space, at least 1 MB Chip RAM, and either 512 KB or 1
        MB of additional (Chip or Fast) RAM, depending on whether you
        believe the package or the ReadMe file.

        Lemmings 2 comes on three floppy disks, so up to three
        floppy drives are useful if you don't use a hard disk.
        However, one floppy drive is certainly adequate:  the game
        requires disk 1 only for the (optional) introduction and
        loads everything required from disk 2 at startup, so there
        is no constant disk swapping.

        Lemmings 2 runs well on a 68000.  Comments from other users
        indicate that it runs fine on machines with 68030s and
        68040s.  At least one user has mentioned that the copy
        protection causes difficulty on an Amiga 3000/040 system.

        Separate versions of the game are sold for NTSC and PAL
        machines.  However, in (at least) the PAL version, assuming
        your hardware is capable of it, you can toggle screen modes
        (that is, from PAL to NTSC and back) by pressing the Tab
        key. Any Amiga with a "Fatter Agnus" or newer should support
        this.

    SOFTWARE

        Lemmings 2 runs fine with both Kickstart 1.3 and Kickstart
        2.04.  I cannot test it with 3.0.  Since the game takes over
        the machine when run from floppies, I cannot determine which
        versions of Workbench it works with.


COPY PROTECTION

    Intrusiveness level of the copy protection: nearly invisible.

    Copy protection is disk-based:  disk 3 cannot be backed up using
DiskCopy.  However, it can be installed on a hard drive.  Once hard drive
installed, the floppies are not required at all to boot.  No data is ever
saved to a copy protected disk.

    As my Amiga doesn't have sufficient Chip RAM to test the hard drive
installation feature, I can't say for sure how well it works.  Others on the
net, however, have had no difficulty with it.  When playing from floppies,
the copy protection doesn't appear to be hard on the drives, as there is no
awful "gronking" noise.

    Apparently, the original UK release was not hard drive installable.
Recently, however, Psygnosis has released patches into the public domain to
allow owners of the original release to make their copies hard drive
installable.

    If Lemmings 2 does not install on your hard drive because of an
incompatibility with your particular SCSI host adapter, Psygnosis will send
you a software patch for $4.95 (US).


MACHINE USED FOR TESTING

    Amiga 1000
    512 KB Chip RAM, 2 MB Fast RAM
    Kickstart 1.3/2.04

REVIEW

    Lemmings 2 is (surprise!) a sequel to Lemmings.  The object in both
games is to rescue the lemmings on each level by instructing them how to
make their way to the exit.

    The lemmings fall, one at a time, from a trapdoor in the sky onto
some platform on the level.  Once a lemming touches down, he will walk left
or right until he hits an obstacle and turns around, or walks off the edge
of the platform and falls to the next platform.  Short falls are no problem,
medium falls stun the lemming for a moment, and long falls are generally
fatal.

    You assist the lemmings by giving them special skills at appropriate
moments, enabling them to construct their own way to the exit.  Skills are
assigned by choosing an on-screen button and then clicking on the lemming.
For example, if there is an obstacle on the current platform between a group
of lemmings and the exit, you might instruct one of the lemmings to bash his
way through the obstacle.  When he's finished, all the lemmings can follow
him through to the exit.  This is, of course, a very simple example; and as
you progress through the levels, the gyrations you'll need to urge the
lemmings through will get progressively more complex.

    Lemmings 2 features about 50 different skills which you can assign
to the little blue guys:  jet pack, hang glider, basher, fencer, planter,
glue pourer, bazooka, hopper, kayaker, pole vaulter, rock climber, and more.

    [MODERATOR'S NOTE:  A USENET reader reports that there are exactly
    60 different skills.  - Dan]

On any particular level, you'll have some subset of the available skills to
assign, and there's always a limit to the number of times you can assign
each skill.  These limits are often what make a level tricky.  Given enough
flame throwers and ramp builders, one can probably solve any level, but
doing so with just two twisters and a platformer, there's the trick.  To add
just one more dimension, there's a time limit on each level.

    When you've completed a level, you'll get a bronze, silver or gold
medal, depending on how many lemmings you saved. It's important to save as
many lemmings as possible on each level, since only the survivors advance to
the next level; and to win, you'll need at least one lemming who survives
through all ten levels of his tribe.  On some levels, saving every lemming
is impossible, since, for example, you may need to use an "exploder," which
destroys the lemming. On other levels you can be a bit wasteful, losing a
few lemmings, and still get a gold medal.  A perfect game will require you
to get a gold medal on every level.

    Altogether there are a dozen different tribes, each with their own
`culture,' for a total of 120 different levels.  There are space lemmings,
cave lemmings, polar lemmings, sports lemmings and lots more.  Each tribe
has a different habitat, and you will need different skills to navigate them
through their levels.  Ice skaters probably won't help much in Egyptian
World.  You can switch from tribe to tribe at will, so if you get stuck on,
say, space lemming level 3, you can play "cavelem" levels for a while and
come back to space lemming level 3 when you've perhaps discovered some new
techniques.  You can also replay any level you've completed, in the hope of
saving more lemmings than last time around.

    To hone your skills, there is a practice area.  Here, you can select
any eight skills you like, and then practice with them in one of four
different worlds.  This is a LOT of fun; not needing to worry about saving
the lemmings leaves you lots of time to use them to flatten out the
landscape and then watch them practice their pole vaulting.

    Lemmings 2 is a subtle blend of action and strategy.  On some
levels, brute force will succeed; but in general, you need to be very clever
in allocating your limited skills to rescue the little guys.  Usually,
timing is important as well.

    Technically, the game is marvelous in every respect.  Sound,
graphics, animation, controls and playability are all excellent.

    The sound effects are very cute: a lemming yells