Subject: REVIEW: Lemmings 2: The Tribes
From: [email-masked] (Stephan Mueller)
Date: 1 Jun 1993 19:32:43 GMT
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.reviews

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:	(617) 731-3553
	U.S. Fax:	(617) 731-8379

	(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 "let's go" at the
start of each level, and as lemmings leave the exit, they shout "yippee."
The music is wonderful, fitting the moods of the tribes very well.  I have
yet to grow tired of it, but it can be shut off with a single keystroke.

	The graphics and animation are detailed.  From the way the lemmings
struggle to crawl into a cannon, to the variety of different musical
instruments the attractors play, there's a wealth of amusement.  The
scrolling is very smooth.  The introduction, in which the storyteller
explains the plight of the lemmings to a youngster, is a top-notch animation.

	The controls are very well thought out.  In addition to the skill
buttons and lemmings themselves, there are four additional controls: paws
(pause), nuke (to blow up all the lemmings and try again should the
situation on a level become hopeless), fan (to assist you in blowing around
airborne lemmings) and fast-forward (to hurry everything along when you've
set things up just right and the lemmings just need to finish walking
through the maze to the exit.)  There are keyboard shortcuts for all the
controls, so you don't need to keep moving the mouse between the lemmings
and skill buttons.  At any time, pressing escape will restart the current
level, and thankfully this doesn't involve any disk access.

	Up to a dozen or so games in progress can be saved.  The save file
is a standard AmigaDOS file.  When playing from floppies, saved games are
stored on an extra floppy in drive 0.  When playing from a hard drive, saved
games are apparently stored on the hard drive.  The saved information only
contains which levels you've completed and how many lemmings you saved on
each level.  This means you can't save a level in progress, but I don't see
this as a problem.

	When playing from a hard drive, it is apparently possible to exit 
Lemmings 2 and return gracefully to Workbench.  When playing from floppies, 
the exit button is disabled.  Disabling the button when running from 
floppies is reasonable, as there is no Workbench to return to. 

DOCUMENTATION

	The documentation and packaging are very good.  The inner carton is
made of recycled, bio-degradable material.  (I know this because it says so
on the aforementioned inner carton.)

	The printed documentation fits neatly into a colourful cardboard
wallet and consists of the Lemmings 2 Storybook, the Lemmings 2 Manual, a
Visitor's Guide to LemmingLand, a Technical Notes Addendum, and a product
registration card.

	The Lemmings 2 Storybook, which apparently is only included in the
"Limited Edition" of the game, is a 72-page paperback full of nice
illustrations and bad puns.  As the back cover proclaims, it is "Undoubtedly
the best story about the 12 Tribes of Lemming Island ever written."  The
book is a nice touch, but you'll laugh much more while playing the game than
reading the story.

	The manual is more like a reference card, but it is adequate.  It
provides loading instructions (for MS-DOS, Amiga and Atari ST) and a
description of the main menu choices and game screen components.  The
reverse side contains a categorized list of the 50 available skills with
descriptions and icons.  A few of the skills are labelled with the wrong
icons.  Some of the play elements are not explained in the manual at all,
but I believe this is intentional.  Figuring out how to use the big swinging
chains with propellers on top is another little challenge for you in your
quest to save the lemmings.  The cannons and catapults need no explanation;
the lemmings themselves know exactly how to use them.

	A couple of items the manual should mention, but doesn't:

	a) Disk 1 contains only the introductory animation.  If you don't
	   want to see it, you can discard disk 1 for good and boot from
	   disk 2.  The animation is very nice, but it will likely get
	   tedious by the third time if you have to wait for it to finish
	   before you can play the game.

	b) The hard disk installation procedure.  While the procedure
	   is documented in a ReadMe file, it is also a bit strange.  You
	   need to drag the "Hard Disk Install" icon to your hard drive, and
	   then double-click the copy on the hard drive to actually install
	   Lemmings 2.  The consequences of doing the obvious (namely
	   double-clicking the "Hard Disk Install" icon on the floppy disk)
	   can be mildly damaging.  This is the problem:  the installation
	   script tries to delete itself when it has finished its work,
	   which is fine, if it's the copy on the hard disk.  If it's the
	   original script on the floppy disk, and if that disk isn't write
	   protected, this is bad.  You'll need to find an undelete utility
	   of some sort to retrieve the script and its icon.

	The Visitor's Guide is a tutorial.  For those with previous Lemmings
experience, it explains some important differences.  The tutorial is quite
good, walking you through the practice area and one complete level.

	The technical notes addendum is, in fact, specific to the PC version
of Lemmings 2, and full of gibberish about expanded and extended memory,
Microsoft Windows and various sound and music cards, none of which,
thankfully, applies to the Amiga.

LIKES AND DISLIKES

	The practice area is tremendous fun!  The level of detail in the
animations is wonderful, and in the practice area you can take the time to
watch what's happening very carefully without being concerned about rescuing
the little numbskulls.

	I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't install Lemmings 2 on my
hard drive, but I'm not even going to suggest that fitting the game into 512
KB of Chip RAM when running from a hard drive should be a priority.

	It is a pity that when run from floppies, Lemmings 2 takes over the
machine, doesn't run under AmigaDOS, and can't be exited cleanly.

COMPARISON TO OTHER SIMILAR PRODUCTS

	The obvious comparison is to the original Lemmings.  Here's a brief
description of how Lemmings 2 differs:

	- There are twelve distinct tribes of Lemmings, each featuring ten
	  levels.  If you get stuck on a particular level, you can move to
	  another tribe.

	- You start the first level of each tribe with 60 Lemmings and move
	  to subsequent levels with only the survivors from the preceding
	  level.

	- Play levels are larger; they now scroll in eight directions
	  instead of just horizontally.

	- Each level features up to eight of the 50 available skills, as
	  opposed to having the same eight skills at all times, as in
	  Lemmings 1.

	- The two-player mode of Lemmings is gone.

	In short, Lemmings 2 is an extension and refinement of the original
game.

	Compared to any other platform/climbing game... well, there is no
comparison.

BUGS

	The word "shipwright" is misspelled in the introduction.

	The manual doesn't mention that you can skip the introduction by
booting from disk 2, nor the hard disk installation procedure.

VENDOR SUPPORT

	I have not yet had need to contact Psygnosis for support, but they
do have a Customer Service department.  The U.S. address information given
above is that of Customer Service.

	Psygnosis do appear to be listening to their customers.  Lemmings 2
is their first Amiga game that is hard drive installable; this is apparently
because of pressure from customers.

WARRANTY

	Psygnosis will replace, free of charge, any disks which have
manufacturing or duplication defects.  The disks are guaranteed to be
virus-free, and will be replaced for a fee, if you manage to infect them.
There doesn't appear to be any time limit on either of these policies.

CONCLUSIONS

	Lemmings 2 is likely to be responsible for a substantial delay in
the completion of my thesis. :-)  It's tremendous fun to play, watch and
hear.  I consider Lemmings 2 to be a serious candidate for Best Game Of The
Year, On Any Platform, or perhaps even bigger accolades.  Run, do not walk,
to your nearest Amiga dealer and buy this game.  Besides amusing you for
many, many, hours, this will help to demonstrate to software developers that
writing quality, hard drive installable, Amiga games is a way to make a
decent living.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

	Copyright 1993 Stephan(); Mueller.  All rights reserved.

---

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