"There was always another path to follow, or further horizon to explore. From a wealth of possible directions, they chose only the greatest. The story of the Lemmings and their many adventures would be recounted around campfires for generations.
Because nothing truly ends, the Lemmings are separate from the space and time that we are familiar with. Thus are legends made. Thus do legends endure.
And thus do they continue..."
This is what you can read in The Book of Lem, Vol XIII from the third episode of the Lemmings saga, All New World of Lemmings. The game is now available for the PC with two versions, one on floppy and one on CD-ROM.
A lot of changes were made to those small furry guys and the first visible one is their size which is slightly bigger. The interface has been modified as well, with only five skills available from the control panel. Each of the skills are animated when you select them, making it is easier to guess what they actually do. You can choose between WALK, BLOCK, JUMP, USE and DROP. The first three are so obvious that they do not need any explanations to be understood. The fourth will allow the player to use tools found along the way in the new world. Ten different tools can be found: The bomb, dropped at the foot of a Lemming, will explode after 5 seconds and will kill any creatures around; and the grenade is thrown at 45 degrees in the same direction the Lemming is walking and blows up eight seconds after bouncing on the ground.
If you want a Lemming to climb a wall, he will have to find a sucker. However, if the sucker runs out while he is climbing, he will fall! As the sucker was used for climbing walls, the shimmier will let a lemming shimmy along ceilings. Moreover, there are cautions to observe. If the shimmier runs out or if the Lemming hits something on his course, he will fall again.
Unlike the other episodes, you will have to fight against creatures and the best tool is the Hadoken, a fighting device. It is a magical weapon from an ancient Lemming martial art named Lemdo that throws out a fireball when it is used. Other lemmings will not be hurt, but nasty creatures will be wiped out.
You remember the diggers from the ancient episodes? Well, you will have to find a spade for a Lemming to dig away at the ground. Once selected, you will choose the direction in which to dig when arrows appear on the screen. Notice that directions may vary from location to location. Of course, sometimes you will find some big holes, and the only way to pass them will be to build a bridge. If one of your Lemmings gets the bag of bricks, he will be able to build the bridge in any of seven directions, but keep in mind there is a limited amount of bricks!
The last three tools are different from the other ones, because they are activated as soon as the Lemming grabs them. With the swimmer, your Lemming will not drown after a few seconds in the water, but as it is not permanent, be quick to jump out of the water. The umbrella will enable the Lemming to float downwards to the ground and prevent him from being killed by his fall. However, the umbrella can only be used once because of the impact. At last, when a Lemming gets a clock, your remaining time will increase by one minute.
Among the creatures you can encounter in "All New World of Lemmings", are the Potato Beast and the Psycho Buzzard. The first attacks Lemmings on the ground while the second is looking around in the air for furry victims.
Two other creatures exist in the game, the Lemme Fatale and the Mole. The first is a gorgeous creature, a real babe for every creature who is in range of her voice (remember Jason and Argonauts with mermaids?). Once the Lemming is under her spell, there is nothing much to save him. He will kill himself as it becomes too much for him! The Mole is just digging through the ground (up, down, left and right) and this can be dangerous for your precious Lemmings. Fortunately, moles do not like bricks and if you can build a wall, you will be safe!
At the beginning of the game, right after a nice introduction which explains how the 12 tribes of Lemmings came on the Archipelagos with the Ark, the menu offers you different possibilities. A map will display some of the islands from the Archipelagos you can play with. When you move the cursor on an island, it will highlight and if you click on it, you will be shown a progress report for that particular island. Thirty different levels are provided for each island where a specific tribe landed. In this game, only 3 tribes are included: the Classic, the Shadow and the Egyptian tribes. Additional data disks will be sold with more tribes. Each tribe comes with its own set of graphics and characteristics. For example, Lemmings have different clothes according to their tribes, and the music is also different.
The objective for each tribe is to enable a minimum number of Lemmings to reach the exit at the end of the last level. To do so, your tribe starts with 20 Lemmings, but only 10 of them will drop from the entrance at the beginning. If one of them is killed, another will enter from the reserve. When you finish one level with, for example, 7 Lemmings, you will start the next one with only 7 Lemmings and this goes on until you do not have any of them left!
Psygnosis Ltd.
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MUSIC ------ 90% Liverpool, L3 4BQ, England.
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Psygnosis USA
675 Massachusetts Avenue,
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Tel: 617-497-7794
800-438-7794
