All New World of Lemmings

All New World of Lemmings
Developer(s)	DMA Design
Publisher(s)	Psygnosis
Platforms	Commodore Amiga, DOS
Release date(s)	1994 (DOS) 1995 (Amiga AGA)
Genre(s)	Puzzle
Mode(s)	Single player

All New World of Lemmings (ANWoL) is a video game released in 1994, as the third game in the popular Lemmings puzzle game series. In North America, the game was named The Lemmings Chronicles. It was published by Psygnosis and was the last Lemmings game developed by DMA Design.

The gameplay remained similar to the original games, requiring the player to lead all the lemmings to their exit by giving them the appropriate "skills". However, as the game's title suggests, both the gameplay as well as the graphics were "all new". Fans disagree on whether or not this made it a better game, but no more lemmings games were made in the same style.

Overview

The storyline of ANWoL continued where Lemmings 2 left off. Of the twelve tribes that escaped from Lemming Island, the adventures of three tribes are followed in this game; the Shadow tribe, the Classic tribe and the Egyptian tribe. Each tribe leaves the flying Ark they escaped on, and finds their own island to explore.

Unlike all previous Lemmings games, ANWoL represented the lemmings with larger graphics, and now introduced enemies and an alternative way of giving lemmings skills. The game had a total of 90 levels, 30 for each tribe. Like in the previous game, the lemmings saved in one level are the ones left for the next one.

Gameplay

The gameplay in ANWoL has the following new features:

There are five skills that are available in each level, while others can be given when a lemming picks up an item. The five permanently available skills are:

• Walk/Turn: The lemming will turn around, or stop working and start to walk again.
• Blocker: For the remainder of the level or until commanded otherwise, the lemming will hold his position and act as a wall.
• Jump: The lemming will make a short jump.
• Use item: The lemming will start to use the item he picked up.
• Drop item: The lemming will drop the item he has.

Other items/skills (for digging, building, climbing, etc.) are available as little blocks that a lemming will pick up when he finds it. Only this lemming can be told to use this item. Builders and diggers now have the option of working in multiple directions, as can be specified by the player.

The player also has the ability to pick out a selected lemming who will then follow the commands given, without having to be clicked on every time.

The following monsters can be found in levels:

• Potato Beast: Will walk around and kill any lemming it comes across.
• Psycho Buzzard: Will fly down on a lemming and kill it.
• Lemme Fatale: Will make a nearby lemming lovestruck and have him commit suicide.
• Mole: More or less friendly, will start digging diagonal tunnels.

A new "replay" mode allows a player to automatically redo everything done before in a level, with the option to continue playing at any given point. Practice levels are available including every available item to experiment with.

Development

Mike Dailly, programmer at DMA Design, admitted that "Lemmings 3 was a bit crap … more to end our commitment to Psygnosis than actually do a good game. The larger character size really spoiled it, but it was done like that because we had been approached by The Children's Television Workshop who wanted to use the character and the game; they wanted the characters to be bigger, and that really complicated things, and spoilt it. By the end of Lemmings 3, I think we were all ready to move on."

Sequels

Originally, there were plans to release three more Lemmings games that continued the stories of the other nine tribes. This never happened, either due to disappointing sales or because DMA design sold the Lemmings license to Psygnosis.

The next game in the Lemmings series after All New World of Lemmings is 3D Lemmings (1995), which loses the storyline and most features from Lemmings 2 and ANWoL.

External links

• Game materials on unofficial archive site
• The Lemmings Chronicles at MobyGames