Lemmings Review

The objective remains identical - Lemmings drop down into a hostile game environment, and it's your job to shepherd them through to the exit, doling out skills and abilities to defeat the obstacles in your path. If there's a wall blocking your path, let a Lemming dig through it. If he's falling to his doom, give him an umbrella and let him float down to safety. If there's an immovable object in the way, strap explosives to your rodent-hero and blow him up to give the others safe passage - you get the idea. This version also features additions to the gameplay from various Lemmings sequels in the form of power-up icons, cloners and teleporters. All good stuff.

Coming from Team 17, the developer of the accomplished PSP version, it's no surprise to see that this Cell-powered rendition has much in common with its handheld sibling. This is most blatantly in the redrawn cartoon-like graphics, boosted significantly with 720p HD clarity and sweet animation, along with the console-friendly control method. But behind the slick visuals, Lemmings is something of a perilously empty vessel when compared to Team 17's original miniaturised blueprint.

There's no escaping the fact that what is the most recent, best looking version of Lemmings on one of the world's most powerful gaming platforms is also the most bereft ever released in terms of depth. There are 40 stages here, varying from the ridiculously simple to the most brain-rendingly obtuse. It's not a bad selection, but even the ancient Amiga version had triple that amount, along with 20 more multiplayer-specific levels. Not that there's any multiplayer action at all in PS3 Lemmings, the best you can hope for is to challenge the best times on the internet leaderboards. In an age where online gaming is key to a game's long-term value, this is a big disappointment. The PSP's map editor is also absent, and thus the ability to share maps with other players is also lost.