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Lemmings Main / Lemmings Puzzle Adventure update: It's... not terrible??
« on: January 30, 2024, 12:36:51 PM »
Disclaimer: Puzzle Adventure is NOT a fantastic game. I know this, and I want to acknowledge that right at the start. 
However, recently when I was bored and distracted I decided to re-download it to my phone and give it another go, and after 18 months since my last attempt, I can report that I'm enjoying myself more than I expected.
LPA is currently on season 66(!), and we all know exactly what kind of mobile game it is, but I feel like Exient did a good job of creating a lemmings game based on their brief. The tile-based gameplay for a touchscreen makes complete sense, and I actually find it less fiddly and frustrating than, say, Lemmings Touch on my PSVita. Is that heresy?
All I know is, Touch may be a superior Lemmings game, but I did find the controls a bit of an obstacle at times.
Meanwhile, Puzzle Adventure DOES seem to have been tweaked and improved a bit. The free-to-play mobile game structure is still awkward and cringey, but the updates seem to have made it so that the prompts and ads are less intrusive and annoying. Because I'm a principled son-of-a-badger, I refuse outright to pay for in-game stuff OR to watch ads in exchange for gameplay features. And, 99% of the time, this seems to work for me. A lot of the prompts seem to be optional now, which I'm not sure was the case when I last tried the game over a year ago. I can get away with not paying anything or watching ads for as long as I like, it seems.
I admit that maybe I'm misremembering. And the only reason I decided to give the mobile game another go is because I was bored, curious, and knee-deep in my current Lemmings hyperfixation (hooray for neurodivergence!). But the core gameplay of LPA is short, moderately satisfying, and obviously designed to encourage you to keep playing no matter what. Sure, it deviates from the core Lemmings formula that we all know and love, but then again, so do Lemmings games like Paintball, Revolution, Lomax, etc. If it wasn't part of the Lemmings franchise, I probably wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. But because it's Lemmings, it has just enough charm and familiarity for me to engage with it... for the time being.
Has anyone else tried LPA again recently? Its negative reputation is possibly not completely fairly earned, and playing it certainly involves a mental adjustment. It'll never replace any of the other Lemmings games in my affections, but thanks to my stupid restless brain and my curiosity I can report that it's not all bad.
Other lemmings games are designed to be played to completion. With LPA, there IS no completion. The aim is to keep playing, and keep playing, and keep playing, forever. Once you realise that, you can make the game work for you - and simply drop out whenever you want. It's very disposable. As mobile games go, it's towards the higher end of the continuum, considering some of the awful crap that's out there. And that seems to be because Exient's software updates have been aimed at making it more user friendly lately.
Thoughts, anyone?
However, recently when I was bored and distracted I decided to re-download it to my phone and give it another go, and after 18 months since my last attempt, I can report that I'm enjoying myself more than I expected.LPA is currently on season 66(!), and we all know exactly what kind of mobile game it is, but I feel like Exient did a good job of creating a lemmings game based on their brief. The tile-based gameplay for a touchscreen makes complete sense, and I actually find it less fiddly and frustrating than, say, Lemmings Touch on my PSVita. Is that heresy?
All I know is, Touch may be a superior Lemmings game, but I did find the controls a bit of an obstacle at times.Meanwhile, Puzzle Adventure DOES seem to have been tweaked and improved a bit. The free-to-play mobile game structure is still awkward and cringey, but the updates seem to have made it so that the prompts and ads are less intrusive and annoying. Because I'm a principled son-of-a-badger, I refuse outright to pay for in-game stuff OR to watch ads in exchange for gameplay features. And, 99% of the time, this seems to work for me. A lot of the prompts seem to be optional now, which I'm not sure was the case when I last tried the game over a year ago. I can get away with not paying anything or watching ads for as long as I like, it seems.
I admit that maybe I'm misremembering. And the only reason I decided to give the mobile game another go is because I was bored, curious, and knee-deep in my current Lemmings hyperfixation (hooray for neurodivergence!). But the core gameplay of LPA is short, moderately satisfying, and obviously designed to encourage you to keep playing no matter what. Sure, it deviates from the core Lemmings formula that we all know and love, but then again, so do Lemmings games like Paintball, Revolution, Lomax, etc. If it wasn't part of the Lemmings franchise, I probably wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. But because it's Lemmings, it has just enough charm and familiarity for me to engage with it... for the time being.
Has anyone else tried LPA again recently? Its negative reputation is possibly not completely fairly earned, and playing it certainly involves a mental adjustment. It'll never replace any of the other Lemmings games in my affections, but thanks to my stupid restless brain and my curiosity I can report that it's not all bad.
Other lemmings games are designed to be played to completion. With LPA, there IS no completion. The aim is to keep playing, and keep playing, and keep playing, forever. Once you realise that, you can make the game work for you - and simply drop out whenever you want. It's very disposable. As mobile games go, it's towards the higher end of the continuum, considering some of the awful crap that's out there. And that seems to be because Exient's software updates have been aimed at making it more user friendly lately.
Thoughts, anyone?
You're all too intelligent and cunning for the likes of me. And that's fine
It has more of a positive impact than you might realise
Yay!
Sorry if this has been covered already...
I'm not a total newbie, nor am I one of the higher-ups and Lemming "elite" (such as Lacktardo, pieuw, ClamSpammer, etc etc. whose challenging levels I really enjoy)... I'm kind of somewhere in between. 
I'm particularly intrigued that there are some new home-made levels for Lemmings 3 now...! 
Weeks of work... gone.