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Proxima's Reviews
Proxima:
Welcome to Proxima's Reviews!
So, this is an idea I've had for a while; it wasn't inspired by DireKrow's thread, although we have been talking about our threads in discord and mutually encouraging each other.
I've been around the custom Lemmings scene for a long time now, but I haven't actually finished very many packs. So I decided, as a way to motivate myself, that every time I finish a pack, I will post a review -- not level by level as with DireKrow's thread, but of the pack as a whole. I will concentrate on the following aspects:
Identity -- Pack name and date, name of original author and current maintainer (if any)
Statistics -- Number of levels and ranks, talismans
Features -- Does the pack use NeoLemmix's new skills and objects? Does it have any special gimmicks? (I am not trying to make a point about the new skills/objects being good or bad. It's just that because of the way NeoLemmix has developed and many level packs from older engines have been ported to NL, there is a fairly sharp divide between packs that use the new features and ones that don't; so this is a point of interest for anyone reading about the pack.)
Historical context -- What engine the pack was originally made for; features of interest about the process of converting it for NL (such as added or removed levels); the impact the pack has had on the development of the community. Here in particular, I'll try to do my research, but there will often be a lot I don't know and I'm open to adding information if anyone has anything to contribute.
Thoughts on the pack -- The meat of the review :P Here I will talk about how much I enjoyed the pack as a whole; any particular favourite levels; I'll try to concentrate on the positives, but if there are any un-favourite levels I might mention that too 8-)
Difficulty -- What level of player would I recommend it for? Is the difficulty fairly steady throughout the pack or is there a wide range?
Overall impression -- A summary to finish with.
I was hoping to start with either Lemmings Plus I or GeoffLems, but I haven't been able to finish either of those yet, and since DireKrow is reviewing MazuLems, and I've played that pack before in Lix but some of the Lix mechanics are not exactly true to the original game, I decided to quickly play through MazuLems so I could read DireKrow's reviews without spoilers. So, MazuLems ended up being the first pack (other than Lemmings Redux) I've truly finished in NeoLemmix, and will be my first review.
Requesting a review
If you would like me to review your pack, or have a suggestion for a pack I should play, that's great, but please be patient. My #1 rule is that before reviewing a pack, I have to solve every level without help. I also don't want to have too many packs I'm in the middle of playing at any one time. Also, I will only review packs playable on NL 12.7 or later, so no old-formats or gimmicks packs, or packs for other engines.
Packs I am currently playing
GeoffLems
PimoLems
Lemmings Migration
Lemmings Plus II
Review index
#1 MazuLems
#2 MiniLems
#3 Sammings
#4 Tame Gone Wild
#5 Lemminas
#6 Lemmings Plus I
#7 DoveLems
#8 Lemmings DD
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grams88:
Hi Proxima
I have a small level pack of about 20 levels (Nuked Lemmings) which I think you would quite like. I tried to do each level different than the previous one. It's sort of hard.
Proxima:
MazuLems
MazuLems by Martin Zurlinden, converted and maintained by namida
32 levels (1 rank of 30, with 2 "Extra" levels). No talismans.
Features: Original skills and mechanics only. A couple of levels were intended to use features that NL no longer supports (invisible exit, invisible terrain, timed bombers). The levels do not seem to be sorted in any way.
MazuLems was made for DOS Lemmings in, I believe, 2001 or 2002, and is one of the earliest known custom Lemmings packs. As such, it predates the convention of organising levels in ranks and by approximate difficulty order. It should, I believe, be treated as a collection of individual levels.
For the most part, its levels are solid puzzle levels that still hold up by modern standards. There's a good mixture of levels with single solutions, levels with main tricks but a lot of room for the player to choose their own approach, and anything-goes levels. As expected from such an early pack, several levels experiment with new directions; some of these (such as, again, the invisible exit and invisible terrain) are no longer popular, while others, such as the tricks in "Holy Cow" and "Mastermind", are now recognisable as the first instances of tricks that have become part of mainstream level design.
Difficulty: Definitely one of the more accessible packs as an introduction to custom levels for someone who's finished the original game. The lack of ordering may be off-putting to some. It should be noted that "It's a Magical World" was intended to use a glitch in DOS Lemmings, and is only solvable at all in NeoLemmix with a tricky unintended solution (however, the main trick of this solution is shown earlier in the pack).
Favourite levels:
* "The Pool" is a great puzzle level that stumped me for a long time (back when I played this pack in Lix) and was really satisfying to finally beat.
* "Achtung Lemming" is another really nice puzzle that isn't harmed in any way by having multiple solutions. (On discord last night, namida tracked down Martin Zurlinden's original document, which I've attached, with his intended solutions, so I know that my solution to this one wasn't intended.)
* "Four Lemmings and a Funeral" is really hard and has a great trick to the solution. However, the enforcement is simply "delay the non-workers as much as possible so the worker can finish a long bridge", a level type that tends to be prone to backroutes and to not making it clear enough when the player is on a red herring path that can't lead to a solution.
Overall impressions: A solid, fun level pack that doesn't really have any bad levels. A couple that are not to my taste ("Stalkers" and "Fallout Boys" in particular) but even these were still satisfying to play and beat. I would definitely recommend anyone new to the custom Lemmings scene to include this pack in their playlist.
Proxima:
MiniLems
MiniLems by WillLem
64 levels (4 ranks of 16). No talismans.
Features: Mostly original skills and mechanics; a couple of levels add walkers or have unlock buttons. All levels are "miniaturised" remakes of the original levels, usually with fewer lemmings and fewer skills. Only one level has been kept from each repeat pair.
We've all taken a certain amount of inspiration from the original levels from time to time, and most packs have at least one or two levels that are clearly traceable to individual levels from the original game. MiniLems takes this further, and gives us a new take on the majority of the original levels.
The pack starts off quite strongly. The Fun and Tricky 20-of-everything levels have mostly been reduced to 3 of everything (sometimes with an exception for builders, sometimes not), so many levels will require some creativity in coming up with new solutions. By the Taxing rank, the pack seems to have lost its way somewhat, with many levels that just rehash their original solutions (and some are even easier than the originals!) Fortunately, the Mayhem rank picks things up again -- there are some rehashes here, but there are also some fun new challenges.
Difficulty is easy to medium throughout; a little harder than the original game but not by much.
Favourite levels:
* "We are now at LEMCON ONE", surprisingly, became quite challenging to save 100% (although it's still easy just to pass).
* "Nightmare on Lem Street", of all levels, is no longer completely trivial and became a pretty neat puzzle! :thumbsup:
* I won't spoil the surprise here, but I love what was done with "All the 6's" and "I have a cunning plan".
* "Walk the web rope" was uninspired when I first played it, but after feedback, WillLem has replaced it with a really nice puzzle.
* Finally, "Save Me" and "Rendezvous at the Mountain" both became suitably challenging to make a nice climax to the pack.
Overall impressions: A pretty fun "coffee break" to tackle in between more serious packs. A few annoyances and filler levels, but not enough to spoil the fun (although mileage might vary, depending on whether you already feel tired of original-level rehashes). Some levels have unexpected depth for maximum saved and other challenges.
Proxima:
Sammings
Sammings by mantha16
32 levels (4 ranks of 8). No talismans.
Features: Original and new skills; some unlock buttons and pickup skills but no other new objects. Each rank uses a single tileset, and each set of levels takes the form of variations on a theme, with the overall structure of the layout remaining constant, while each level makes small changes to the terrain, as well as having its own skillset. All layouts are extremely minimalistic, using the least terrain pieces needed to make the levels work.
This is a really nice offering from a new level designer, and shows what can be done with the "variations on a theme" format. Each level has its own distinct identity, and even playing eight variations in a row never felt repetitive. There is a nice progression from easy to tricky within each rank, and a good range of tricks are showcased in the solutions.
Difficulty: One of the most accessible custom packs out there. Each rank starts with very basic levels and gradually builds up complexity, but even the toughest levels are just about putting a couple of tricks together, sometimes with elements of positioning or timing.
Favourite levels: "Bubble Bubble, Toil and Trouble", "Ruddy Marblellous" and "A Rolling Rock Gathers No Lems" stand out as interesting and fun puzzles using very simple terrain.
Overall impressions: This is a really fun pack that I would especially recommend to new players who want to start with an easier pack that will challenge them a little and help them to learn some simple tricks.
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