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Proxima's Reviews

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WillLem:

--- Quote from: Proxima on September 16, 2021, 01:52:40 AM ---Lemmings Plus I

--- End quote ---

Great review, Proxima. It's interesting to know some of the history of this pack. I'd say it's comparable to GeoffLems in scope and in its imitative-of-L1 style, with some of the better levels being easily the same if not even higher quality.

One of the great things about this pack is that it does have conceptual "exploration of an idea" type levels, such as presenting a 30-of-everything as level 28 of the final rank, whilst removing the one skill that would make it an absolute doddle.

These are the things which make a pack more interesting, and I hope to see more of that kind of thing from level creators in the future.


--- Quote from: Proxima on September 16, 2021, 01:52:40 AM ---(except for one level that uses updrafts to simulate direct drop)

--- End quote ---

Hmm. Sounds familiar ;P

Proxima:
DoveLems

DoveLems by Dodochacalo, converted and maintained by IchoTolot

124 levels (4 ranks of 30 each, and a bonus rank). No talismans.

Features: Original skills, objects and tilesets only (except for one level where a glider stands in for an intentional use of the "miner crosses 1-pixel gap" glitch). Some levels use pick-up skills (only in the NeoLemmix conversion) to enforce an intended solution. Similarly to Lemmings Plus I, the first rank starts with skill tutorial levels and consists mostly of open-ended repeats of later levels, although even these vary the skillset a little rather than being strictly 10 or 20 of everything.

DoveLems was originally built in Lemmini, at the time when that was the hottest new engine. I believe it was first posted in another online community, now defunct; because of this, it's hard to be sure of the history of the pack, but Dodochacalo's own video solutions were first posted in 2011, so the pack probably dates from around then. It is often thought of as a sister pack to Pieuw's PimoLems, made around the same time; the authors (both French) clearly shared some ideas; for a long time these two packs stood out as the examples of large packs imitating the original games. DoveLems, being the easier of the two, was often recommended as a first custom pack for new players, and kickstarted the careers of many Lemmings LPers, including roundthewheel.

Icho's conversion is faithful to the original, and his changes are mostly a matter of preventing backroutes, but this is always done with respect to how the pack should come across to relatively inexperienced players. In particular, a smooth difficulty curve is maintained all the way through the pack (except for the "Bonus" rank, which is not sorted by difficulty at all).

A few years ago, I converted this pack to Lix, back in the days when Lix supported the original tilesets; many levels didn't entirely work as intended, due to the absence of one-way walls. So this is another one that I'm very happy to have finally beaten in its intended form. As usual with packs of its era, there are the odd levels that test execution rather than solving ability; but the majority of levels in the second half are ingenious puzzles, many of them looking utterly impossible at first sight.

Difficulty: Definitely one of the more approachable custom packs, since it doesn't really start to get hard until the second half, and even then, most levels have features that help to point the player towards the solution; it is usually possible to pinpoint the route the main crowd will use, and work out the solution logically from there. The peak difficulty is lower than that of Lemmings Plus I and similar to Lemminas, making this still a great choice for a first custom pack for a new player.

Favourite levels:
* "Welcome to the Jungle!" is a great puzzle level with a beautiful solution in which a small number of skills are used to their full potential. Placing this as a rank opener really lets the player know what they can expect from this pack.
* "In the Heart of the Pyramid", "Live from the Pentagon" and "Complete Autarky" stood out as stumpers that were very satisfying to solve.
* "Make the Big 8" is an absolutely beautiful level whose solution involves everything coming together across the entire level area. One would think it would be impossible to make this backroute-free, but Dodochacalo does this with the hand of a master.

Overall impressions: Despite some rough patches and showing its age in places, this is still a pack that every Lemmings player should play all the way through. For new players, doing so will teach you a lot about what the skills can do beyond what you learned in the original game.

Proxima:
Lemmings DD

Lemmings DD by WillLem

32 levels (4 ranks of 8). 18 talismans.

Features: Original and new skills. All levels have updrafts above the exits, so as to incorporate direct drop solutions in a fair way. All levels are remakes of layouts from original Lemmings, with new solutions based around the direct drop mechanic.

Direct drop (the ability of lemmings falling onto an exit trigger to exit safely regardless of fall height) has a long and chequered history. It was originally a glitch present in some versions of Lemmings, including DOS and Genesis, but not Amiga or Mac. The Genesis game in particular has some levels that are trivialised by direct drop backroutes, demonstrating that the developers were unaware of the mechanic. Much later, ccexplore was able to analyse the code, and determined that code existed to prevent fallers from exiting, but direct drop was possible because the code didn't take into account that splatters exist as a separate state from fallers.

Lemmix allowed direct drop because it aims to mimic DOS Lemmings, and Cheapo allowed it by deliberate choice of its developer; so in the years when these two engines dominated the custom level scene, architects just had to accept that direct drop was possible, and exits often had to be carefully protected from backroute attacks from above. NeoLemmix also supported direct drop for a while, but when it moved from one executable per pack to a single executable, a forum discussion resulted in the decision to have only one set of mechanics and to leave direct drop in the past, with updrafts being available when a designer especially wanted to enable a direct-drop-like solution.

Lemmings DD is unashamedly driven by nostalgia for the direct drop mechanic, but the pack can be enjoyed on its own terms regardless of how one feels about the mechanic in general. Since the levels are constrained by adherence to the original layouts, most of the puzzles are fairly simple, and any-way-you-want levels predominate even in the late ranks. Levels are arranged in the order they had in the original game, but care has been taken to make the ranks get gradually harder as the pack progresses.

Difficulty: Easy to medium, with a couple of levels towards the end being hard just because they sprawl over a wide area.

Favourite levels: "Take a Running Drop..." and "With a drop of lemming, please" are nice puzzles that stand out in a not especially puzzly pack.

Overall impressions: It's an okay pack if you want something in the style of the original, if you particularly enjoy skill-saving challenges, or if you feel especially nostalgic for direct drop. Otherwise, another one that's quite fun but not especially memorable.

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