The mobile version of Lemmings is officially released. Normally, Lemmings fans will be as excited as ever when they finally can enjoy their favorite game while traveling, sitting or lying in bed. Unfortunately, tasking their army by the mobile phones might be fun, but Sony made it not-so-easy.
Originally, Lemmings is a puzzle-platformer video game released in 1991. The rule of the game is pretty simple. You are the leader of an army of the green-haired lemmings, and your task is to lead your army from one point to another. Your army, however, is likely to run into troubles. You have to prevent them from doing faulty things such as walking off a cliff by giving them special tasks. Some might be the obstacles to prevent your lemmings from going into their deaths, others might create staircases to get your army to somewhere. Lemmings is attractive in a way that it is both fun and frustrating. You can take a look at the trailer of this game here.
The Lemmings game on mobile is a free-to-play game, but it is only what Sony calls it. The game relies on advertisement and in-app-purchases to make money, and it also features an infuriating energy system. At the beginning of the game, you will have a certain amount of “energy” to spend, and this energy is required if you wish to play. Once your energy is completely spent, you have to wait to be able to continue playing. Otherwise, an alternative would be paying to play. It costs you $7 to refresh your energy, but guess what, that ‘unlimited energy’ is only available for only 2 hours. In short, it is free to download the game, but it is not free to play it unless you are really patient.
No worry. For those who get more frustrated with the way Sony treats their gamers, they can try out some alternatives of Lemmings on their smartphones.
Caveman
The gameplay of Caveman reminds us of Lemmings’, but what is better is that we can try it for free.
Caveman is available for both iOS and Andriod in normal, lite, HD and HD lite versions. For lite versions, it is free, but for normal and HD versions, it will cost players $3 and $5 respectively.
Zombiez!
The lemmings are actually mindless and follow your direction without questions, just like the zombies. This theme is creative and suits the context of the game perfectly. Besides, if the undead zombies die, no one would care.
This game is free but on iOS only.
Kiwanuka
The graphics of Kiwanuka is gorgeous, and the first review of this game on the App Store already tells the nature of this game: “Lemmings for short attention spans.” Lemmings makes you construct your bridges, while in Kiwanuka, you can use your own creature to create the bridges, how awesome this idea is!
Kiwanuka is $1-4 on both iOS and Android.
Spirits
In this game, the lemmings will come in the form of the spirits of the fallen leaves. There are four “tasks” that you can assign to lead the spirits to the final destination, and only one task can be handed out at once: dig tunnels, build a bridge of leaves, create a blowing cloud, or block wind currents. The artwork of this title is also stunning.
This game is on iOS only and it costs you $3.
Bunny Mania 2
Despite its terrible name, the game is merely a bunnies version of Lemmings. The hint system of this game makes it easier for players in case the level got too difficult for you.
It is available on Android for $1.