All New World of Lemmings
| Company type | Video game |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Founder | DMA Design |
| Headquarters | United Kingdom |
| Products | All New World of Lemmings |
| Parent | Psygnosis |
All New World of Lemmings, released in 1994 for Amiga and MS-DOS platforms, represents the third entry in the Lemmings franchise. In North America, it was marketed under the title The Lemmings Chronicles. Published by Psygnosis, this game was the last Lemmings installment created by DMA Design.
The gameplay retains the classic mechanics, requiring players to direct lemmings safely to their destination by allocating suitable abilities.
Plot
Picking up the narrative from Lemmings 2, the storyline centers on three of the twelve tribes that fled Lemming Island: the Shadow, Classic, and Egyptian groups. Each tribe departs from their airborne Ark to investigate new territories.
Gameplay
This version showcases enlarged lemming sprites and introduces adversaries alongside a novel approach to skill assignment. It offers a total of 90 stages—divided equally with 30 levels per tribe—and provides five skills per level, with additional abilities unlocked through collectible items. A "replay" feature enables users to automatically repeat prior moves and continue from any chosen moment. Practice levels are included to facilitate experimentation with all available items.
Development
According to Mike Dailly of DMA Design, Lemmings 3 was mainly developed to meet contractual requirements with Psygnosis rather than to push creative boundaries. The decision to increase character size—prompted by branding requests from Children's Television Workshop—added complexity to development and negatively impacted gameplay. David Jones, head of DMA Design, remarked on the team's need for respite following three intense years devoted to the series. Although a 3DO version was announced at E3 1995, it ultimately never reached release for reasons that remain undisclosed.
Reception
A reviewer from Next Generation awarded the MS-DOS edition three out of five stars, highlighting that while the fundamental objective of rescuing suicidal lemmings remained intact, the game avoided monotony through larger lemming visuals, striking new backgrounds, and numerous added features. It was praised as "an excellent new perspective on an old stand-by."
Sequels
The next release in the Lemmings lineup, 3D Lemmings (1995), departed from both the plot and many gameplay elements established in Lemmings 2 and All New World of Lemmings.
External links
- (archived)