Lemmings 3D

When you pick up Lemmings 3D, you're almost certainly expecting a venture into the three-dimensional world of those little green furballs. Reality, however, is different — back in the nineties, it was actually quite a bold gamble to transform a strategic puzzle game played from above into something where you move through space like in an adventure.

Instead of commanding hundreds of lemmings at once, you're faced with a smaller group and a completely different perspective. You control one of them directly, jumping across platforms, collecting items, and trying to find your way out through the right spots. The platform physics, which were solid for computers of that era, sometimes let you down — the lemming falls in weird ways, sometimes it won't move where you think it should. The controls aren't terrible, but they're not natural either; you feel like the game sometimes works against your intentions, even when you've got a good plan.

Where the game falters is in its battle with the camera. The three-dimensional space looks reasonable, the scenery is colorful, but orientation can confuse you at times. The levels aren't particularly long — that's more of a shame, really. It would've been interesting to see how the nineties would've handled more expansive levels. The puzzle logic becomes clear quickly — you click on things, unlock doors, push cubes around. Nothing revolutionary.

Lemmings 3D is interesting as an attempt, not as a result. Once those adorable miniature armies vanished, and with them the chaos and strategy, the game lost the essence of its charm. What remained is a nice jumping puzzle that just lacks the soul of the original. Today it's more of a curiosity piece — something to check out and see how someone back in 1997, who probably shouldn't have known better, tried to do things differently.

It's worth playing if you want to experience what it looked like when the series attempted to leap into the third dimension. It's not a crime, it's just not a reason to come back to it. For the modern player, it'll be a boring mid-tier puzzle with archaic controls. For collectors, though, it has its value — a testament to the experimentation of the golden age.