What is Lemmings all about you ask? Lemmings is all about cute little friendly critters with green hair that will walk, and walk, and walk some more in a straight line until they bump into something. Then they will turn around and walk and walk and walk. Well that is until they either run into something else or fall off a cliff and go splat on the ground.

Your job is to see the Lemmings safely through the maze of their short little lives and get them to the exit without loosing to many along the way. And of course they don’t know how to do anything but walk in a straight line. So you have to direct them to dig holes, build stairways, block traffic, climb walls, use a parachute and even explode when necessary.

Lemmings for the PSP has a number of different ways for you to enjoy the green little walkers. The “Original” section has all of the original mazes in four difficulty levels for your hair-pulling enjoyment. The “Special” section has 36 new and unique levels that will test your Lemming management skills and push you to the limits of sanity with the little devils, as each level becomes more difficult as the last. And then there is the final section where you can download custom levels from the web or build your own.

For those of you that are as ancient as me you will probably remember the original Lemmings game, the Original levels will bring back some happy shiny memories for you. And for those of you new to the Lemming scene, it will test your patience as you watch the poor little green haired walkers happily march off a cliff while your trying to figure out how to stop them. The four difficulty levels of “fun”, “tricky”, “taxing” and “mayhem” should give you an idea of just how much fun you will have with each of them. The first five levels of each difficulty level are already unlocked for your enjoyment. But if you want to see more, you have to leap in and save the little buggers from early retirement to advance to the next level.

The “Special” section has some interesting levels that will test your skills of observation and puzzle solving. Some of the solutions are not necessarily the most obvious choices that you could make. These puzzles are fun and challenging though.

The real challenge in the game will come with your ability to make new and interesting levels for the game and then share them with the world. So far I’ve not succeeded in making any levels that work well, either that or I’m better at building a puzzle than I am at solving it.

The system for creating your own levels is fairly easy to use and gives you access to, apparently, all the tools that the developers used when designing the levels for the packaged game. You can choose from any of the graphics bases, Crystals, Magma, etc… and can mix and match at your whim. You also have the ability to determine how many Lemmings will be released and how many have to be saved to “complete” the level as well as determining how many of each of the abilities will be available, like diggers, climbers, blockers, etc.

The graphics in the game are simple yet compellingly good looking. The Lemmings themselves are relatively small – but then consider the screen size this makes sense – so bring your bifocals with you when you play. The soundtrack is fun to listen to as they go splat at the bottom of the cliff. And the controls are fairly simple and straight forward. In terms of playing the game it has a very low learning curve.

My 9 year old enjoys playing the game, though only at the easiest of levels. My 7 year old gets to frustrated and just gives up in a pouty huff. So my guess is that somewhere around 8-9 is the youngest that you would want to let play the game, and probably more than anything will depend on their puzzle solving skills.

Lemmings is a blast and good for pretty much everyone. It definitely brings back the old days of the console in a portable format. Just don’t try to play the game while your walking or you may find yourself in freefall off the edge of that bridge over there.