Lemmings for Pc

I really enjoy the game and have progressed pretty far. The developers have done a great job adapting the game I remember from Commodore days to iPhone! The only complaint is the monetization through strictly limiting replay and either throttling play or requiring $6.99 every 2 hours (as far as I can tell). I would like to share this game with nieces/nephews because I think it's both fun and great at teaching logic/programming concepts but I don't know how I could hand it to a kid and let them learn by trial and error with the constant need to pay money and watch ads. Would happily pay for an ad-free non-crippled version. Please add some kind of "permanent unlock for $$$." Otherwise, I'd add that the levels are too easy. I'm 10 or so worlds in and solve every level on the first or second try. Harder levels with more ability to retry levels 5 or 10 times would be a great improvement. Kids are going to play quickly and fail a lot on each level, which is fine and how they learn, but the game's energy system is set up to punish this which is a real shame.

I have been writing and rewriting this review in my head for days but today was a last straw. This game is fun and the original was one of my favs in the 90s. However this is only getting 2 stars because of greed and inconsistencies. The daily spin is not truly daily, I have watched at midnight the daily spin go from 1 min to 23 hours 59 mins with no spin. It happened to me today I went to bed last night before midnight and when I went in for the first time today no spin. It is not just the spins. The energy is a problem. I read another review that mentioned the point of these games is to keep you playing for hours. If I have no energy I cannot keep playing. Don’t tell me that you can watch a quick video to get energy. You can do that once in a while and then you only get 10 energy which is not enough to get through most of the levels. You don’t have the option to watch 6 videos and get 60 energy and you can’t control when to watch a video. Another thing, why can’t the total amount of energy increase as you level? The original game if a builder made steps and it was in the wrong place a digger could dig it clear without blowing up a lemming. The different this app are cute and fun to collect and I think it is great that they show up in the puzzles. I don’t know if I am going to keep playing. 6.99 is just too much to play for only two hours.

This truly could have been a fantastic game. They basically took “this app” and created a dumbed down mobile version, which isn’t entirely bad. The problem with this game is the greed. Instead of a $4.99 or $9.99 full game unlock, they offer a bizarre pay-to-play model where you get unlimited energy for 2 hours by paying $6.99. You can also buy a small or large number of coins, but I’m guessing they want you to go for the two hours. Once you run out of energy, you’re stuck paying $6.99, buying coins, or turning off the game... which is also bizarre. The wait time to regain energy is so long, I’m literally not in the app for several hours throughout the day. I know they need to make it painful enough that I feel obligated to part with my money, but they make the wait time so long, there’s no possible way for anyone to get addicted. The last thing they should have me do is close the app. That is your product, and you should want me to be signed in at all times. You should make me want to part with my money, instead of making me frustrated that I can’t play... Personally, the business model just doesn’t make sense, and I really hope people stop giving into this. I know statistically, 1% or 2% of people tend to be the big cash cow for these pay-to-play apps, but people please... $6.99 for 2 hours. It can’t get much greedier than that! All that being said, I still would have preferred it to be more like the original.

While the gameplay itself is fun, you will quickly find yourself running out of energy, forcing you to either stop playing or buy more. Which, while annoying, is common fare in free to play games. But the real problem with the energy mechanics comes into play when you get into the ‘tournament’ feature. I have not seen anything as blatantly ‘pay to win’ as that. Basically, whoever saves the most this app in a certain amount of time wins and gets the best prizes. So...more energy directly equals more this app. How is someone supposed to fairly compete when they burn through all 60 of their energy in a few levels then have to stop and wait an hour and a half for another 20 before even being able to play again(and even then for only like 2 or 3 levels before running out again), when other people with more money than sense can just keep shelling out the 7 bucks needed for 2 hours of unlimited energy or otherwise keep buying coins to buy energy and power ups with? It is inherently unfair to those who either don’t have the money, or otherwise can’t purchase the over priced micro transactions. I don’t like that. Would have been an easy 5 Stars for being fun and full of nostalgia, but gotta knock off 3 stars for the blatant greed and imbalance of the energy mechanics and micro transactions.