One of the all time great computer games gets a PSP revival in the form of Lemmings, an updated version of the super popular puzzler. Whether you're a new player looking for an insane amount of challenge or a fan of the original that truly wants to test his or her memory, this game will have your brain and fingers happy and hopping right from the start. Featuring over 150 classic and all-new stages, as well as a map editor that allows you to create and share your own crazy levels via Wi-Fi, there's enough here to keep you busy for weeks, and then some. Team 17 (yup, those fine folk behind the Worms franchise) have done a stellar job of revamping the visuals for the PSP and, despite their tiny size, those little green-haired Lemmings are full of life… at least for as long as you can keep them that way!

In case you've never heard of or played Lemmings, the idea of the game is simple - groups of up to 100 lemmings are set loose in a large level and you need to keep a certain number of them from following their hard-wired destiny to commit mass suicide. By using your head, the environment, and some of the cute green-coiffed critters themselves, you get both a mental and physical workout. You have help by assigning skills such as bridge building, climbing, digging, blocking and more to certain lemmings, with the perils of a constantly ticking clock and constantly moving lemmings to keep you on your toes. Each stage has an entrance and exit, separated by all sorts of hazards that your little green-haired guys will trundle mindlessly towards. The game starts off pretty simply, with the basics of selecting certain lemmings and activating their skills to help (or in some cases, impede) the other lemmings as they're navigated throughout the different levels. You'll need to think quickly, as these little guys don't stop for anything, but Team 17 has added the ability to pause the action and choose your next strategy, a feature missing from the original versions of the game.

This alone definitely makes this new Lemmings a bit more user-friendly to the easily frustrated set who need to stop and stare to figure things out. Some series purists may find this new addition jump-up-and-down screamworthy and sacrilegious, particularly since pausing the action almost feels like cheating in some maps - and yes, it makes the game too easy if overused. Personally, I think it's pretty keen, especially as I'm older and slower these days (that and the fact that the help is definitely welcome no matter your skill level happens to be). Pause function or not, one thing you do learn here is that you're not going to save every single lemming, so getting the controls dialed in and memorized is your best bet if you want to meet some of the tougher goals that the game throws at you. In terms of gameplay, things control quite well with the D-pad and buttons on the PSP. My only gripe comes from having to shuffle through unused skill slots right from the start of the game, rather than having them selectable as acquired. This isn't too big a negative (you do get used to it), but that new pause feature will come in handy when the going really gets rough. Where the previous versions of the game were for computers or home consoles, you had the luxury of being a bit further away from your monitor of TV while playing. On the PSP's glorious widescreen, the Lemmings are indeed dinky, but amazingly, Team 17 has made them quite expressive as they make their way throughout the game's levels.

Where Lemmings excels is in its monstrous difficulty curve. The levels are grouped into four levels of challenge and, yes, you'll be able to tell the difference between Fun, Tricky, Taxing and Mayhem maps within a second or two of starting a stage. The game gets the brain juices flowing and there are moments where you'll screw up and lose a half-dozen or more of your little guys before you have time to blink. Part of the thrill of Lemmings is knowing that something can and will go wrong while taking very quick steps to prevent a total loss and a level restart. Even if you hate trial and error in your game experiences, this is one of those games that's designed to make you 'try and err' over and over until you can pull yourself away and get back to the real world. Unless of course you decide to dip into the super-addictive level editor that allows you to construct your own puzzles of increasing challenge. You get a nice assortment of parts to tinker with and decent levels can take around half an hour or so to put together, once you get the hang of things.

In the move to the PSP, Team 17 wisely didn't go the lazy route and simply dump the original charming Amiga or console graphics onto the handheld. If you've played the originals, you'll love the updated visuals completely. If you haven't, you'll still be pleased with the great use of color and size of the many murderous maps. The fun character animation and super colorful visuals recall the developer's Worms games down to the typeface and stylized artwork. Generally you'll be paying more attention to keeping your green-coiffed charges alive, but the scan of each map at the start of a level is a nice touch. Despite the horrid fate awaiting a good deal of your pals, Lemmings is quite a cute game indeed; the sounds and music are catchy and fun at all times. If you're an oldie like me, you'll crack your face grinning as the excellent retooled music that brings back memories of losing Lemmings left and right repeatedly. "Ah…" and "Ahhhhhhh!" have never been more memorable, methinks.

If there are any complaints here, they're minor at best. The more myopic of you out there in gaming land may lament playing Lemmings on a portable screen when the home possibilities of a large TV are so tempting, but Sony has actually taken this to mind, allowing for new maps to be downloaded from the official Lemmings website as well as transferred to and from the upcoming PlayStation 2 version of the game. Multiplayer modes are nonexistent, but this seems more of a technical/aesthetic issue than a chance to add a new way to play this classic game. Still, sharing your user-created maps with friends via Wi-Fi and downloading other user-created maps gives Lemmings infinite replay value, something many games would die to have. Speaking of dying to have, although it wasn't created by Team 17, it would have been amazing to see as a hidden bonus the return of the excellent PSOne platformer The Adventures of Lomax, one of the cooler early gems on that system. However, even without the inclusion of this offbeat extra, Lemmings for the PSP is one of those smartly constructed titles that will tempt and tease your dexterity and thought processes alike each time you pick it up.

Reviewed by Greg Wilcox for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).