Lomax

Oh no. more Lemmings? Well, yes and no. Lomax is a cutesy-pie platform game from Psygnosis (interestingly, the original Lemmings creators DMA Design don't appear to have been involved), which takes the familiar sights and sounds of LemmingLand and applies them to the platform game genre. The end result is something that's halfway between Rayman and Sonic The Hedgehog in appearance - and gameplay. So, instead of a rip-roaring, ledge-leaping adventure, the likes of which has never been seen before, we're left with a fairly banal, uninspiring trek through every platform game cliche in the book. In fact, it's so derivative, you could say it was the computer game equivalent of Rory Bremner or Mike Yarwood because it insists on impersonating other titles you've seen and played in the past. Zero points for originality, then. The visuals try hard and the animation is agreeably smooth and enticing, but the lack of a hi-resolution mode (320x200 is as good as it gets, folks) and the paucity of original content marks the entire project down as something of an also-ran. The heavy-handed concessions to 3D gameplay fail to convince, too. Make no mistake though - I've got nothing against dated games, so long as the gameplay grabs me roughly with both hands and shakes me out of my stupor - something Lomax singularly failed to achieve.