The Adventures of Lomax

The Adventures of Lomax, released in Europe simply as Lomax, is a 1997 platform game. It was developed by Psygnosis and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows. This title is a spin-off from the Lemmings series. Players control Lomax, a lemming knight on a mission to save his fellow lemmings, who have been brainwashed by the evil wizard Evil Ed.

In the story, Lomax’s friends have been transformed into monsters by the cruel lemming wizard Evil Ed. To rescue them, Lomax must travel through Lemmingland and ultimately defeat Evil Ed. Along the way, he can receive guidance from the elderly wizard Lorock.

The gameplay builds on the style seen in Erwin Kloibhofer and Henk Nieborg’s earlier game, Flink. It is a side-scrolling platformer with four main worlds, each containing three levels. The enemies are brainwashed lemmings turned into deadly monsters, such as zombies, cowboys, and aliens. Lomax’s main attack involves spinning around, which can both defeat enemies and prevent damage from bumping into them. When defeated, enemies revert to ordinary lemmings, who then, true to their nature, jump off the nearest ledge. Coins are scattered throughout levels, and collecting enough grants extra lives. Magic helmets can also be found; they serve as weapons and provide immunity from one attack, after which the helmet is lost. Beyond standard platforming, Lomax can use abilities from the original Lemmings, like building bridges and blowing up obstacles, as well as some new ones.

Reception was mixed. A reviewer for Next Generation gave a generally negative review, noting that while the game wasn’t all bad for a side-scroller, the story was uninteresting and the 2D platform genre felt played out. However, reviewers for GameSpot and Electronic Gaming Monthly saw it as a welcome return to 2D jumping, since no new entries in the genre had appeared for a while. They praised the colorful graphics, smooth animation, and fun gameplay. EGM’s Crispin Boyer stated that the game proves PlayStation titles don’t need to be 3-D to be good, and GameSpot’s Hugh Sterbakov concluded that while not state-of-the-art, it is a genuinely fun ride.