Level Review – DoveLems

[Akseli]

Bad: Better English speakers than me could probably tell if there lacks (one or two) "the" word(s) from the title.

It's fine both with or without them. "Valley of Chameleons", "The Valley of Chameleons", "Valley of the Chameleons", "The Valley of the Chameleons"... all of these are perfectly valid English. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" /> In certain contexts, only specific ones might be correct, but as a level name, any of them are fine.

Oh, thank you! Maybe I really should try to find out more about things before I embarrass myself once again. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />

Another builder level with a twist, as there are upside-down pools preventing the player from building way too high.

Actually, if you didn't know, inverted objects in Lemmini don't trigger at all. So, the upsidedown water pools are totally harmless! You can take the high road in this level. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" />

Dodochacalo seems to have a habit of placing water traps at the bottom of the level, so far under that they often don't even trigger. [The lemming 'eeks' off screen instead of drowning] I wonder why?

You know, there's always aesthetic and other author's preference reasons, like the upsidedown water pools in Sky Won't Help You. :b

Let Him Go Alone . . .: Like I said I thought of that over two years ago when I first played DoveLems, and I still keep wondering how that kind of solution was possible with such simple skills in a such simple situation, without being obscure at all. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/smiley.gif" alt=":)" title="Smiley" class="smiley" /> By the way, I attached the pixel precise backroute solution to this post, unfortunately it's pretty much impossible to prevent, but it's still hard to find because of the precision.


Coward 30 – A Perfect Symmetry

http://geoo.digibase.ca/lemmings/DovelemsPictures/C30.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

Lemmings: 50
Save: 50 (100%)
Release Rate: 85
Time: 2 minutes
Skills: 1 climber, 2 floaters, 3 builders, 2 bashers, 1 digger

Good: An impressive challenge where you have to pay attention to careful timing and skill placement, which leads to an exquisite, eclectic solution characteristic to Dodochacalo's levels. The level leads towards the solution a bit, so it won't be too demanding or harsh. A simplistic, yet surprisingly pretty Brick design excluding the oneway-wall. Is a hard level compared to the whole rating, which is characteristic to every final level in their ratings in DoveLems, whereas the difficulty curves inside the ratings are higgledy-piggledy.

Bad: Well, the title isn't that accurate and fitting to the level I guess. http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/tongue.gif" alt=":P" title="Tongue" class="smiley" /> Otherwise this is pretty much a really splendid level.


Coward rating done! There's so many levels I like really much, but if I try to list some of my favourites, they possibly could be 1 - Caution, Work in Progress !, 5 - Avoid the FlameThrower, 7 - City Machines Lemmings, 11 - Every Lem for Himself !, 13 - SeeSaw, 23 - Ask the Oracle, 26 - Let Him Go Alone . . . and 28 - Valley of Chameleons.
For me, the easiest levels were 2 - Toes of the Earth, 10 - Bashers are Back !, 19 - Look into the Telescope and 25 - Academy of Eight.
I found the hardest levels to be 5 -  Avoid the FlameThrower, 28 - Valley of Chameleons and 30 - The Perfect Symmetry.

[Tiduas]

Sorry if this is extremely obvious to everyone, but how do I play these levels? I've downloaded the .ini-files available in this thread but which player can I use to play them? Woud Lemmix be able to do it? (searched the documentation and stuff there but didn't really get that as well).  http://www.lemmingsforums.com/Smileys/lemmings/XD.gif" alt=":XD:" title="XD" class="smiley" />

I'm enjoying all of the reviews in this thread, love playing a level myself and then see what others thought about it afterwards.

[Wafflem]

You'll need Lemmini for this one. Here is the http://lemmini.de/" class="bbc_link" target="_blank">link.

If you want to play the games, however, you'll need the WinLemm files.

[Wafflem]

Alright, let's go on to the ish rating!

(sorry guys for posting a lot in the Level Review topics, it's just that the forums tend to be idle sometimes, and I needed to wake it up in some way.)



ish 1 - Welcome to the Jungle!
(okay, I should stop using that devil emoticon  )

80 Lemmings
100% (80) to be saved
Release Rate 70
3 Minutes
4 Builders, 3 bashers, 1 miner

Good: Another wonderful rank starter that requires you to do this one in a certain sequence to bring all the lemmings together and get them safely to the exit. The intended solution is quite clever. This level also shows that even with rough terrain, you can still create an effective puzzling level.
Bad: Nothing, the level starts things off wonderfully for this rank.

[Nepster]

Devilish 2 - Integrated Circuit



Lemmings: 10
Save: 90% = 9 lemmings
Release Rate: 1
Time: 3 minutes
Skills: 9 builders, 1 blocker

Good: A very dynamic level. Its main theme is used several times with slight variations.
Bad: Skill placement needs to be rather precise or you will save only 8 lemmings. Carefully analyzing the terrain is necessary, unless you want to be surprised by traps (on the left-hand side) or small gaps in vertical bars (at the bottom right corner).

[Akseli]

Devilish 1: Another masterful level, but I actually managed to find a flaw from it: The middle steel block is not steelified. This is a rare case in the entire pack, though. I have to agree with you there, every starter level of ratings are particularly strong.


Devilish 3 - Bubble Bath



Lemmings: 10
Save: 10 (100%)
Release Rate: 1
Time: 4 minutes
Skills: 2 climbers, 10 builders, 3 diggers

Good: A clean, effective main idea, and realizing it is not quite enough, because you also need to take care of the worker lemmings in many ways. A very fitting level for its place, and I've always considered the early Devilish to be one of the strongest sections in DoveLems. The main area is pretty for eyes.

Okay: This level belongs to those levels that have the most common level title ever.

Bad: Or should the title issue go here? Nah. I'm always ready to jump into this bubble bath!

[grams88]

I loved the idea with that bubble bath level as I felt that it seemed unique in a sense as you had to make a gap but not just a one dig gap, a much wider gap. I like it with all the bubbles and stuff it looks cool.

[Hypotenuse]

<strong>Coward 4 - Use Something to Turn!</strong>

<img src="http://geoo.digibase.ca/lemmings/DovelemsPictures/C4.png" alt="" class="bbc_img" />

<strong>Lemmings:</strong> 50
<strong>Save:</strong> 35 (70%)
<strong>Release rate:</strong> 1
<strong>Time:</strong> 2 minutes
<strong>Skills:</strong> 12 builders, 3 miners

<strong>Good:</strong> Simple but clever turnaround concept. Pretty design with great decorative touches.

<strong>Bad:</strong> In the Lemmini mechanics the miners always leave a ramp, making this significantly harder than it should be. Time limit and high lemming count mean you have to remember to change the release rate halfway through, which adds nothing to the puzzle.

Funny story: my closest fellow-lemmings-enthusiast, my mother, found a bit of a backroute to "Use Something to Turn." She figured out that instead of using your third pickaxe-guy at the bottom, you can just build stairs to the rock formation to the right, and, if you are vigilant and make the right lemmings build at the optimal times, you can barely make the required saving percentage. Sounds hard, and it was for me at least, but I'd say it's not as difficult as trying to mine out the perfect chunk at the bottom. (And oh yeah, thank heavens for 'replay.')