Hamsters for DOS (1994) - Lemmings clone

[Ben H]

So I've been playing/testing a bunch of different lemmings clones lately, trying to decide what direction I want to take for a lemmings fan-game and I came across this: http://www.mobygames.com/game/hamsters

What I love about this game as opposed to some of the other, more-modern lemmings clones, is that it really has that same lemmings feel and style of game play.

Even though it has fairly basic graphics by today's standards, it still looks good. And the hamsters have a few neat tricks up their sleeves.

Hamster abilities are:

SLEEPER : the number one thing hamsters do with their time, this will block all hamsters walking into him and make them turn around.
ANTI-GRAVITY : this will reverse gravity for that hamster.  They can't do many other tasks while on the ceiling, but it is useful sometimes.
ROCK CLIMBER : this one climbs a wall that is too steep to walk up normally.
STICKY ROLLER : curls up into a big hairball and rolls along any surface, sticking to the walls, floor, and ceiling.
CATAPULTER : sits in one spot and throws any hamster that walks by him.
DIVER : a hamster survives a fall better if they dive it rather that just plummet.  It doesn't help them swim however.
RAMMER : this one will run until it hits a wall then it will knock out a tunnel in the wall. (be careful, if this one falls, he goes unconscious, or dead after less falling time)
JACK-HAMMERER : digs straight down.
BURROWER DOWN : burrows a hole diagonally down.
BURROWER UP : burrows a hole diagonally up.
FOOT BRIDGER : builds a foot-bridge for the hamsters to walk on.
SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTOR : blows up after a random amount of time.

Anyway it's freeware/abandonware now, if you want to try it.

http://www.myabandonware.com/game/hamsters-2u6

[namida]

I remember playing the demo of this back in the day and finding it quite interesting; dont' think I ever played the full version. I'll have to try it again at some point.

[ccexplore]

SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTOR : blows up after a random amount of time.  [emphasis added by me]

Hmm, haven't tried the game yet, but the sentence quoted above caught my eye.   ...So I guess the game designer must really hate the player.

[grams88]

I remember playing this game a long time ago, now a month or so ago I tried this game again and got stuck at the third level. It's an interestlng little game I have to say, mind you it does take a bit of time to get used to it because of learning all the different skills the hamsters can do.