Lemmy Lizard vs The Mecha Eggs (XBLIG): "Hardcore Platforming Featuring Lemmy the Lizard"

By now most of you have seen 'Lemmy Lizard vs The Mecha-Eggs' sitting untouched amidst my other 'Future Reviews'. There was a good reason for this. I'm a reviewer who usually likes to get reviews squared away as soon as possible, but the developer of this game requested that I hold off until a patch was released. The request didn't bother me at all since I think it's great that an XBLIG developer thinks enough about their customers that they are willing to issue a patch/update. This lets me know that this developer (Wytchlight) wants to deliver a playable, and fully functioning title. I'm not 100% sure what the update covered, but it was 41.20 MB in size. This tells me that the update must have been significant considering the already small size of the game. With the update finally installed I set out to see what 'Lemmy Lizard vs The Mecha-Eggs' was all about, and in doing so I found a game vastly more involved that my first impressions led me to believe.

'Lemmy Lizard vs The Mecha-Eggs' tells the tale of a reptilian explorer name Lemmy who is guided by his Uncle Lenny in a quest to gather buglets, and save egglets. This may sound like a lot of tomfoolery to the average gamer, but trust me Lemmy's quest is definitely nothing to shrug off. In the game you will guide Lemmy through grassy plains, underground caverns, and eventually to a citadel where' Lemmy's explorer skills will truly be put to the test. Along the way you will face multiple types of Mecha-Egg creatures, and deadly obstacles that will thwart any hopes of progress should you fall victim to their wrath. Luckily for Lemmy he can gather treats (carrots, potatoes, pineapples, peppers ...) along the way that will restore health, and grant him various other abilities (high jump, speed boosts, fire breath ...). Being an explorer limits Lemmy to how many items (8) he can carry at one time, so saving space for the necessities is the key to making it far.

The platforming part of 'Lemmy Lizard vs The Mecha-Eggs' is exactly how a platformer should be. Controlling Lemmy as you guide him through the various stages requires a small amount of attention towards the controls allowing the player to focus more on the environment, and onscreen enemies. With that being said the dangers Lemmy faces are anything but easy. You will definitely die (often) if you fail to read the information scrolls that are found in the earlier stages of the game. Paying attention to the details that the scrolls offer is the key to surviving the long haul, and knowing exactly what it is you are supposed to be doing. The scrolls also offer tips about the score system within the game, so paying attention to the scrolls has dual benefits. You did hear me right. This is a score based platformer, and it features a scoreboard/leaderboard. It even has score multipliers (buglets). Learning about the scoring system, and multipliers will definitely help you in your quest to get top spot on the game's leaderboard.

The controls in 'Lemmy Lizard vs The Mecha-Eggs' are fairly easy to pick up on. Movement in the game is controlled by the (Left Thumbstick). The two attacks, spit (X) and kick (Y) are easily accessed on the controller. To pick up the various food items/items in the game you'll need to simply press (B) while standing in front of them. As usual platformers go jumping can be accomplished by pressing the (A) button. To access the inventory menu you will simply need to press the (BACK) button. While in the inventory menu you can drop items using the (X) button, or press (A) to use an item.

The graphic design in 'Lemmy Lizard vs The Mecha-Eggs' features a very unique approach. The level designs seem to have some artistic touches, and Lemmy himself is a cartoon-like character. All of the game's details are seamlessly put together in a layered display full of various effects, and visuals. At one point I saw some water effects in the underground cavern stages. There's even some heat waves that come off of burning obstacles, and even enemies when they are hit with Lemmy's fire breath. Let me also not forget to mention the blood effects within the game. These blood splatters that occurred when striking enemies were honestly a little surprising coming from a game that looks as innocent as 'Lemmy Lizard vs The Mecha-Eggs' does. In that sense it may not be for the younger kids out there. Aside from those effects the game also features disappearing platforms, floating platforms, and other things that go along with it's platforming theme. From what I witnessed during my playthrough there were little to no frame rate slowdowns, and no glitches within the game. The game played smoothly, and looked brilliant for the simple game that it is.

CONCLUSION: 

I actually gave up on completing 'Lemmy Lizard vs The Mecha-Eggs' fairly early on. The gameplay can definitely be unforgiving at times. My main issue with the game though was the fact that Lemmy moved as if he were on the moon. He definitely seemed to have some gravity issues going on. I think this kind of movement was intended to add some difficulty to the game, and it definitely helped accomplish that. With that being said the movement in no way makes the game horrible. I'm just the kind of gamer who gets seriously frustrated when I have to repeat parts of a game multiple times within a short time span. I definitely liked the overall look of the game. The visuals were quite impressive for what they were. I also found the item storage system to be well thought out. Your inventory in the game is easy to access, use, and discard. The developer definitely had a good idea about making the gamer prioritize their items instead of being able to keep a limitless number of things. It kind of reminded me of 'Resident Evil 4' in that sense.

Another thing I liked about the game included the fact that you could save your progress via checkpoints, and the save option via the (START) menu. Even though the game is unforgiving in some ways it allowed the gamer to be able to continue without having to start over from the absolute beginning. In that way it's definitely nothing like 'Super Meat Boy', or 'Platformance: Temple Death'. I realize in summing up the game I have to come up with my verdict on if the game is worth the points, or not. This game is one of those titles that not everyone is going to like, and not everyone is going to hate. I found the game to be quite interesting. It was a solid platformer with decent graphics, and challenging gameplay. In those respects I definitely think the game is worth the points. The fact that the developer decided to fix what was wrong with the game made it worth the asking price even more. Nowadays when a developer is willing to fix a game as small in size as an XBLIG title it definitely means something. I tip my hat off to this developer (Wytchlight) for not only producing a playable, and unique game, but for also fixing it for those who bought it.