0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - The Adventures of Lomax

       

The Adventures of Lomax, known just at Lomax in Europe, is a spin off of the popular Lemmings series of games, the game was developed and published by UK based developer Psygnosis, the game was released first in North America in October of 1996, a month later in November in Europe and a full year later in Japan on the 18^th of December 1997 where it was published by TOMY, the game was also released on Windows.

As Lomax the player must guide this brave lemming knight through four main worlds, each of the worlds has three levels to them, each of which are side scrolling platform levels, the enemies in the game are fellow lemmings that have been brainwashed, or been turned into monsters, with the transformed lemmings appearing as zombie like creatures, cowboys and aliens, like other platform games if you bump into one of these enemies it kills the player character, to attack the enemies Lomax has a main spin attack, which can be used as an offensive weapon but also a defensive move when trying to avoid bumping into an enemy.

Lomax using his magical helmet can free the lemmings from Evil Ed’ magic and turn them back into regular lemmings, during the course of a level Lomax with collect coins that are throughout the level, these coins grant Lomax additional lives, when you find enough of these coins, Lomax can also find additional magic helmets that can be used as weapons, as well as helmets that allow Lomax to absorb one attack, after the helmet has absorbed the attack Lomax will lose that helmet.

In addition to standard platforming, Lomax is able to use several abilities that featured in previous lemmings games for example, building bridges, digging horizontally to bypass certain obstacles, as well as the ability to throw a flaming helmet.

The main story revolves around our hero the lemming knight Lomax, whose friends have been transformed into evil monsters by the villan of the game Evil Ed, Lomax must go on a quest to rescue his friends and stop the Evil Ed’s, evil plan by using his magical helmet.

Overall reviews for this game were above average, with all bar one of the review I have been able to find scoring the game 7/10 or equivalent score up to a 7.7/10, with Gamespot awarding the game its highest score,  with Gamespot concluding the game would be ideal for younger gamers, and while The Adventures of Lomax is not state-of-the-art, it is a genuinely fun ride.

EGM and Electric Playground both rated the game a 7.5/10, the latter of the two’s review has sadly been lost, EGM’s review blurb has survived though with the site concluding their review with Here's a good, old side-scroller coming out in a time of almost nothing but 3-D. Lomax proves that bringing a game out from a classic genre can still be done.

Game Informer were more critical In their 7.25/10 who found the game too frustrating and difficult especially with the games colourful and childlike visuals, they were also critical of the games frequent insta-death drops and one hit kill enemies, and unfortunate timing make it hard to believe too many folks ever got to see all of the many gorgeous levels built for the game.

NowGamer concluded their review with the game being entertaining and playable and adds yet more depth to the Playstation catalogue. And if you find Crash confusing and 3D makes you long for the 2D platformers of old, then Lomax is a serviceable alternative to dusting off your old consoles.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit five online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com,  eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, I will also be including Ebay.com as well

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, who will give you $17 for you copy of the game if you are looking to trade in, on the other had if you are in the market for a copy of the game, you are looking at a quite expensive $34 for a copy from Gamedude.

Retrogames.co.uk sadly don’t stock this game, so we move on to eStarland.com who do stock the game, however at the moment the game is out of stock, when in stock the game is pricey with the cheapest price for the game around the $58 mark with prices going as high as $129.95, also If you are looking to trade in your copy of the game you can get $80 from eStarland for it.

Amazon.com has two versions of the game on sale the North American release and the Japanese release, the Japanese release, for a used acceptable quality copy of the game, you are looking at a minimum price of $57.34 if you are looking for a better quality used copy of the game, then you are looking at a minimum of $65, this is for a very good quality used copy and comes with free shipping, this converts to around £50 in the UK, in Euro zone countries it will set you back around €55, while in Nepal it will set you back 6668.74 Nepalese Rupee’s.

Moving onto the North American version of the game, where a good quality copy of the game, this is for the disc only, will set you back $69 once you add in the shipping costs, it is still the best value for a disc only copy with the other similar priced copies on sale are only acceptable quality.

If you are looking for a complete used copy of the game, then this is where the price takes a huge leap upwards with a very good quality complete copy of the game on sale for a couple of cents short of $184, this converts to 18877.66 Nepalese Rupee’s, in Euro zone countries it will cost you €156.70, while if you are in the UK it will cost you £143.04.

If you think that is pricey that is nothing the only new copy of the game currently on Amazon.com, this copy is the North American release and is currently priced at $783.99 once you add in the shipping costs.

Moving on to Ebay.com where there are a handful of copies on sale, for a disc only copy it will set you back $59.49 this Is with a 15% reduction in price, however the shipping costs of $16.50 bump the price above the original price, other copies on sale also suffer from over inflated shipping costs, an incomplete copy of the game once you add in the $30 shipping the price rockets up to over $150, even a complete copy of the game Is priced well above Amazon.com’s prices.

Written by

P J Gibbon