Humans 2: The Jurassic Levels logo

Mirage's Neanderthals are back for another 80 levels of cartoon caveman capers.

It doesn't seem two minutes since I was sitting at this very desk outlining the plot to a game which I thought seriously rivalled Lemmings in the addiction stakes.

Humans was released around February, and by judging by the response it received (around 75,000 units sold so far), many of you shared my opinion.

Time has moved on a little, and we now find ourselves with a new tribe of Humans in the Jurassic periods (circa 18,000,000 BC, for the curious). If you already own Humans, or have played it, the only thing you need to know about the data disk is that everything is exactly the same, and all the original discoveries such as the rope, torch and wheel are present from level one - the difficulty level of which is equivalent to the later levels for the first effort.
For newcomers, I will explain further - read on, read on...

Silly gubbins aside, the aims of the game is to take your Humans from one end of a level to the other, minimalising fatalities as much as you can.
There are platforms to be reached, gaps to be crossed and everything else you would expect in a puzzler of this nature. You will be provided with various aids to your quest at intervals throughout the game, such as the rope etc as mentioned above.

As was the original, The Jurassic Levels are set in six different landscapes - summer, winter, cave, desert, forest and swamp - the graphical quality of which are excellent.

Tunes or sound effects can be toggled, the in-game animations are great, a password is provided for each of the eighty levels and dinosaurs, rival tribesmen and pterodactyls pop up from time to time to help or hinder.

The expressions and exclamations of the Humans delight me as much now as they did five months ago, although it's a bit too soon for me to sit down and fight my way through another 80 levels. The early difficulty may prove daunting for the uninitiated, but it's worth persevering with - and for those of you who've played it and loved it before, what more need I say?

PS: Watch out for Humans in Space in the summer!


Humans 2: The Jurassic Levels logo

Mirage * £29.99 * 0260 299403

Jurassic - yes you're going to be hearing a lot of that word this summer, and unless you're particularly au fait on prehistoric eras (which I have to admit I'm not), then you won't know what on earth Mirage are going on about. Well for the uninformed it's more or less anything that was formed during the Jurassic period. This was a time when all the dinosaurs and ammonites (extinct marine cephalopods - in other words extinct wet blobs) roamed around. (Or, if you were a most-looking blob, just sort of floating around a bit, waiting to evolve into a bit of cod).

Now I'm not saying that we're al going to be talking about Human Race - The Jurassic Levels this summer (good though the game is), but Mirage have cunningly timed the release of their extension to the original Humans game to tie in with the promotion of Steven Spielberg's summer blockbuster Jurassic Park. In said film dinosaurs are bred again, by way of a fossil, and run around an amusement park, keeping lots of little humes amused - until it all goes horribly wrong.

The Jurassic Levels is not a licence however, but Mirage's promotional blurb justifying the name states that they have discovered that 'Man did walk the planet with the dinosaur', and if their game is to be believed then indeed man did. And it's just a cunning coincidence that there is going to be a film with a similar theme released this summer - and no doubt an official licensed game will arrive at about the same time.

In case you've not heard of this game before, it was first reviewed in AF42, and received a verdict of 72 per cent, and it would have got more if it wasn't for sloppy programming. Humans is a good game, it's Lemmings-type puzzler where you have to find your way out of a number of levels, with the aid of a set number of human, using various implements (spears, wheels, fire) with the additional aid of dinosaurs and tribal witch doctors to name just a couple.

And The Jurassic Levels is more of the same thing - 80 different levels of the same thing in fact, and jolly good fun they are too. The control method is identical, as is the theme music. But Mirage aren't purporting that this is Humans 2, so there's nowt up with that. So if you enjoyed walking the dinosaur at Christmas (or if you missed out first time round) then you'll enjoy this. If not, then you won't.


Humans 2: The Jurassic Levels logo Amiga Joker Hit

Erst mußten Mirages tüftelige Steinzeit-Wichte durch einen Rechtsstreit mit Psygnosis wandern, ehe es vor enigen Monaten dann Richtung Zivilisation ging. Jetzt marschieren sie weiter!

Mit etlichen Hit-Auszeichnungen am Revers und der höchst richterlichen Bescheinigung von spielerischer Eigenständigkeit gegenüber den "Lemmings" in der Tasche, liegen nun also 80 weitere Level vor den kleinen Neandertalern.

Gesteuert wird natürlich wieder direkt, und süchtig machen auch und gerade die aktuellen Knobel-Plattformen sehr direkt - und das wiederum ganz eigenständig, sprich, ohne das Originalprogramm.

Okay, in Sachen Gameplay ist es nicht weit her mit der Eigenständigkeit, doch warum sollte man Gutes unbedingt verbessern wollen? Erneut gilt es also, unter Zeitdruck einen Stamm unserer Vorfahren durch verschiedenste Sommer-, Winter-, Wüsten- und Höhlenlandschaften zu dirigieren.

Im Unterschied zu den konkurrierenden Lemmingen tapsen unsere Wandersleut hier jedoch nicht blindlings in jede Falle, stattdessen warten sie Mann für Mann auf die Kommandos ihres Häuptlings vor dem Monitor.

Da das Standardrepertoire eines Neadertalers mit laufen, klettern, Gegenstände aufklauben und Räuberleitern bilden bereits erschöpft ist, müssen Schluchten überwunden, Anhöhen gemeistert und überhaupt allerlei vertrackte Aufgaben erledigt werden, um an wichtige technische Errungenschaften zu gelangen - etwa Speere, Fackeln, Seile oder das Rad.

Für die Suche nach der Zivilisation benötigt man neben viel Hirnschmalz auch ein geschicktes Händchen, denn zumeist klappt der Stabhochsprung per Speer, die Dino-Jagd mit der Fackel oder der Ritt auf einem Flugsaurier nicht gleich beim ersten Anlauf.

Sollte ein dringend benötigtes Handwerkszeug mal nicht vorrätig sein, so kann man es zwar im Austausch gegen einen Stammesbruder beim Hexenmeister besorgen, allerdings nicht endlos oft - wer seine Sippe über Gebühr dezimiert, hat am Levelende meist nicht genug Überlebende bei der Hand, um den nächsten Abschnitt zu meistern.

Soweit, so bekannt. Die Unterschiede zum Vorgänger findet man im Design der Landschaften, das neuerdings auch einen Tick kniffliger ausgefallen ist. Technisch blieb alles beim alten, nach wie vor überzeugt die Grafik durch ihren Detailreichtum, das perfekte Scrolling in alle Himmelsrichtungen und die zahlreichen animierten Zwischensequenzen im witzigen Zeichentrickstil.

Für Freude sorgt auch wieder der tolle Bongo-Soundtrack, während die um keinen Deut verbesserte Handhabung (auch die neue Version unterstützt weder Zweitläufer noch Festplatte!) eher Grund zum ärgern ist. Das gilt allerdings weniger für die Misch-Steuerung aus Tastatur und Stick, denn nach kurzer Eingewöhnungszeit kommt man damit blendend zurecht.

Alles in allem heißt's daher auch heute wieder: Es lebe der Humanismus! Zumal man bei Mirage human genug ist, die neuen Herausforderungen bald auch als preiswerte Datadisk für "Humans"-Besizter aufzulegen! (rl)


Humans 2: The Jurassic Levels logo

Loads of extra courses for the race that keeps on running...

You like statistics? I'll give you statistics. Slam in the first of the three disks you get with The Humans - Jurassic Levels, and you'll be forced to endure eight different intro screens telling you how good Mirage is, how good the game is, how wonderful Imagitec are, how funny Humans is, and so on.

Three disk changes and almost eight minutes after you decided to have a quick game, you finally get to play. In the same time, you could cower in terror at two separate nuclear missile attacks, write this much of a review or even cook a couple of soft boiled eggs. One after the other.

Not the ideal prerequisites to get me in the mood to play a game, but even after this hassle, I was initially still really into the idea of Humans.

I'd seen all manner of screen shots and read the sort of press release stuff that said "It's just so much better than Lemmings". However, as Flavor Flav from Public Enemy once put it so succinctly: don't believe the hype.

Something to get your synapses into

The Jurassic Levels isn't Humans 2 (which is due out later this year) but another 80 levels using the original system, hence the stand alone or data disk options. Seeing as I never played Humans, I can't really comment on how this compares, but the scenery and character graphics really are impressive and impossibleto-fault throughout, with the cavemen going through all the actions necessary for evolution in a cheery and well-presented manner.

You've got to complete various tasks such as discovering fire and rescuing fellow tribe members, and along the way, your quest is aided by spears, ropes, stone wheels and even witch doctors. The trick is to get the right piece of equipment in the right place so that the Humans can clamber all over the level to their goal.

This is a great idea, with the comic cavemen looking good, and the puzzle-filled gameplay giving you something to get your synapses into. The game comes apart when you get into the mechanics of it. To lower a rope over a cliff, for example, the Human has to be right over the edge, or the rope won't go all the way down. Unfortunately, if you go over by so much as a pixel, you end up with one splatted caveman which means a decreased chance of finishing a level.

Another supposedly simple task is getting the boys to form a tower. You do this so often that there really should be an icon to do it automatically, but instead you have to click on each one and move them into the formation, then take them all down again afterwards. All this is a bit tiresome, and it would me up so much, I was forced to flick elastic bands at Lisa until she started crying and I felt bad about it. Not really one to recommend, I'm afraid.