Games are recommended on a four-point scale like those "strongly agree/disagree" questions you get on surveys. This scale goes "Strongly", "If you like this kinda game", "Watch it online", and "Avoid at all costs" from best to worst. It's one part how likely I am to replay the game and one part how likely I am to recommend it to fans of that game's genre. I'm not in the business of objectivity, just what's fun to me. No reason to play a game if you're not having fun, yeah?

[#] The Adventures of Lomax (Psygnosis, 1996)

Lemmings is one of those legacy franchises that's left a ton of forgotten little spinoffs in its way, Lomax being one. Lomax is a squeaky lemming knight out to rescue other lemmings who have been transformed into an army of ugly, ghoulish creeps. Lomax is a platformer, and the classic Lemmings gameplay is the twist on it: Lomax can pick up icons that enable his lemming powers, from building bridges to digging through walls.

The first thing you notice about Lomax is that it's gorgeous. The backgrounds and animations are intricately detailed pixel art, cloud cover drifts through the stages, 3D is worked in as foreground-background stuff, it's genuine eye candy. The second thing you notice is the difficulty. Lomax can only take two hits. Worse yet, he can't swim, and platforms tend to be a little loose with their collision detection. I wouldn't call it unfair, just exacting.

My recommendation for Lomax comes on the basis that you enjoy trial-and-error platformers. The controls aren't well-explained in the game itself (double-tap X for a spin attack, Circle is your hat attack, Select picks abilities, and Square uses them), and you only get so many lives and continues, so be sure you're keeping track of your passwords and restart the whole game if need be. It's a very pretty game with a lot to like about it—provided you can handle the intense difficulty.