Game of the Day 2/12/2016: The Humans

[celerystalker]

The Humans is an action puzzle game that most often gets compared to Lemmings. It came out on several systems at the time, including the Genesis, Game Boy, Jaguar (as Evolution: Dino Dudes, where the screenshot is from), and even an eventual Nintendo DS remake...and probably more I'm not thinking about. You control a tribe of cavemen, and you must use them to traverse various stages using their different abilities... probably sounds familiar.

However, though it requires similar sensibilities, The Humans is different in many ways from Lemmings. For one, you directly control your humans (or dino dudes as may be the case), and you don't have a limit on uses. Instead, you move each as you will, switching on the fly, and you select different actions and abilities along the bottom of the screen. You pick up items such as spears, which you can use as weapons or to pole vault across chasms, and in each stage you must get one human to the goal.

You begin with a tribe of 12, and when one dies, he is automatically replaced by another from the reserves. If you fall to low in number to complete a stage, it's game over. Successful completion of objectives, though, can net you more members to the tribe. There are some 80 stages to try, and you get a password after each.

As an alternative puzzle game, the Humans works pretty well. Its level structure makes it work great as a portable game, but the console versions also have a nice Amiga-style aesthetic. I don't care for the new sprites in the DS version, but it still plays okay.

Have you played with the Humans?

[Emperor Megas]

I don't own this one, but it's one that I'll definitely purchase if I see it in the wild for a decent price. I really enjoy these action puzzle/strategy titles of the era. Games this this one and, Lemmings, The Horde, The Incredible Machine, The Lost Vikings...they're really relaxing to me.

[celerystalker]

I don't own this one, but it's one that I'll definitely purchase if I see it in the wild for a decent price. I really enjoy these action puzzle/strategy titles of the era. Games this this one and, Lemmings, The Horde, The Incredible Machine, The Lost Vikings...they're really relaxing to me.

I feel the same way about these. When I don't feel like the hard action of a shooter or platformer but don't want the commitment of an RPG, these are calm and relaxing.

[Edmond Dantes]

I used to have the IBM PC version of this as a kid (I have no idea where that copy disappeared to). I remember it used to really piss me off.

Eventually I'll find a new copy and give it another shot, but currently I have other priorities.

Oh, apparently the original version was for the Amiga, and there wound up being two sequels?

[goldenband]

I played through this a couple years ago, and found it kind of irritating, largely because of the controls. On countless occasions I'd find myself sending a human jumping to his death or otherwise malfunctioning, because a button responded in a non-intuitive way (I don't remember the details, I just remember banging my head against the wall).

Navigating the game's menus and selecting cavemen also seemed unnecessarily kludgy -- it always took longer than I wanted, and never "flowed" well.

There's also at least one crucial bit of functionality that's not mentioned in the Genesis manual, making a mid-game puzzle unsolvable unless you figure it out (and it's hardly obvious). And there were several times where I wasn't sure if I was solving the level as intended, or exploiting a glitch -- for example, by burning the human holding a rope, or hopping off a wheel just before it impacts the ground.

Finally, why the hell are there points or lives in this game? It makes no sense, especially the latter -- it just means you end up quitting and restarting a lot, and having to sit through the unskippable "GAME OVER" sequence.

That said, some of the levels were clever, and the core gameplay is pretty good. But man, did this game get in its own way!

[JeremiahJT]

This might be the first game of the day that I have played. I have played this on the Jaguar, but not on any other platforms. I once completed all 80 levels in one sitting for a high score.

You forgot the Lynx version, called Dinolympics.

[celerystalker]

This might be the first game of the day that I have played. I have played this on the Jaguar, but not on any other platforms. I once completed all 80 levels in one sitting for a high score.

You forgot the Lynx version, called Dinolympics.

I'll have to check Dinolympics out. I've never really explored the Lynx a ton, and I'm not sure why... it's not a crazy expensive thing to get into, and it'd be a good excuse to play another version of Rygar...

[Gameguy]

I have this game for Gameboy, and I think the Genesis. Mostly just played the Gameboy version and found it to be pretty good.