If you thought the whole theory about Mayan and Incan temples being beyond the engineering abilities of those civilizations was weird, dig this - it turns out that sheep are actually aliens from another world. They were sent to scout out new planets to colonize, but they decided they liked being passive, well-fed pasture ornaments instead. Their time on Earth is ending, however, as the mothership is coming back for them. You have to choose from one of four characters to guide the sheep back to a rendezvous with their spaceship so they can leave the Earth safely. It's a little harder than it may sound, though, since they've grown staggeringly dumb during their time on our world. Different breeds of sheep will react differently to your attempts to herd them, with some of the smarter breeds (and I use the word "smarter" loosely here) being positively rebellious. If you guide all the sheep to their spaceship, then all will - presumably - be re-vealed. (Take Two Interactive, 2001, for Playstation; also available for PC and Game Boy Advance)

If you haven't guessed by now, Sheep is a graphically made-over remake of that classic of video/computer gaming frustration, Lemmings. Some goofy cut scenes have been added, the scenery has been updated, and it all adds up to a pretty fun little game - if you liked Lemmings.

To what to we owe the honor of this neo-classic game in a day and age when 3-D-drenched RPGs, driving/flying sims and fighting games are the norm? It's simple. This is the twilight of the Playstation. These new games like Sheep, Creatures, Pipe Dreams 3-D and One Piece Mansion aren't required to be million-sellers - and, in fact, no one's expecting anything on the PS1 to sell in those numbers again. This has turned out to be a blessing, with more eclectic games sneaking into the mix. These games are the Solarises and Quadruns of the Playstation.* One could argue that this may someday make these "twilight games" collectibles, and that may well be the case. But for the moment, the immediate benefit is that we're finally getting some games that aren't violent shoot-'em-ups or RPGs that take a year (and an expensive strategy guide) to play. The twilight games are also turning out to be dirt cheap compared to the $40 titles of just two or three years ago.

Not all of the twilight games are good - there are still plenty of mediocre shooters and wrestling games which didn't pass muster a couple of years ago but are now being released just to keep some product on the shelves - but an increasing number of them hold some appeal to puzzle and classic gaming fans on the lam(b), like Sheep.

* Solaris and Quadrun, for those not in the know, were two incredibly inventive latter-day titles from the last days of the venerable Atari 2600; like Sheep for the Playstation, they were also produced in smaller numbers than usual.

Rating:  Three quarters - worth repeat play, but with some annoying features that might alienate less patient arcade veterans.

Reviewed by Earl Green
theLogBook.com editor/webmaster