The Humans

It's the dawn of civilization. Dinosaurs roam the Earth. Volcanoes spew molten lava. Odd-looking amphibians crawl out of the primordial ooze and evolve into air-breathing reptiles. The first humanoids emerge from their caves, organizing into small bands to hunt for food and shelter...

Sounds like the opening scenes from a B sci-fi movie. Close, but not quite. It's more like "The Three Stooges Visit the Stone Age."

Mo, Larry and Grok

Humans by Gametek is a team-oriented puzzle game much like Lemmings. Your task is formidable: guide your scruffy band of 12 cavemen through 80 levels of evolution. Each side-view level is a large multi-tier puzzle that spans several screens. Solve the puzzles to lead your tribe through the discovery of tools, fire, and the wheel -- all with hilarious results. Along the way, you have to teach your band of mouth-breathers how to work together for continued survival of the tribe. Since you can start any level over at any time without penalty, you can discover new tidbits of strategy with each attempt.

Every couple of levels there's a bonus round, where you get a chance to rescue Humans who've been captured by enemies. They join up with your band and replace lost members of your troupe.

Enter the Witch Doctor

As their sense of logic and spirit of cooperation evolves, so too does the darker side of your troupe. You can call on the Witch Doctor to- Ulp!—turn one of the members of your tribe into a torch, a rope, a wheel, or a spear. As in Lemmings, sometimes one must be sacrificed for the good of the whole.

Primitive? Hardly!

Humans really shines. The slapstick antics of the little cave dudes will keep you laughing. Though the controls take a little getting used to, the sounds and graphics pull it all together. The discovery of each new tool is illustrated by hilarious graphics that show your tribe learning how to use their acquisitions by trial and funny error. Seems you can teach an old human new tricks!

Grab your loincloth and spear and watch out for dinosaur droppings: The Humans, GameTek's comic puzzle game, is here.

Evolution wasn't easy, and puzzle games are difficult to create as well. To begin with, the puzzles must be intricate enough to hold the interest of the seasoned problem solver without alienating the novice. Secondly, to attract a wide audience, the game must be fun—and fun to look at. Psygnosis' Lemmings succeeded admirably in both cases, and it went on to become (one of) the biggest-selling puzzle games ever. Now The Humans, which asks the player to direct the evolution of a tribe of Stone Age humans, tries for the same appeal. The Humans ultimately fails to fully engage the player, however; for, while its puzzles are frequently challenging, the game is often repetitive and static. In The Humans the player must guide a tribe of humans through more than 50 levels. On each level, the player must use a set number of tribe members and objects (spears, torches, ropes, wheels) to move at least one tribe member to a given destination on the screen within a set time limit. Bushes and man-eating dinosaurs impede the tribe's efforts. Both the time limit and the number of humans provided vary according to which of the three difficulty levels is chosen at the beginning of the game.

Each level presents a variation on the classic platform-game screen: Vertical movement is achieved by ladders, ropes or human pyramids, while tribe members can move horizontally from platform to platform with the help of bridges or pterodactyls, or by using a spear as a vaulting pole. The player controls one human at a time, orchestrating his actions in order to complete each level. In the later levels, the tribe may have access to a witch doctor, who can transform humans into needed objects. One of the most wicked pleasures of The Humans is the magical transformation of man into a torch, spear or wheel.

The Humans' graphics are funny and especially good for a relatively static puzzle game. The game screens range from winter landscapes to swampscapes, and the animated sequences are excellent, ranging from man-swallowing dinosaurs to humans who hop in pain when their toes are run over by a wheel. The music is perfectly acceptable, though it can eventually become annoying and is easily turned off.

The puzzles themselves are often challenging, but the real enemy is the clock, especially at the higher difficulty levels, and herein lies one of the greatest flaws of the game. Movement in the game is very slow, and, as each human is controlled separately, it is often necessary to repeat an action several times in a row (e.g., vault from one platform to the next, throw back spear, switch human, pick up spear, vault, throw, switch, etc.). If several such actions are required on one level, this can be very frustrating. These long, repetitive movements drain much of the fun from The Humans.

Lemmings succeeded largely because it combined constant action with solid puzzles; the lack of speed and the repetitiveness of The Humans should limit its appeal. Puzzle lovers should find this game amusing and challenging, others should bypass this corner of the evolutionary map.

GameTek has filled in the missing link with The Humans for Genesis. You are in control of a prehistoric tribe of people. They have yet to discover the wheel, spears and even fire. Guide them to safety when the famished dinosaurs attack. Don't let your tribe members wander from the confines of the village, for danger lurks out there! They must learn how to stack and climb ladders to assure their livelihood! We must survive!

The Humans is an interactive puzzle game centered around a group of primitive tribesmen trying to survive the terrors of everyday life in the Stone Age!

Take control of tribe members as they try to discover the spear, fire, the wheel and other items. Alternately control each human as you guide them up ladders, stack them upon each other, and fight ferocious dinosaurs.

Your tribe must also attempt to save fellow humans that have wandered from the village walls in fun-filled bonus games.

The Humans has a realistic side to human nature like decision making that could spell disaster with incorrect planning. Will the human race grow to today's standards, or will we be left holding the banana?

EVOLUTION... To paraphrase Darwin, it's the survival of the hippest. One wrong move and you're dino-meat, one wrong step and you're a fossil, one fashion faux-pas and you're the laughing stock of the gene pool, baby. Discover tools, survive and multiply or these HUMANS are a time-line footnote. In this world of chaos and carnivores...