Lemmings Touch was on show during gamescom and we chatted with James Hawkins, executive producer from Sony XDev Studio. This all-new game in the style of the original classics will be coming to Vita sometime near the end of this year. It’s been heavily designed for touch controls, but not in a silly, gimmicky way. Touch screens actually work well with the classic Lemmings style. Here’s a gameplay video covering what Harkin told us. The summary is below for anyone who’d rather read their news.

The interface has been completely designed around the Vita’s capabilities. You can pinch to zoom out for the high-level view of a level, or zoom up close to direct an individual lemming. Tapping on a lemming brings up a radial dial with your orders – builders, diggers, blockers and all those other familiar skills to help your bouncing, green-haired buddies get from one end of the map to the other.

Levels have movable objects now. You’ll find the occasional block you can lift to let one group pass under and drop to cut off passage to another. Cannons are dotted around certain maps, as are trampolines and other tools. XDev have made sure that the sound effects for each of these, as well as the lemmings, retain the adorable charm of the early 90s originals.

In the video and the screenshots below, you’ll see three very different themes and plenty of new levels but some of maps may also be familiar to Lemmings fans. A number of the themes and maps from the early games have been remade in Lemmings Touch. These were chosen in consultation with some of the existing fansites, so are sure to be good.

There won’t be any two-player modes but they are looking into a challenge mode. You may also recognise the Armageddon feature, the one you use when you realised you’ve screwed up a level so badly that there’s no way you can save enough lemmings. XDev have ensured that this is every bit as devastating and spectacular as the original, obliterating every lemming in a sea of flying particles.

And finally, Hawkins gave us one little tease. There’s a new lemming type, and it’s quite mischievous. That’s one pictured at the very top of this post. We’ll learn more about this later on in the year.

Lemmings Touch will be out on PS Vita in late 2013.