Insecticide looks like an adventure game, but it’s half 3D platformer/shooter. The first thought that popped in my mind while jumping on platforms and shooting the humans in surface dwelling mecha suits was Ratchet & Clank. You don’t need to worry about aiming. As long as you’re in the approximate range you will hit your mark. Chrys has different weapons (so I’m told), but I only got to try out her basic green glob shooting gun. It has unlimited ammo at the cost of a slow trigger. The only qualm is the controls are set up in an archaic set up where you need to rotate Chrys with the left/right buttons on a D-pad. Too bad there isn’t an option for analog control on the Nintendo DS. Otherwise from the few minutes I experienced the combat was fluid.
In the adventure portion Detective Chrys is in her precinct and she needs to snag some papers underneath the rump of a coworker. To solve this puzzle you use the touch screen to tap and grab items like coffee. Once you have the coffee you need to discern and tap the object you want to interact with. Surprisingly, it wasn’t poking an insect to give the coffee directly to them. You have to pour it in their cup to attract their attention. I suppose this makes more logical sense because handing them a hot pot of coffee or pouring it on their lap wouldn’t achieve the desired result.
Insecticide also comes out for PCs, in “episodes.” I put quotes there because there are only two episodes, which is a remix of the DS game. The main difference between the two versions is there are more objects to interact with in the adventure portions and an intensity bump during the action sequences. The Nintendo DS version only puts two or three enemies on the screen at once, while the PC version piles them on. More episodes could appear in the future, but that depends on the success of the first two.
