Insecticide

Insecticide, the game where everything is backwards yet scarily similar to our own world, is best described as a shooter puzzle game. When perps (or do we just call ‘em bugs?) are on the loose, Chrys is sent in to wipe ‘em out, extermination-style. She’s a lean, mean, fighting machine. Sort of.

Back at the station, perps need to be processed. Facts need to be checked – otherwise that whole “innocent until proven guilty” thing could bite you in the butt, crawl all over your face, and leave your skin swollen. Or simply let a guilty bug go free on some crazy technicality. (My personal excuse: “I couldn’t find a magazine to swat it.”)

Individually, these are sound concepts. The story is the big draw here, and features one of the best CG and voice-over presentations you’ll find on Nintendo DS. However, when the two gameplay types were brought together for thiw package, something was lost in the mix: excitement.

That Shooter’s Got a Stiff Arm

You know the drill: law, then order. First you’ve gotta catch the bad bug, and then you gotta squash him in open court. But before their six wiggly legs can be shackled, these insects must be hunted. They won’t go quietly, and that’s where your bug-blasting arsenal comes in.

The third-person controls are somewhat reminiscent of Star Fox Adventures and that weird shooter Rare made for Nintendo 64. Basic moves are quick. Without analog control, Chrys doesn’t have any real speed options. But her run is fast, and you can turn it into a strafe by holding the left shoulder button. Tap the B button and she’ll hop around. Press B twice for a double jump. In many ways, this game has more in common with an action/adventure than a shooter.

These controls are fine until you have to jump across a few platforms or battle an enemy. You can touch the screen to aim, which is cool if you’re able to stand still. But there’s no way to move and use the touch screen at the same time. There is a way to remedy this, but only partially: switch control styles. Insecticide includes a stylus feature that reverses a couple of the buttons, most notably L and R, so you can shoot, move and aim simultaneously. Unfortunately, there’s a catch: you can’t strafe with this feature. The D-pad controls your movement and the left shoulder button controls your weapon (both for left hand), leaving your right hand free for the touch screen. But now you can’t hit the right shoulder button (used for strafing) without bending your hand in an unnatural position that will likely result in sore fingers and inaccurate aiming.

Let’s say you don’t care about strafing. In most cases you won’t need it. Regardless, the stylus controls are still a problem. When you touch the screen, the camera leaps ahead of Chrys to give you more of a first-person view. That sounds good in theory, but the DS isn’t some massively powerful game console. As far as the graphics processor is concerned, it’s not much more than a handheld N64. Imagine what would happen if you tried an instantaneous camera switch in an N64 shooter – there’d be instant chaos, for certain. Well, that’s just what happens in this game. The camera jerks around as you drag the stylus, instead of smoothly moving from place to place. It makes me wonder if maybe Nintendo DS was not the best platform for Insecticide. Perhaps it belonged on PS3 or Xbox 360.

Frequently Recited Investigations

The detective portion of Insecticide involves the search and examination of evidence. It’s not a scavenger hunt like an action/adventure game, but rather a text message hunt that forces you to read a dozen short messages just to figure out what’s going on. Key items are rarely crystal clear. Well-hidden objects may be acceptable on a 40-inch HDTV, where the detail is extreme. But on a two-inch screen, I’d appreciate an obvious highlight around – or at least near – items that need to be examined.

Right from the start, the detective work seems like work. If I’m in a police station where all of the collected evidence is located, why should I have to snatch donuts and coffee for a fellow thug – (ahem) I mean bug – just to get him to give up some evidence? This may be how real detectives act (that’s quite a favor system; donuts for evidence), but it doesn’t make for the most interesting gameplay experience. Granted, not all of the detective puzzles are this lame. There are perp interrogations and murder investigations, but the hard-to-view items and silly word games still apply.

Can’t Decide, Insecticide?

While nowhere near the game it could’ve been, Insecticide’s worth does not go unnoticed. It won’t do anything for the average gamer. But there’s a niche out there that will be attracted to the story, and will thoroughly enjoy it once inside the game. The gameplay, however, won’t leave a lasting impression.