Metareview: Insecticide

We've been fascinated by the potential of Insecticide since it first buzzed to our attention last May. Crackpot's noirish, bug-based title combines an adventure game with platforming, action, and detective elements. As it turns out, this willingness to fuse different genres and play styles seems to have backfired, with reviewers criticizing the action sequences in particular. We're pretty sure that there's a great detective-thriller game starring bugs just waiting to be made, but this doesn't seem to be it.

IGN -- 70%: IGN's Daemon Hatfield awarded the title its highest mark to date (apart from the two users who each gave it, er, a perfect ten on Metacritic), but still couldn't ignore the flawed action segments: "This one is a real heartbreaker. I really wanted to score it higher, but the action sequences get in the way of what could have been an extremely enjoyable adventure game. Crackpot has created an engrossing world with Insecticide, so maybe a sequel will focus more on pointing and clicking than frustrating and agitating."

Nintendo Power -- 65%: Likewise, Nintendo Power seems to insinuate that the game is a Jack of all trades, and a master of none: "Insecticide tries to be a lot of things at once -- platformer, shooter, and investigative adventure -- which is a trick that seldom works well." [Mar 2008, p.89 -- excerpt found at Metacritic]

Game Informer -- 58%: And there's just too much platforming for Game Informer's superbly named Joe Juba: "... Insecticide could have been an excellent adventure game. Instead, it's a platformer, and a bad one at that. The game squanders its stylish setting, writing, and entertaining puzzle solving by minimizing the fun investigation segments, focusing squarely on broken combat and platforming. The fact that you can run through most encounters without firing a shot makes the action element feel even more tiresome and pointless."

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