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GameTap Thursday: Insecticide, Freak Out & McGee's Sleeping Beauty
Another week, another update to GameTap's service. This week three titles have been added as the company preps the service for a major overhaul. This week's offerings continue the Grimm franchise -- with what GameTap old us is the biggest episode in the series -- while introducing new gamers to the world of hard-boiled insect detectives. Yeah, you read that correctly. Insecticide, Part 1 (Windows) - A "hard-boiled film noir action-adventure game" set a bug-ridden future? Sounds like realism to us, kids. Freak Out: Extreme Freeride (Windows) - An extreme skiing simulator that combines two of our favorite things, freaking out and the word extreme. American McGee's Grimm: Sleeping Beauty (Windows) - The continuing episodic adventures of Grimm this time tackling the age-old story of Sleeping Beauty. This one is free to play but only for today! Hop to it! GameTap has added Just Cause (aka GTA in the Caribbean) to the free to play catalog but will only be free until March 26. Check out a full list of the service's downsized free-to-play titles after the break.
GameTap to add Gamecock titles to library
Good news! That $9.99 you're shipping off to GameTap every month just got a heck of a lot more valuable with the edition of Gamecock to the GT family. Think of it: For no additional money, you could be playing ... hmm, well, let's see. There's ... hey, there's Insecticide! ... Oh, and Stronghold Crusader Extreme. Anybody?OK, so maybe it's not so exciting at the moment, but it'll likely be considerably more valuable when Gamecock games like Legendary and Velvet Assassin appear on the service. Until then ... well, hey, there's always Sam and Max, right?
Insecticide buzzing its way to Europe this August
Because we didn't. Seriously: we had totally forgotten about Roachy Carruthers and Insecticide even existing. The noirish bug detective title launched in the U.S. over three months ago, and as bloggers' memories are famously only fractionally longer than those of goldfish, there was little chance of ... um. Dang it, happened again.Anyway, we deemed Insecticide to be a fairly inspired adventure romp that was held back by some tedious platforming sections, but if you're one of those Europe-based folks who enjoy great adventure games with horrible platform bits (a small group, for sure), then you'll be pleased to know that Insecticide is coming to your part of the world in August. Yes, it's five months late. But at least it's coming. Hurray.%Gallery-3405%[Via press release]
DS Fanswag: Swat those bugs!
Just a quick reminder -- our latest DS Fanboy contest is winding down, and there are only a few days left to get your name in the hat! Your chance at scoring Drone Tactics and Insecticide winds down this Friday, but remember: you can enter the contest once per day. So what are you waiting for? Head on over to the original post and get your name in!
DS Fanswag: The swarm
It's getting warm outside, and you know what that means -- the bugs are coming. Thanks to DS Fanboy, however, you can enjoy the oncoming swarm, with an insect-themed two-pack of free games. We're offering up Drone Tactics ($29.99) and Insecticide ($29.99) to one lucky reader, and all you have to do is leave a comment below telling us which one interests you more. The contest will run through Friday, June 6; that night, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern, entries will close, and we'll choose one winner in a random drawing. To enter, you must be 18 or older, and a current legal resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec). Have questions? Check the official rules.
Prices dropping like flies: Insecticide markdown
Insecticide never seemed like a title destined to set the sales charts on fire, so we're not surprised to see retailers already marking down the noir title. Less than two months after Insecticide's release, Amazon, GameStop, and other shops have chopped the half-adventure, half-platforming game down to $19.99, a two-thirds its original price.And if that's still too much for you, you could buy Nirvana's Incesticide for only $7.97, less than half of Insecticide's price. What's the difference between the two, you ask? Well, it just so happens that we've put together a lovely comparison guide that should help you with that question.[VIa CAG]
This Week in Review gets bug-eyed
The adventure genre fan in us really want to love the new Insecticide. What did we ultimately think? Peep DS Fanboy's review for more details. Check out all of our hands-on impressions and reviews from the Joystiq Network this week:Nintendo DS Insecticide (Review) Gallery: Insecticide
DS Fanboy Review: Insecticide
As you may or may not know, I'm a big fan of adventure games. That's one of the reasons I jumped at the chance to play Insecticide -- it looked like it would be one of the best in the genre this year. And the action parts? Those would just be gravy.Crackpot, the development team behind the game, is mostly made up of people who used to work for LucasArts, and it shows. Insecticide contains the same kind of humor and adventure goodness of games like Monkey Island and Grim Fandango. Yet, this title is not only an adventure game but also an action platformer, and when mixing genres, you have to be careful to do it right -- in a way that makes sense, and in a way that works. Unfortunately, though, Insecticide fails in those aspects. Gallery: Insecticide
Behind the gooey scenes of Insecticide
The Gamecock guys sure know how to go all out in crazy fashion to promote a game. With Insecticide already out on store shelves, however, we're saved that blitz of feathers and capes. Instead, we're presented with a smaller, more intimate behind-the-scenes look at two of the individuals who helped Insecticide become a game. We're talking about Larry Ahern and Mike Levine of Crackpot Entertainment.Of course, being Gamecock, they had to include some wackiness, though. Hit up the "Read" link below and check out the video.%Gallery-3405%
WRUP: Shooting crystal bugs edition
With three high-profile titles releasing in North America this week, we're having a hard time deciding what game (or games) to pick up for this weekend's promised downtime. Should we go with the tried-and-true formula of shooting everything in sight and get Nanostray 2? Or, should we see about putting on our gumshoes and solving a case or two in Insecticide? Perhaps the more epic quest is in order and we should go with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates? Maybe we should just go with them all?While we try to decide, tell us what you've got going on in your gaming world this weekend. What will you be playing?
DS Fanboy interview: Insecticide's Larry Ahern
I met with Crackpot Entertainment's Larry Ahern, creative director of Insecticide, at this year's EIEIO event after he had finished demonstrating his game over and over again for successive groups of journalists and other attendees. Even after all of that time spent staring at Insecticide and introducing it to the few people in each group who weren't familiar with it, he seemed enthusiastic about his game. He was also happy to reminisce -- fondly or otherwise -- about his time at LucasArts, during which he served as art director for Day of the Tentacle, lead animator for Full Throttle, and co-project lead on The Curse of Monkey Island, just to name a few classics.Hit the break to find out about Insecticide's alternate history as a TV show, to read the most about BioShock you'll ever see on DS Fanboy, and more!%Gallery-3405%
WRUP: Many genres edition
This week's release list is pretty darn nice, with a variety of genres being represented in the ranks of new titles available for the DS. RPG junkies get their fix with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates, shoot-em-uppers get something new in Nanostray 2 and the niche crime-solving insect genre gets an entry in Insecticide. How's that for a week of releases?Are you picking up a new game? Going to hammer away at something older? What are you playing?%Gallery-3462%
Insecticide & Incesticide: How to tell the difference
Having trouble telling the difference between Nirvana's Incesticide album and DS platformer/shooter Insecticide? Afraid that you'll accidentally bring home a 15-year-old CD instead of the hard-boiled detective game? Worry no more!We've put together a handy guide to help you tell these two "alternative" titles apart. Forget about wandering the streets in a daze, unsure which product features rock-out tracks like "Sliver" and "Son of a Gun!" No more embarrassing yourself in front of friends after mentioning an afternoon spent hunting criminal bugs with Kurt Cobain! We promise you'll never again confuse the game with the album or vice versa -- or your money back! Hit the image above for our life-changing chart!%Gallery-3405%See also: Nirvana: Plugged back in and electronicized
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."%Gallery-3405%
DS releases for the week of March 10th
What a week for DS releases! Of course, in the shadow of a certain release on the Wii side of the Nintendo fence, a big week was probably necessary, but that doesn't make it any less exciting. Though there are only three DS titles scheduled for release, each one has something going for it. How often does that happen? Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates Insecticide Nanostray 2 In fact, there's a lot to look forward to all around the world. Europe's scoring Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker and Bomberman Land Touch! 2, among other titles, and Japan boasts our beloved Contra 4 (there, Dual Spirits), and the hilarious Duel Love. Surely you can find some time to tear yourself away from beatdowns for one of these.
Insecticide made creepier thanks to comparison to The Professional
Crackpot's Larry Ahern appears in this video offering commentary on the latest entry in the "evolved bug detective in a post-apocalyptic insect-run world" adventure game genre (jeez, another one?), Insecticide. He reveals a few influences on the world and storyline of the game. The most notable, in terms of making us look at the game in a new way? Luc Besson's The Professional, which, if you haven't seen it, is about a 12-year-old who forms a close, parental-but-also-inappropriately-romantic attachment with a hitman. And that's the relationship that influenced the dynamic between the game's two main characters, Chrys Liszt and Roachy Caruthers. We don't know what to say now. We're going to watch these two cartoon insects' interactions a lot more closely during the game, at least.
Don't thoughtlessly squish this Insecticide trailer
We're big fans of Insecticide, and not just because it gives us an opportunity to wheel out our lamest insect puns (happily, it's no longer alone in that respect). Okay, that's a part of it, but from what we've seen and played of Crackpot's game, Insecticide looks like another top-drawer addition to a genre that's already overflowing with goodness: DS adventure games.This latest trailer of the title might be light on gameplay footage (read: there's none whatsoever), but it still does a fantastic job of communicating the game's noirish feel. There's the gravelly-voiced narrator, rookie upstart cops, cigar-smoking veteran detectives, and lashings of moody silhouetting. In short: DO WANT.[Update: Video now embedded after the break]See also: 2008's Biggest Blips -- Insecticide%Gallery-3405%
DS Fanboy feelers-on: Insecticide
Gamecock sent over a near-final preview copy of Insecticide, and I've been playing through it for the last few days. I haven't encountered any bugs yet -- except the ones that are supposed to be there, amirite? I previously played the game during the Penny Arcade Expo, but this time I had the benefit of playing a more complete copy, for more than ten minutes, while sitting down in a room with fewer than ten thousand people in it. I don't want to evaluate too much in a preview, but in the small portion of the game I've played, it's clear to me that this is exactly what people hope it is: the return of the funny 3D adventure game. While the adventure genre (by which I mean the third-person, 3D-movement, point-and-click adventure game, as opposed to graphical text adventures like Phoenix Wright) hasn't quite died, it has been populated in recent years by games like Indigo Prophecy and Syberia: dour, dark, gritty, Serious Business. Insecticide is not that. It evokes something like a Grim Fandango or a Space Quest: interesting characters who have a lot of funny things to say, in a game that requires you to adapt to a unique world's somewhat joke-based logic.%Gallery-3405%
Insecticide's release date repelled
Bad news for bug-detective adventure-platform action game fans: Insecticide isn't ready to emerge from its cocoon just yet. Amazon sent a notice out to an Insecticide preorderer that the game would ship out on March 11, instead of the previous February 12 date. The product listing has also been changed accordingly, and GameStop has updated their listing as well.Our Gamecock contact confirmed the delay, which is the second so far. He wasn't sure of the exact issue, but suggested it had to do with needing more time to manufacture a sufficient number of copies. So we don't get our own copies as soon, but there's a higher possibility that we will all be able to find one at all.%Gallery-3405%[Via GoNintendo]
2008's Biggest Blips: Insecticide
Developer: Crackpot EntertainmentPublisher: GamecockRelease date: February 12Thomas Trowel's jaw was long and bony, his head a jutting v around the more flexible v of his mouth. His mandibles curved around to make another, smaller, v. His yellow-green eyes were mostly vertical. The v motif was picked up again by thickish antenna rising outward from twin creases above a hooked nose, and his pale brown hair grew down -- from high flat temples -- to a point on his forehead. He looked rather pleasantly like a praying mantis -- because that's what he was.He said to Chrys Liszt, "Yes, sweetheart?"Detective Chrys Liszt sighed. She could handle stereotypical guys. After all, her partner Roachy Caruthers was as hard-boiled as they came, a veteran cop who'd had more holes shot through him over the years than an old piece of cheese. But guys like this Trowel character really got under her exoskeleton. They had no idea how to treat a woman who wasn't just some dame. "Look, can you just give us a quick rundown on this Tangerine Sparrow deal? For the files.""Well, darling," Trowel said, "it all started when I met Brigid O'Spiderssy, a real knockout. She came in with a story about her sister, and was all sweet innocence, but I've been around long enough to know trouble when I see it, and that dame was trouble. Next thing I know, this fellow who's supposed to have run off with her sister is dead, my partner is dead, and I've got the law--" he looked up, face twisted in a smile that held little joy, "calling me a suspect. Before I can make sense of all that, I've got this grub coming around talking about some tangerine sparrow and a young scorpion following me everywhere I went.""Sparrows," spat Roachy suddenly. "Nasty things. Had one swoop down on a cousin and bam!" He brought two thin, gnarled hands down on Trowel's desk. "Just like that.""This one was old. Treasure, I'm told. A gift from royalty, missing for years. Didn't seem to be anything but bad luck, if you ask me. Everyone I talked to about the sparrow is either dead or in jail, and not one of them managed to put a hand on it for more than a few days." Trowel looked down at the watch on his wrist. Chrys looked at Roachy, but he had his arms crossed and was studying the ceiling, clearly bored. "You turned it over to the department, right? The statuette.""Along with the dame.""Thanks, Trowel," Chrys said, getting to her feet. "If this connects to the Nectarola case, we'll be in touch.""Swell," Trowel said, reaching for his hat, the small v of his mouth curving. His eyes glittered. "Happy to help."Reprinted from Super Hardboiled Noir Detective Fiction Magazine, 1949%Gallery-3405% FFTA2 Back At world's end
