GDC 08: Insecticide Preview
I got to spend some time checking out Insecticide this afternoon, and it was the first time I ever got actually see it in action. Hey, when you go on the road for six months, it's hard to game as much as you'd like to.
Anyway, I was given demos of both the PC and DS versions of the game by Michael Levine and Larry Ahern of Crackpot Entertainment, and I was pretty impressed by what I was shown. Both versions of the game will follow the same story, but the PC version is set to be digitally distributed in two episodic releases in order to keep the game's download size relatively small. Both versions will also tell the same story, but the PC rendition will naturally feature a lot more textures, details, full-motion videos, and larger environments.
What really impressed me, though was the game's art style, which reminds me of a blend between the equally excellent Psychonauts and Beyond Good & Evil. This is because the characters, even though they're anthropomorphic insects, have that cutely bizarre factor which Raz and his friends posessed. Meanwhile, the environments are reminiscent of the sci-fi/pulp/noir world in which Jade found herself wandering.
When I was shown the DS version of the game, though, I was floored at how tight the controls seemed to be, especially since navigation can be controlled with either the letter buttons or the system stylus. The rationale was that it wasn't that hard to adapt the navigation modes to these methods because, if you look at it a certain way, it isn't that different from using the WASD keys and a mouse. I was shown a brief chase scene, in which Chrys Lizt clambers across rooftops after a spitbug (during which the stylus navigation) and then goes through an adventure game tutorial by going a number of puzzles in the police station she works in.
It's no surprise that Crackpot knows what they're doing with this game, particularly because a number of ex-LucasArts people form the studio's population. Heck, even Dave Grossman was involved with the game for a bit! Based on everything I saw, this looks like it's not just going to be a solid game with some snazzy artwork, but it's going to be a fun experience overall for anyone that's a fan of either action/platforming or adventure games in general.
Boy of Tomorrow
Posted to GDC, Miscellany on 20 February 2008
· Comments (2)
Other stuff like this: action, adventure, crackpot entertainment, ds, game developers conference, gdc, gdc 2008, insecticide, LucasArts, pc
Thanks for the preview BoT... I saw this title (out of nowhere) in the latest EGM and wondered what it was about.
Just moved up into my "might buy" list.
I'm not surprised about the game's influences. Ever since I saw her, I've been thinking, "Dang, Chrys looks like Lili with short hair and two extra legs!" And yet she also reminds me an awful lot of Jade.
I'm super-excited for this game. I can't put my happiness into words. Adventure-gaming insects FTW!