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Get your bug swatter ready!

Insecticide is an insect and film-noir themed combination of platformer/shooter and puzzle/adventure game, developed by Crackpot Entertainment and published by Gamecock Media Group. You play as Chrys Liszt, an insect detective tasked with solving a murder and then unraveling a shadowy conspiracy (of course), with only your wits, your acrobatic skills, a half-dozen weapons and a completely useless partner, Roachy.

The premise sounds great until you actually try to play it, at which point everything falls apart. The plot plays out like a parody of a parody of film noir, and no, that's not a good thing (think of it as the Date Movie equivalent of detective thrillers, if that makes sense). The action sequences are simply not fun, thanks in large part to bland, ugly environments and sloppy platforming controls.

The shooting aspect isn't so bad, though, with a decently good lock-on system and an interesting variety of weapons. Finally, the puzzle/adventure sequences scattered between the action levels are pretty lightweight; inventory items do not carry over (with one exception), which means a quick sweep of the relatively small areas turns up all necessary items in short order, and the possible item/environment/person combinations are pretty limited.