Insecticide and Stronghold Crusader Extreme

Insecticide

As we mentioned, last week marked the shipping date for the first title of Gamecock's 2008 game line-up with the release of Insecticide for the Nintendo DS. The game, from new game developer Crackpot Entertainment, has the look and feel of a classic LucasArts adventure game but with some shooter and action elements as well.

Taking place on an Earth where intelligent insects have replaced humans, the game follows the murder investigation in the incest world. The game mixed up adventure elements with puzzles combined with action and shooting elements that you use to go after suspects.


This mix of game genres can be tricky, but based on playing a final build of the DS version and a near-final build of the PC port both work together very well. It also helps that the art style of the game, a blend of cartoon mixed with pulp detective magazine covers, is fairly unique.


As we said the DS version should be on store shelves now. The PC version is scheduled to be released via downloadable episodic format in the near future.

Stronghold Crusader Extreme

One of the original games from G.O.D. was Stronghold, a mix of medieval castle sim with RTS combat elements from developer Firefly. The game spawned three follow-ups that were published by G.O.D. (and later Take Two) and together the series has sold a whopping four million copies worldwide. In fact we were told that the games continue to sell at a rate of 10,000 copies a month.

Firefly was already working with the new Gamecock on their new game Dungeon Hero (more on that title later) but the studio also wanted to release a revamped version of the second game in the series Stronghold Crusader (first released in 2002). The result is Stronghold Crusader Extreme and as you might expect from the title this new version will have a ton of extras, not the least of which is an increase in the amount of units you can control. According to Firefly, players will be able to control thousands of units on screens at one time...now that's extreme. In addition there will be a new single player campaign, new multiplayer maps, new buildings such as outposts that can create the massive amounts of units, and more.


We got to see a brief rolling demo of the game at the EIEIO event and its clear that fans of the original title should get a kick of the new Extreme version. While the graphics in the game haven't really changed in six years its still exciting to see a game that basically has been boosted up to 11 (and maybe even 12) with the vast amounts of new units at your command. Look for Stronghold Crusader Extreme to be released later this spring.