Inspector Gadget
by Chris Thomas on Tuesday 14th Apr 2009

Is the good inspector still a valuable IP today?

Where is the Goddamn theme tune? I’m on the title screen of the game now; Gadget is looking at me expectantly as if to say “What are you waiting for? Press “New Game”, I however am looking expectantly back at him. “Where is my beloved music? Is this some kind of sick joke?” Alas the eternal and instantly recognisable Inspector Gadget theme tune is nowhere to be found in this game, let’s just leave this here and move on because otherwise I’ll get upset again.

Namco’s Inspector Gadget is a 2D side scrolling platformer that has a strong retro vibe to it in terms of its visuals and level designs; this game would have been absolutely at home on the SNES or MegaDrive. Naturally you play the titular inspector, tasked with running, jumping and floating your way through the games six stages, although for a brief spell in the later levels you also get to control Brain  Penny’s bipedal canine pet and Penny herself. As you make your way through the levels you have access to a number of the Inspectors gadgets but these are really just amusing animations for every day actions, for instance jumping activates Gadgets spring loaded legs or attacking causes a mallet to come out of his hat and swipe at whatever is in front of him. Perhaps the best gadget trick comes in the form of being able to drastically slow your descent when falling; pressing down causes the inspector to inflate which is a nice touch. The problem is there is almost no point in the games main levels where using this technique is essential or even recommended.

While the graphics and sprites are colourful and well animated it’s the gameplay that lets the game down. The controls are a valiant attempt but require some real acclimatisation and casual gamers will be instantly turned off by the bizarre layout. I’m sure you can see from the screenshots what I’m talking about; essentially instead of a standard directional pad tucked into one corner we have every direction arrow spread around the screens outer extremities which is both convoluted and unwieldy for newcomers. Possibly as a result of the controls the game has a very stop start feel, there is little flow to navigating the levels. More often than not I would come across one of the stationary baddies, stop in my tracks, then nudge myself pixel by pixel closer to it before attempting to leap over it. Other more mobile enemies are a pain in the butt to kill because the hat mallet animation takes a second or two to execute. By the time you have pressed attack the enemy has already closed the gap and dealt damage to you.

To the games credit it does cram in a lot of variety in the levels. While the first is a straightforward platform puzzle solving (find and press gate opening buttons) affair later stages include mine cart style racing (with the cart replaced with the inspectors roller-skates!) and there is also some character swapping gameplay that involves changing between Gadget and either Brain or Penny to press switches and open gates to progress. It’s a great idea but the execution feels like a slightly half-baked attempt at emulating the gameplay of the Mario & Luigi RPGs seen on the GBA and DS. Half baked in that you have no control over when you change characters, you just progress until you reach the next switch which opens the gate for the other character then automaticaly switches you to that character. Rinse and repeat.

Ultimately it is very hard to recommend Inspector Gadget and to be honest I’m not quite sure who the target audience is; casual gamers will find the controls and level designs too fiddly while the more hardcore audience will unlikely even give this cartoony platformer a look especially given the flood of superior titles on the App Store. Even those looking for a nostalgia kick will be left disappointed because the goddamn theme tune isn’t here… Oh now look, I’ve gone and upset myself again.