DS goes Undercover
2007 will see first Germanic atomic point-and-click puzzler
The news that German publisher dtp is planning to release a prequel to its PC-based adventure game Undercover on the DS has us slapping our replica lederhosen in delight. After all, it's not been a genre well-represented on Nintendo's portable.
Undercover: Dual Motives represents then an opportunity for gamemaker Sproing to do something a bit different. And, as the two released screenshots demonstrate, it seems to be doing just that, albeit in a minor way.
Each of the playable characters, physicist and reluctant spy Dr. John Russell, and attractive, resourceful secretary Audrey, is always available on one of the DS's screens. You only control one character at a time – using the touchscreen and stylus in a point-and-click style – but can jump between them at any time, which presumably swaps the playable character from the top to the bottom screen.
This neat trickery will allow for plenty of dual lock puzzles, where you'll have to position both characters – each of which will have different attributes – correctly to solve the problem in hand.
As for the plot, we're back in an alternative World War II era where the Nazis are trying to develop a nuclear bomb; at least that was happened in Undercover on the PC. In Undercover: Dual Motives, Russell starts out investigating fishy goings-on at his British research facility.
We've some time to wait before we discover how it all plays out, as the game won't be released until Spring 2007. In the meantime Sproing has plenty to keep it occupied, with anticipated WWII strategy game Panzer Tactics due before the end of the year.
