Pest Control
Pest Control is the latest from Nitrome, makers of the recent HeadCase and YinYang. You are the exterminator, your job: kill the bugs. You run through a wide variety of scenarios including different kinds of bugs, all timed, with slightly different win conditions. It's WarioWare with a swatter, and it (mostly) works.
The game is split into several levels that each have nine scenarios to beat. Each scenario involves a different kind of insect. For instance, in one you'll need to swat 40 flies in 30 seconds; in another you'll need to swat the bees without getting hit by their stingers, all in less than 25 seconds. The gameplay is simple: you control the position of a swatter with the mouse, and when you click, it swats. You must complete every challenge to unlock and advance to the boss scenario for the level, and you can replay them in any order to try for a higher score.
The game is not perfect though, both psychologically and in the gameplay balance. The bee levels in particular really get me, I was stung by 11 bees back in September while walking my dog through a marsh, the feeling still haunts my nightmares; if you've ever had an unpleasant experience with any member of the Arthropoda sub-phylum you'll be able to face those repressed memories here, probably to therapeutic benefit. Then there's the gameplay, because each section is a distinct version of the game, there is a need to give each a deal of balancing and play testing in order to keep the difficulty curve consistent and avoid any nagging issues. A terrible example of this is level 4-1, where you must swat down the fireflies while they're unlit. The problem there is they stay unlit for inconsistent time periods and without warning return to their harmful lit states. There are less dramatic examples of disproportionately difficult sections, particularly later on, that impede the player from enjoying a smooth flow to completion. Topping it all off, the chronic clicking involved in some of these levels can be exhausting, which might just compound with the disgust of dealing with all those bugs, but nobody said the job of an exterminator would be easy.
If you've got the stomach for it, I recommend you suit up and play Pest Control.
This is the first nitrome game in a long time that I have seriously enjoyed. Yes, there were a few scenarios that were a little unbalanced (3-2 is really hard), but other than that, the game is extrordinarily well done.
props Nitrome, this is why people play your games.
I would like to revise my previous comment. it's not that 3-2 is too hard, it's that at level 3, the difficulty curve bends just a little too much. levels 1 and 2 are easy, level 3 is med-hard.
Level 3 is incredibly hard compared to the other levels!
im stuck on the venus flytrap level. for some reason i cant get it. its annoying me now! HELP! thnx
with the fly trap one you have to be very quick, and btw im stuck on the stag beetkle one, cant click enough
Move the swatter carefully down the mouth of the plant without touching the sides. Click the fly, and then move out of the plant before it closes.
I beat the stag beetle as my timer read zero!
Curse you, locust!!!
How long is this? I beat the boss of 3 and it's just getting repetitive. Seems like a crappy Point Blank to me.
Answering my own question - level 4 is the last one. I liked that it got pretty tough, the 12 bees on 4.8 was probably the most fun level. Not a bad game.
ha right click rewind?
Help for 3.8
dang it! I can't get past the supid leaf cutter ants!
Mmm, not that bad, is it?
Can't get past the stag beetle
I refuse to play this game because it encourages insect genocide and prejudice.
SPOILER AHEAD
right click then rewind
What's the point in playing if you're just going to cheat like that? The stag beetle took me 2 tries, it's not very hard. I got it with like 2 seconds left.
woohoo i got past the tag beatle. if you an actually get past it you'll probably have 0 seconds left unlesss you're really quick. You are right level 4.1 is hard.
How do you get past the stag beetle on Level 3?
I don't understand how you rewind? When I right click I don't have that option?
I love the stag beetle level :) Gives me the highest level score.
At the end
With the weird trophy...
a button says 'Submit Score' at the bottom- the button does not work (for me)- it doesn't really do anything...
No complaints though.
Argh! I can't get past the
12 wasps
or the
fireflies!
Well, at least I got 5th place on the High Score Board ;-).
Got past the stag beetle.
Done all on 4 bar 4-1 (hard!) 4-7 and 4-8.
Tough levels.
150 ants??? tcha... yeah... any tips on how to do it?
Davi-
Hit the ants that cross the bottom of the screen until the two diagonal lines of ants cross. When they do smack where they cross so that multiple ants die all at once, and then go back to hitting the line at the bottom. I hope you understand.
I don't know how to past the stag beetle!!:( help me please!!
Does anybody have any tips for passing level 4.8? That's the only level left i need to pass.How are you suppose to kill one bee in every 5 seconds without getting killed? I hate this level
...You click on it. Like every single other thing in the game.
one of my favourite nitrome titles yet, at least through the first 3 worlds. great game, reminds me of mario paint. 5/5
Cute game. I love the graphics. But I agree with some of the review comments about the difficulty. I wrote a similar game way back in 2001 called "Bug Control", and while testing the game I found that my arm got really sore. Its the random jerking around of the mouse that does it. I recommend frequent breaks when playing a game like this.
For me, the key to defeating the bees/wasps was
to take them on individually. I know, they all look the same, but you can still find out which wasp you swatted last by their movement pattern and their increased speed. As they get faster when swatted once or twice (it takes three swats to kill them), you'll just earn a bunch of furious wasps if you swat them indiscriminately. When you've only got half of them left, you can let your blind killer instinct loose...
Technically, a lot of the bugs you kill the game aren't really "pests"..
Otherwise, a nice game, albeit not really animal-friendly.
Also..
There are a few bugs in the game (the ones only the game creators can swat), and the difficulty level is all over the place. The level where you have to keep two bugs in the air (and destroy them if you can) is bugged - once you kill one of the bugs you automatically fail, you must try to keep both of the bugs alive or kill them at the exact same time.
The last boss fight is also quite difficult, but mostly because of shoddy collision detection. It took me a while to realize that only the exact center of the swatter is susceptible to "dying", and the rest is invincible. After that, everything was cakewalk.
Okay, now the only level left for me ist 4-1, the fireflies. Does anyone have any hints on how to complete it (apart from the amateurish right-cklick->rewind cheat)? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Oh yes, and apart from "Just click on the fireflies quickly when they're unlit"... :P
Not a superb game in my book. The graphics are nice, as expected, it's stylish and I like the many unique bug behaviours, but other than that, it's mostly just an annoying click-fest for me.
To each his own, I guess.
For the fireflies...
There is always one which is unlit, no matter how many of them are there. The level gets exponentially easier the more flies you successfully hit. If you cannot pass the level, apart from trying to be faster, try camping in the middle of the screen and hitting every black fly you can. Be reckless at the beginning of the level and more careful as more flies are dead (and less lives you have). Once the number of flies is diminished you can "gamble" and follow them in turns until the followed one gets unlit. After a certain number of tries you have to get lucky.
Am I the only one who only gets 1 life on level 4.2 (the dripping water one)? I've had no luck passing it with only 1 life...
That's right, Steven, the moment you get wet, it's game over in that level.
@ the fireflies: I managed to complete it in the meantime, and my only advice is "Try it a hundred times, and be lucky once."
The "submit score"-button didn't work for me either, maybe because I didn't complete the whole game in one sitting.
how do you get past the third boss? with the one where you hit the eyes?
great strategys for bosses!!!
centipied:
simply dodge him, go for the behind first, because it becomes unhittable later in the level. remember where he stops, because he only stops in 2 places!
mega spider:
spider on steroids! anyway, use teleport
right click, click where you want to go
to dodge his attacks untill he jumps at you then just circle round and strike!
scorpion:
use teleport right away. complete the move right as his tail flashes. that means he's locked on to you. WARNING!!!! DO NOT TELEPORT TO HURT HIS EYES! YOU WILL GET HURT!!!
3rd boss: Wait until the scorpion lifts its claws, then hit him. Dodge the sting. Don't worry too much about speed, you've got more than enough time.
any hints on 4.8 apart from cheating??
some good hints for 4.1 which makes it easy as cake:
*as soon as game starts click on the first grey thingy, you should always have enough time to kill it an it doesnt matter if you click on anything else in the process
*as soon as you loose a life you got sth like 0.5s where u are invincable, that means click on everything that moves asap.
as soon as you are down to 5 follow single thingies and it should be no prob.
i need help with 3.6 i keep running out of time. HELP!!
Hey guys, there are hints for both 3.6 and 4.8 up there among the older posts. Just have a closer look (for 4.8, look for "wasps", and for 3.6, for "ants").
Is anyone nowadays playing the game as-is, or are you just trying out different ways how to cheat? I mean, look at gamemaster's post about "strategies" - use teleport, don't use teleport here, use it there.. well newsflash, this "teleport" is as much a cheat as is hitting the rewind button to stop the time.
What's the point of playing the game if you'll cheat? Seeing the final screen? I really don't understand how the win-game screen in any way rewarding if you cheated your way through to see it...
Please help me on the stag beetle its sooo HARD!
im really stuck on 4.8 and 4.1. can anyone help? also the cheat doesnt work for me.! HELP! xx
anyone know how to get over 1k points on loucst (3.4) and glowing mites (4.7)?
Um... "It's Wario Ware with a flyswatter?"
Anybody else baffled by the lack of the obvious derivation of this game from a well-known 16-bit classic?
If not let me clue us all in:
MARIO PAINT
MARIO PAINT
MARIO PAINT
MARIO PAINT
MARIO PAINT
Reviewers L2game history plz.
Actually, it is a direct homage/ripoff of Police Trainer.
You're hitting things with your mouse.
Come on, you can't say this game rips off anything similar. If I could do that, I could say Breakout is a ripoff of Tetris because both of them have colored blocks.
elemeno - in defense of all game reviewers, it is just not humanly possible to have played every game out there, nor to know about every mini-game that was included as a pack-in to a niche game console peripheral, which historically receive only a small fraction of the market penetration the parent console sees.
So, what may seem obvious to you, may not be to someone else.
Besides, swatting insects with a fly swatter is a fairly common practice, so making a game out of it is what seems obvious to me.
It's absolutely impossible to beat the 12 wasps. At least for someone who doesn't have the time to play the game 24/7. I made all the other levels but this one is too hard. Why do they create such a level, where everybody starts to hate the game?
If I don't run out of lifes, I run out of time. And it's NOT possible to see, which wasp one already hit. I checked this out.
I loved Nitrome befor, but this is senseless and annoying!
Well, that 12 wasp level IS annoying, but I made it :)
It didn't put me off Nitrome.
Everyone must have a challenge once in a while anyway.
@Kaschko/level 12: Yes, you can see which wasp you already hit. The ones that have been swatted before will fly faster, and will come for your cursor more directly. Take them on one by one, then it won't take you 24/7 to complete the level. It may well take you 24+7 replays, though. If you managed to do the fireflies, however, you can complete the wasps as well.
I tell you, I'll try a few times more, but just because I want to finish this little nightmare for my ego.
Of course I'm still a Nitrome fan! Don't get me wrong...
The Fireflies were hard, too. But this wasps come directly from hell...
...sigh...
...Juste made it....
...R.I.P. bloody wasps...
help with 150 ants please!
Just concentrate on the area where all the ants meet. It's between the trees in the lower middle of the screen. If you have touchpad and mouse do some double clicks.
If the area is empty jump around and wait until it's crowded again.
This reminds me of a game in the arcades here in the Philippines once. The control is a hammer. I grab the hammer then whack a level I want to play. Then it tells me what to do and if I finish reading, I whack the the screen to play the level (The level starts in...09 seconds something). For example. In the Windowpane level, I'm supposed to whack...sort of like 15 windowpane-stealing ninjas WITHOUT hitting the bomb-carrying soldiers. If I hit a soldier, I lose a life. 3 hits, game over. Good times. It made my wrist hurt.
Hi, i need help on the stag beetle. Anyone is able to go through that stage?
its a bug on 4.2! When you start, you have always lost two lives, being hit by drips.
...fair enough Jay. ;)
I should have said,
"This game is almost EXACTLY like a classic for the Super Nintendo that many may not have played since it was played with the (otherwise almost completely useless) SNES Mouse... it was a minigame on Mario Paint with no name but mysteriously started by clicking the cup of coffee icon on the home screen of the main game.
I'd encourage all to check that out as a charming and quaint piece of video game history, if you liked this one."
PS. Thanks to all reviewers for doing this job for us for free, regardless of whether you've heard of Mario Paint or not. ::sheepish grin::
Thanks, elemeno, nice job! :D
THIS IS THE BEST CHEAT FOR 3.2 (WASPS)
What you have to do is. When they are flying, hit each one ONE AT A TIME. K? Once you chose thy one you wanna kill, hit them in the head about 5 times fast!!!(FAST IS IMPORTANT) or until they spin off the screen. Once you beat it (i did) they will swirl off the screen so you know they died. Do this the same for all 5 wasps
i can't beat 4-8
For stag beetle
just click really fast
For ants
find the spot near the bottom where the ants cross and click there really fast
The wasps are hard but i am getting really close by
clicking on them one at a time, although its VERY tedious work
How do you do 4.1????
It is hard keeping track of which firefly is unlit.
Also don't forget, you can put your mouse over lit fireflies just don't whack the lit ones so then it is easier to travel all over the screen without getting hurt. But that's just a reminder because I thought too that Oh no the firefles have me surrounded!So if you forget, remember this .
heres a hint for anyone who needs it on the waps, I had a bit of trouble with this too...
you need to click on a wasp 10 times to kill it.Try to seperate them as much if you can, or if you can't, move your mouse in a circle so they all follow and go in the same derection.This should make it easier becouse you wont have stingers near you when you try clicking on wasps. Dont give up!
How do i kill the wasps on the caves?!?!?!?!! so darn hard!!!!
I PASSED THE ANOOYING FIREFLY ONE YAY
I had a lot of trouble with the stag beetle, and I finally found that
picking up the mouse in my left hand allowed me to click much faster than I could with it sitting on the desk.
It's interesting, because clicking really fast isn't a mechanic I'm used to; it made me very aware of my physical actions, rather than the gameplay.
ummmm... I was really wondering... how to beat the BOSS ON LEVEL 3?! I mean, how do you hit it withOUT losing a live?? its like IMPOSSIBLE!!!
How does
right click rewind work? I right click but there is no rewind function, just "about adobe flash player" and settings" - when do you right click?
I'm having trouble cheating, help!
marie :)
can not beat glowing mites, any advice?
whats the last boss?
Okay, okay. I'll play the game. But, in my mind, the bugs are merely being stunned and taken away from the location.
Mega cheat for Stage 2.7: (anyone will be able to do it, no right-clicking and it is not exactly a cheat, but can get you 1696 score on this level)
It is actually possible to move the swatter to hit the fly through the bottom of the flytrap. It is possible to do this for both flies, but you must be VERY quick. I managed to get 1696 score doing this. (Compare this with what you got to find out how much faster it is.) If you got more score than me without doing this, you are a god.
hey im stuck on 4.1 and 4.8 HELP ME, AND TRY TO BEAT AT THE STAG BEATTLE : 3046 POINTS HAAHA!
thank you SO much, "WASPS!" with your hint about the...well, wasps!
Cooley123 here - [this is why im not logged on]
im on a different computer and i forgot my user name and password (on my laptop, I have the password remembered with the username; it logs me in automatically)
- Jonas Wannebo,[message for you]
your theory of losing two lives on 4.2 because of a bug is wrong! I played it and i had all three lives, and even though I didn't really check them, I lost about 2 lives being hit by drips. Sorry, but that bug is invalid; as in there is none.
Hey, can someone help me with 3.2? I am stuck with avoiding their stingers. I finally passed the ants! I just really want to get to level 4!
If you want to change the background of the level your on, you can click the square for the level you want to play, then click the back or forwards button. The level will then be played on the background that you select.
The only level it doesn't work on is the spider egg sac - the egg sacs appear under the web.
Blank I was going to make that comment first.
I can't get past the Fireflies and the 12 wasps! Help!!!
How do you beat the stag beetle?
How do you rewind cheat?
How do you teleport?
Here is a secret to win flies and web easy and a harder jungle boss.
for easy fly and web
before fly and web loads change background and you will have a ordinary fly level
for hard giant spider
change the background to desert and you will have a fight were you have to hit him when he isn't under the web
Change background
click the change world arrows will the level is loading
Dave, sorry to break this to you, but some of the stunned insects get spuished into goo or tiny pieces,get there guts ripped out,or suffer other potentially lethal injuries.
Pfft... Why is it on the wasp level that some of the wasps fly faster and more accurately even if you haven't hit them?
Darn wasps +.+
stag bettle score: 11292
I AM GOD!!!!!!!!
for the stag beetle (3.8) use only your pointer finger to press but do not put your whole hand on the mouse, just bring your pointer finger up and down as fast as you can.
Sorta good game, but I couldn't beat it with out teleporting. It really reminds me of that old game Bloodsuckers (for the Mac OS8, I think). That was a better game.
For 3.6 (150 ants) when you click the level, click the white arrow going left (the one that would normally take you to level 2) before the level loads. It will give you a different background and there's no cactus, so you can hit the ants much easier.
I'm still having trouble with the stag beetle. could anybody help?
I finally managed to kill 12 wasps and a had 1 firefly remaining. Gerr.
I got to the boss. Its the first hard nitrome boss a met.
I passed the stag beetle with 7 seconds remaining. How, you ask? I have a laptop so I use my mouse and pad. Also, can anyone tell me how to use rewind?
I can't get past 4.6 - roaches by torchilight. I can only get 3 or 4!!! Help?
Stag Beetle.
How to click really fast.
Use 2 hands. Hold your mouse with your undominant hand. If you are right handed, hold mouse with your left hand. Use your right index finger to "poke" the mouse button.This is better because you use your whole arm instead of your finger.
Cheaters way...
Use right click then rewind
Auto clicker, cough cough..
How do you beat 4.1 or 4.8? They are really hard. Sorry to say but the stag beetle is not hard. I beat it with 6 seconds left and my little brother even beat it. And the third boss is not hard. i beat without losing a life. And the fly one on 4.2 DOES have a glitch. I start out with 1 life but I still beat it.
Lol. I got 12191 in stag beetle. How, you ask?
Autoclicker set at a click every 0.00001 seconds :P
I'm obviously the only one, but I can't get past the cactus grubs. Any tips?
Any tips on getting past cactus grubs and and ants on stage 3?
Im stuck in the 4.9, i need tips, the babies dont let me hit mother
How do you kill the last boss, i can hit mother because her babies
And here are some tips for dificult levels:
Fireflies:
Its better to have a slow computer, if you have a fast one, stay in the center an quickly hit when lit
Flies and drips:
Be quickly and see the upper part of the screen to check where the drips are going to fall
Wasps:
Like fireflies, its better have a slow computer, if not you have to be very patient ans quickly.
Mites:
For this i only say
The practice makes the master
Cactus grubs:
Try to memorize where are the places where the grubs exit
Leaf cutter ants:
Stay near the border and avoid the leafs and flowers. When an ant doesn't have a leaf, hit it
Ants:
Change background
Cockroaches by torchlight:
Keep moving the flyswatter and when you see a roach, hit it
And here are some tips for dificult levels:
Fireflies:
Its better to have a slow computer, if you have a fast one, stay in the center an quickly hit when lit
Flies and drips:
Be quickly and see the upper part of the screen to check where the drips are going to fall
Wasps:
Like fireflies, its better have a slow computer, if not you have to be very patient ans quickly.
Mites:
For this i only say
The practice makes the master
Cactus grubs:
Try to memorize where are the places where the grubs exit
Leaf cutter ants:
Stay near the border and avoid the leafs and flowers. When an ant doesn't have a leaf, hit it
Ants:
Change background
Cockroaches by torchlight:
Keep moving the flyswatter and when you see a roach, hit it
And here are some tips for dificult levels:
Fireflies:
Its better to have a slow computer, if you have a fast one, stay in the center an quickly hit when lit
Flies and drips:
Be quickly and see the upper part of the screen to check where the drips are going to fall
Wasps:
Like fireflies, its better have a slow computer, if not you have to be very patient ans quickly.
Mites:
For this i only say
The practice makes the master
Cactus grubs:
Try to memorize where are the places where the grubs exit
Leaf cutter ants:
Stay near the border and avoid the leafs and flowers. When an ant doesn't have a leaf, hit it
Ants:
Change background
Cockroaches by torchlight:
Keep moving the flyswatter and when you see a roach, hit it
And here are some tips for dificult levels:
Fireflies:
Its better to have a slow computer, if you have a fast one, stay in the center an quickly hit when lit
Flies and drips:
Be quickly and see the upper part of the screen to check where the drips are going to fall
Wasps:
Like fireflies, its better have a slow computer, if not you have to be very patient ans quickly.
Mites:
For this i only say
The practice makes the master
Cactus grubs:
Try to memorize where are the places where the grubs exit
Leaf cutter ants:
Stay near the border and avoid the leafs and flowers. When an ant doesn't have a leaf, hit it
Ants:
Change background
Cockroaches by torchlight:
Keep moving the flyswatter and when you see a roach, hit it
i cant beat dung beetle level..... :) i beat stag is was eeeasy! with the dung i hit like 12 im not idding it just says i lose.... help!
Hey fx if you want to beat dung bettles:
Change background
click the white arrows when level is loading
and try to be in the top, you are in a good position to hit bettles
Can anyone help me with levels 3.2 (wasps) and 3.8 (stag beetle)? And I also have a pretty fast computer.
How do you beat those punky 5 wasps and cactus grub?
Help me. I can't get past the dung beetles or the wasps. Oh, and how do you stop the time? I don't understand. Help! I need to stop the time.
3.2 is impossible, I've tried to aim each one 5 times, but everytime before I even kill 1, I lost all my lives.
I know how to get past the ants!
Swat them when they first come down. When they start walking across the bottom and crossing, move up and down.
Finally... Those wasps from 4.8 are DEAD! I'm never going back.
help i cant get past the scorpion boss no 3.9 any tips other than the right click rewind one?
Just so you know, any "cheats" involving right-clicking no longer work. Nitrome changed something, so now when you right-click, it's not the flash menu anymore, therefore no Play, Rewind, etc.
Spider:
Move the swatter down in a corner, then wait till he gets to the swatter, then move it somewhere else. Only swat it one time.
how can you all get so far? i'm stuck on level 1 fleas.... hey wait just beat it after 46 tries!!!! hooray!!!
My scores:
Rubbish Yard:
1.1 - 1292
1.2 - 2220
1.3 - 1554
1.4 - 4136
1.5 - 3870
1.6 - 2430
1.7 - 2790
1.8 - 2500
1.9 - 3803
Stag beetle is easy, i got 11602
i saw a comment about the ants on how to get em. but i found a way better.. change the background to 2 and its really easy to get 1463 or 1470
Cactus grubs i found this video of him doing 1872 i dont know what program he used. he did videos of 2.7, 3.3, 3.9, 4.8, and 4.9. Cactus grubs i can get 1745 max
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