Policenauts

Moby ID: 10538
PC-98 Specs
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Description official description

In the year 2010 mankind has built its first space colony, Beyond Coast. Three years later the founders of the colony felt it needed to be protected, and chose five best policemen from Earth to do that: Gates Becker from Scotland Yard, the Japanese Sadaoki Tokugawa, Salvatore Toscanini from New York, and two policemen from Los Angeles: Jonathan Ingram and his best friend Ed Brown. During a routine patrol on Beyond Coast, something happened to Jonathan's spacesuit. He was sucked into space and presumed dead. Twenty-five years later, he is miraculously discovered in his life pod, alive. He still looks like a young man, but in reality, he is fifty-five years old.

Trying to forget his past, Jonathan opens an investigation agency on Earth. One day, his ex-wife unexpectedly pays him a visit. She has re-married during Jonathan's prolonged absence and asks him to find her missing husband. When she leaves the office, her car explodes, and she dies. Determined to fulfill her final request, Jonathan prepares to re-visit Beyond Coast.

Policenauts is a Japanese-style adventure with action elements, similar in many ways to Snatcher. The player interacts with the environment in a point-and-click fashion: positioning a cursor over an object allows the player character to examine it or perform other context-dependent actions. There are a few puzzles in the game, but most of the time the story is advanced by visiting various locations, examining objects, and talking to characters. Conversations usually include a selection of topics.

Action sequences are similar to those of Snatcher, but are more numerous and varied. The player must rapidly shoot enemies moving within a one-screen area viewed from a first-person perspective, reloading the gun manually and trying to eliminate the enemy before Jonathan's health bar is depleted.

Spellings

  • ポリスノーツ - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Credits (PlayStation version)

171 People · View all

Jonathan Ingram
Ed Brown
Karen Hojo
Lorraine Hojo
Joseph Sadaoki Tokugawa
Tony Redwood
Victor Jurgens
Anna Brown
Marc Brown
Gatse Becker
Chris Goldwin
Meryl Silverburgh
Dave Forrest
Salvatore Toscanini
Michael Saito
Bob
Jun Ishida
OLA Cop
BCCH Receptionist
Dr. Collins
Stewardess
Hostage
CD Narrator
Narration
AP Officer 1
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 77% (based on 7 ratings)

Players

Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 40 ratings with 0 reviews)

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Trivia

English fan translations

Although the game was never released outside of Japan, several fan English translations exist.

On August 24, 2009 (Hideo Kojima's birthday), thirteen years after the game's original release, an English translation patch was released for the PSX version. The translation encompasses every depiction of kanji in the whole game, and fixes some minor bugs and glitches. The link can be found in the related links section.

A second English translation was released on 2016 for the Sega Saturn version of the game. It improves on the previous PSX translation and all the extra content is translated as well.

References

When you come to BCCH to check Hojo's CD, you can look at the wall where Ishida was previously standing. There is a picture on that wall, which appears to be... the photo of Snatcher character cast! For those who don't know: both games were made by Hideo Kojima, the author of Metal Gear Solid.

Another nice reference to "Snatcher": in Karen's apartment, listen to the third CD... sounds familiar? :)

Saturn version

The Saturn version of the game features some extras: a couple of flashback sequences for Jonathan were added, and during conversations, there are more close-ups on character faces.

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Related Sites +

  • JUNKER HQ
    This fansite is dedicated to the games produced and/or designed by Hideo Kojima and contains all kinds of trivia, artwork, plot summaries, discussion forums and more.
  • Policenauts
    Official game website
  • Policenauts.net
    The English translation patch for the PSX version of the game can be downloaded from this site. It also contains a summarized timeline of the game's events, among other things.
  • The Policenauts Paradise and Snatcher Shrine
    A site dedicated to Hideo Kojima's games "Policenauts" and "Snatcher". Contains a full walkthrough (import help) for "Policenauts"
  • Wikipedia: Policenauts
    Information about Policenauts at Wikipedia

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 10538
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Unicorn Lynx.

PS Vita added by Fred VT. 3DO added by Johnny Undaunted. PlayStation 3, PSP added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Alaka, Neville, DreinIX, —-.

Game added October 2, 2003. Last modified January 19, 2024.