Snatcher

The Good
Snatcher is a game that's been released on a total of six systems over the course of eight years. All but one of those releases were in Japan, and that one was for the Sega CD, in late 1994. American and European gamers were lucky to get the game at all, but when the game came over with almost all of the gore and even some of the nudity intact, the gaming community was ecstatic. No one, at least in America, had ever seen a game like Snatcher, and thanks to the fact that Policenauts, Snatcher's unofficial "prequel", hasn't been and probably never will be released in America, we'll probably never see a game like it again. It's a game that never fails to keep you on your toes. It manages to genuinely scare you, even though it never actively tries to. At one point I would even refuse to play the game at night, because as I would walk from my basement (where my Sega CD was) up to my room to go to bed, I would keep looking over my shoulder to check if a snatcher was sneaking up on me. When a game that's running on a meager 16-bit machine with an onscreen graphics palette of only 112 colors manages to scare you even after you've turned it off, that's the mark of something truly powerful. It could also be the mark of a paranoid coward, but I'd say it's a combination of both. Everything about the game is perfect. The graphics are in the style you'd find if you picked up an issue of Shonen Jump- Japanese comic books, or Manga. They're colorful, detailed, and even though they almost never move, they're too good for you to care. The sound is excellent. The voice acting is truly excellent, and although the actors seem to be overplaying their roles at times, we have to remember that decent voice acting at all in a pre-PlayStation, cinematic, Metal Gear Solid era was pretty rare, and probably nonexistent to begin with. The music is excellently composed, and the right tunes play at the right times to get your heart truly racing. The game structure is a massive menu with a few shooting sequences thrown into the mix. It's the most entertaining menu ever made, in my opinion. All the choices one would want to make are there, and it rarely feels limiting. The shooting sequences are far and few between, and this is a good thing, because once you start getting into the game you'll want no interruption from your investigation. The storyline is top-notch- there are just enough plot twists and character developments to make it truly great. Luckily, there's no way to die in Snatcher. If you get killed during a shooting sequence, you push a button and attempt it again. Clumsy gamers like me appreciated the fact that you have infinite lives. All in all, there is much to love in Snatcher.

The Bad
There's very little wrong with Snatcher, but no game is perfect. The translation gets a little thick on the cheese at times, and occasionally borders on "Engrish", but it can be forgiven as this game was created in an era where little thought was given to a translation that did more than not be Japanese. Another small problem I have (and this is an extremely minor quip) is that the art direction is relatively inconsistent. Gillian (the main character) may look more round-faced and boyish in one scene, and in another his face will be hard-nosed and jaded. It doesn't seem that they created model sheets for the characters in this game, and it shows. Still, in a game with so much good you can't really dwell on the bad, it can be forgiven.

The Bottom Line
Although Snatcher sounds massively boring- it's a menu with a gun- nothing could be farther from the truth. The voice acting, graphics, music, and excellent storyline make it not only the best game of the Sega CD, but the best game of 1994, the best game of the '90s, and the best game ever made. It's a terrible shame that virtually no one outside of Japan knows about it, because had it gotten the exposure it deserved worldwide, it would have no doubt become ingrained in the hearts of gamers; it would be many people's favorite game, and much more. On the bright side, we're lucky to have the game at all, even though its poor sales (blamed on its limited distribution) eliminated any hope of getting Policenauts released outside Japan. Still, we must thank Hideo Kojima and the entire team at Konami for producing an excellent game, and it can be said without hesitation that this is required playing for any video gamer.

The Good
For a game involving little more than repetitive menu-cycling with an occasional meager shoot-out, Snatcher is certainly a success. It is clear that a lot of attention has been paid to its setting and plot structure, aiming to make it as little boring as it was only possible.

Of course, Snatcher wouldn't be the same without the action segments. The furious shooting releases the stress accumulated during the investigation, and although those sequences are rather simple, they are certainly fun. Unfortunately, there were very few of those sequences, but there were many situations where you expected shooting, and this alone was curiously enough to keep you in suspense.

The monotony of menu choices is somewhat broken by a few more involving tasks, such as creating a computer montage of a criminal's face based on a description given to you by a witness; guessing the name of a hospital with a broken neon sign; searching a dark room by moving a flashlight around. But even the routine menu-selecting is well-made. First of all, you always get elaborated messages from your sidekick Metal Gear. No matter what you look at, even if it is unimportant stuff, Metal will analyze it and give you a description. Usually you can select the same option several times and get a different answer every time.

The story develops just at the right speed, without giving too much of it away in the beginning, and always introducing mysteries. Already the core plot point of the game - who am I? - captures the player's attention and makes him curious. The game always presents smaller mysteries, that are tied nicely with the main plot.

The story of Snatcher is pretty good, especially when everything is explained in the end of the game and you realize how seemingly unimportant events and encounters were in fact very important. The story is built like a big puzzle, with all the pieces brought to their places only during the ending sequence. Moral problems, philosophical outputs about mankind, world-domination, love are treated with typical Japanese clueless naivety, but not without passion.

In addition, Snatcher has great comic-style graphics and a memorable soundtrack with some atmospheric background tunes.

The Bad
Snatcher is a Japanese adventure. To put it bluntly, if there's anything wrong with it, it's this. The lack of movement, control, and general involvement is aggravating. There is no physical movement whatsoever in the game: the adventure mode allows you only to select menu choices, and in the shooting mode, all you can do is aim your gun and shoot. I'd be really glad to see some movement in the game: for example, navigating the turbocycle myself, or actually playing those nerve-tickling movie sequences. At least a point-and-click interface would have helped. Unfortunately, there is nothing of the kind. You are not physically present in the game world, and that is a serious flaw for gameplay mechanics.

Like most games of its genre, there is a common and very annoying problem of "triggering" in Snatcher. New menu choices will only pop out when you have already browsed through all other choices, even though those choices didn't bring anything to the development of the plot. That turns a good deal of the gameplay into impatient selecting of all menu choices, examining and investigating everything that bears no importance to the actual game events and is turned mandatory because it inexplicably triggers new choices.

Snatcher (and its very similar follow-up Policenauts) is not really concerned with letting you explore its world. Not all Japanese adventures are fully linear; some, at least, allow you to move from location to location at your own pace. Granted, both games pay attention to detail and their locations are interesting, but this linearity can get stifling.

Most of the dialogues are okay, but some of them are surprisingly weak and can ruin the game for some sensitive players. The writing suffers from "Kojima-syndrome", with some pointless moralizing and semi-educational material that is too obviously presented - something anyone who has played a Metal Gear Solid game is familiar with.

Kojima loves movies, and most of his game plots are a mishmash of different themes he had drawn from popular blockbusters, sci-fi or otherwise. Snatcher is no exception, as the title and the entire premise not-so-subtly imply. The plot of Snatcher is therefore "gimmicky", compiled out of liberally used borrowed material. It's also very Japanese, so expect tiring verbosity and sexual innuendo at every corner.

As opposed to some unnecessary descriptions and corny dialogue, I'd much prefer to see more action sequences in Snatcher. There are, in fact, only three major shooting sequences in the whole game - one in each act. They are also way too easy, thus turning the entire game into a straightforward affair devoid of any real challenge.

The Bottom Line
Snatcher is clearly better than the vast majority of Japanese adventures, but that still doesn't make it a particularly compelling game. Basically, this is a flashy, yet derivative story accompanied by bits of restricted gameplay. The game evokes sympathy thanks to the evident passion of its creator; but as far as adventure games go, it is very primitive and lightweight, and can only be compared to the similarly simplified Rise of the Dragon.