Policenauts is a truly fascinating disaster of mixed messaging. On one hand, it asks and answers some interesting questions. What would society be like if we perfected space travel? If we made other planets inhabitable? What if after a 25-year coma, you've found yourself in such a world when it seemed like none of that was possible just yesterday? What of your friends? Your old colleagues? Your wife? You were gone for so long, so where are these people now? Is it worth chasing the past, especially if you may not end up getting the answers you like? If the people that you respected back then, are no longer who they used to be...?
But of all these questions, the one that it desperately wants to ask you the most is "How much creepy misogynistic bullshit can you stomach in order to experience any of these themes?" Because, fucking whoof. I thought Snatcher was bad with this stuff, but in contrast, that's nothing. Policenauts is a fantastic story, buried miles below a stream of constant intrusive interruptions of Kojima's unrestrained and creative freedom, otherwisely known as his libido.
Let's just get the good out of the way, shall we? Yes, there is a genuinely solid story here. When Jonathan (the main character) and your cop buddy Ed are going around solving the mystery of an illegal trafficking ring, looking into things that you shouldn't have and accusing high-ranking rich scumbags that could have you be disappeared within a day, Policenauts is a thrilling and dangerous ride, yet filled with many slow-paced instances of retrospection on the differences between this world, and the one Jonathan grew up with.
The story revels in its worldbuilding, its heavy usage of medicinal and biological terms that I barely grasp, and it is equally as intriguing as it is difficult to follow at times. Whether that's because things get too complicated for me, or because the pacing takes a bit of a nosedive and I start paying less attention. My deficit attention span aside, I find it well put together, with a viscerally satisfying ending that tops it off and wraps things up with a neat ribbon.
The visuals of the PS1 version, while not very stylistic when it comes to the backgrounds depicted (a downgrade from Snatcher's 16-bit nightly city landscapes, which were a lot cooler), are quite detailed and tend to match the standards of the anime produced of that time, alongside the couple FMV's that were produced for this port. An effort is made to deliver a cinematic quality that I think does a well enough job to enhance the setting, and storytelling of the game.
If Policenauts was just this, it'd be sitting at 4 stars right now. Maybe even 4.5, because damn, it really does have its special moments, and a couple pretty likable characters, Ed just being such a pitiable down-on-his-luck guy that you wanna root for. Regrettably, I'm now gonna have to come back to my initial point. Ed is likable, Jonathan... far from it.
As I stated in my Snatcher review, writing your main character to be horny isn't an automatic reason to make a rant like I'm about to. While I would more often leave it than take it, there's a decent way to do something like this. Policenauts oversteps its boundaries, and the boundaries of every single girl you will meet across your investigation. These are just working people. One's a flight attendant, the other's working behind an info desk... Most of them scantily-dressed, revealing some bit of sideboob or as much as leg as possible. And maybe I'd just be overthinking it, if it weren't for the game immediately enforcing these clothing choices by giving me free reign to flirt with them, comment on their face, their hips, their legs, and... a whole new feature exclusive to this game, the Molest button! Go right ahead, just grope their boobs and face absolutely no ramifications or consequences for it, beyond a meek scolding from your cop buddy, and an "Ahn~ Stop it~" from the girl. Truly, an experience made for the gamer.
Policenauts likes to utilize porn game logic for its moments of levity. Just like in a porn game, you're not really meant to think about the way you conduct yourself in front of a girl. Let your wild animal instincts kick in, and enjoy yourself, that's what I presume Kojima figured. The biggest problem with this sort of mindset is that you chose to insert mindless porn game logic into a story that actually requires you to think quite heavily. You can't turn your brain off in a game like this, you wouldn't be able to follow the plot, you wouldn't consider the theming, you wouldn't theorize about the truth of the mystery. You are required to do all of those things to get the most out of Policenauts, and just when you really start to immerse yourself into it- Hot dog, is that an attractive woman?! Cue up the Attractive Woman Theme Song, Jonathan's about to make some wacky unwanted advances!
You see? Policenauts wants to treat itself as a grounded and realistic story. But it also wants it both ways through dedicating half of its cast to a guy's fantasy, and an uncomfortably frequent chunk of its humor to attempts at sexual assault. And when you're in the middle of analyzing everything else, it's not gonna be hard to analyze this for what it is, which is an insanely one-sided depiction of women that takes away and distracts from an objective understanding of how the world really works, just to titillate the player a bit. One tone is contradicting the other, neither work well in tandem with each other, and it ends up ruining my ability to take any of the story seriously.
It's not a sin to appreciate the good aspects of Policenauts. But it would be ignorant to say what's problematic about it isn't a problem at all. If you were crafting a story as extensively detailed as this one, you'd think you would want to spread its message to a larger demographic than horny dudes. As it stands, how can I recommend this game to my friends? "There's a really cool story here, if you ignore all of the objectification?" I'm fucked. Policenauts fucked itself. And did it honestly need to be that way?
But of all these questions, the one that it desperately wants to ask you the most is "How much creepy misogynistic bullshit can you stomach in order to experience any of these themes?" Because, fucking whoof. I thought Snatcher was bad with this stuff, but in contrast, that's nothing. Policenauts is a fantastic story, buried miles below a stream of constant intrusive interruptions of Kojima's unrestrained and creative freedom, otherwisely known as his libido.
Let's just get the good out of the way, shall we? Yes, there is a genuinely solid story here. When Jonathan (the main character) and your cop buddy Ed are going around solving the mystery of an illegal trafficking ring, looking into things that you shouldn't have and accusing high-ranking rich scumbags that could have you be disappeared within a day, Policenauts is a thrilling and dangerous ride, yet filled with many slow-paced instances of retrospection on the differences between this world, and the one Jonathan grew up with.
The story revels in its worldbuilding, its heavy usage of medicinal and biological terms that I barely grasp, and it is equally as intriguing as it is difficult to follow at times. Whether that's because things get too complicated for me, or because the pacing takes a bit of a nosedive and I start paying less attention. My deficit attention span aside, I find it well put together, with a viscerally satisfying ending that tops it off and wraps things up with a neat ribbon.
The visuals of the PS1 version, while not very stylistic when it comes to the backgrounds depicted (a downgrade from Snatcher's 16-bit nightly city landscapes, which were a lot cooler), are quite detailed and tend to match the standards of the anime produced of that time, alongside the couple FMV's that were produced for this port. An effort is made to deliver a cinematic quality that I think does a well enough job to enhance the setting, and storytelling of the game.
If Policenauts was just this, it'd be sitting at 4 stars right now. Maybe even 4.5, because damn, it really does have its special moments, and a couple pretty likable characters, Ed just being such a pitiable down-on-his-luck guy that you wanna root for. Regrettably, I'm now gonna have to come back to my initial point. Ed is likable, Jonathan... far from it.
As I stated in my Snatcher review, writing your main character to be horny isn't an automatic reason to make a rant like I'm about to. While I would more often leave it than take it, there's a decent way to do something like this. Policenauts oversteps its boundaries, and the boundaries of every single girl you will meet across your investigation. These are just working people. One's a flight attendant, the other's working behind an info desk... Most of them scantily-dressed, revealing some bit of sideboob or as much as leg as possible. And maybe I'd just be overthinking it, if it weren't for the game immediately enforcing these clothing choices by giving me free reign to flirt with them, comment on their face, their hips, their legs, and... a whole new feature exclusive to this game, the Molest button! Go right ahead, just grope their boobs and face absolutely no ramifications or consequences for it, beyond a meek scolding from your cop buddy, and an "Ahn~ Stop it~" from the girl. Truly, an experience made for the gamer.
Policenauts likes to utilize porn game logic for its moments of levity. Just like in a porn game, you're not really meant to think about the way you conduct yourself in front of a girl. Let your wild animal instincts kick in, and enjoy yourself, that's what I presume Kojima figured. The biggest problem with this sort of mindset is that you chose to insert mindless porn game logic into a story that actually requires you to think quite heavily. You can't turn your brain off in a game like this, you wouldn't be able to follow the plot, you wouldn't consider the theming, you wouldn't theorize about the truth of the mystery. You are required to do all of those things to get the most out of Policenauts, and just when you really start to immerse yourself into it- Hot dog, is that an attractive woman?! Cue up the Attractive Woman Theme Song, Jonathan's about to make some wacky unwanted advances!
You see? Policenauts wants to treat itself as a grounded and realistic story. But it also wants it both ways through dedicating half of its cast to a guy's fantasy, and an uncomfortably frequent chunk of its humor to attempts at sexual assault. And when you're in the middle of analyzing everything else, it's not gonna be hard to analyze this for what it is, which is an insanely one-sided depiction of women that takes away and distracts from an objective understanding of how the world really works, just to titillate the player a bit. One tone is contradicting the other, neither work well in tandem with each other, and it ends up ruining my ability to take any of the story seriously.
It's not a sin to appreciate the good aspects of Policenauts. But it would be ignorant to say what's problematic about it isn't a problem at all. If you were crafting a story as extensively detailed as this one, you'd think you would want to spread its message to a larger demographic than horny dudes. As it stands, how can I recommend this game to my friends? "There's a really cool story here, if you ignore all of the objectification?" I'm fucked. Policenauts fucked itself. And did it honestly need to be that way?