Hideo Kojima loves a good movie. This is made not only abundantly clear by the (at times overbearing) cinematic nature of his games, but as well in the frequent allusions he makes to his favorite films. I suppose that is the first thing that stands out to me about Snatcher, a game which is so very clearly a love letter to Blade Runner and cyberpunk as a whole. Protagonist Gillian Seed is a raunchy, satirical take on Harrison Ford's Deckard who exists in a world filled to the point of bursting with references to David Lynch, effects artist Rick Baker, and The Terminator among many, many others. The adventure is at times almost litigious in how much it cribs from other media (Random Hajile is such a dead ringer for Feyd-Rautha, Sting should be getting royalties), I'm not sure which skirts the line more, Snatcher or Policenauts.
Gillian and his estranged wife Jamie wake up amnesiacs, having been found near the point of origin for a biological weapon known as Lucifer-Alpha, which killed most of the global population. Hoping to unravel the mystery of their past, Gillian joins JUNKER ("Judgement Uninfected Naked Kind & Execute Ranger" or "Japanese Undercover Neuro-Kinetic Elimination Rangers" depending on your region), an agency tasked with hunting bioroids known as Snatchers, who have been killing and replacing members of society to carry out a larger conspiracy.
As an adventure game, Snatcher is the perfect vehicle for Kojima's voice to shine through. Granted it does about as powerfully as a flood light, but when you compare this to his previous games it's hard to deny that this was the jumping off point for his particular brand of storytelling. The main story is rich with conspiracy and intrigue, nukes and global catastrophe, all told from the perspective of the finest collection of weirdo freaks this side of FOXHOUND. When not chipping away at Snatcher's overarching mystery, you can steep yourself in the history and culture of Neo Kobe City, which is surprisingly fleshed out. I usually don't get so immersed in a game's world, but the sheer scope of optional scenes and dialog is on par with Metal Gear Solid's codec conversations. I found myself compelled to click on absolutely everything in a scene just to wring the most I could from this game.
Kojima's puerile and abstract sense of humor is present as well. Gillian can hit on every breathing female he encounters, call up 1-900 numbers, or go get a slice of Neo Kobe Pizza (which involves dunking a slice into some soup. It's a delicacy, shut up.) The Outer Heaven club is packed with Konami characters, including Rocket Knight and Goemon, and your partner is Metal Gear Mk. II, a remnant of the "Metal Gear menace of the 21st century." There's definitely a lot of flavor here. However, there's also something to be said about Kojima's depiction of women, and how at times the childish sense of humor that colors his games result in some pretty offensive situations and depictions. Kojima has struggled with this his entire career, but it's definitely more prevalent in his earlier work. Comparatively, Policenauts is far more guilty about this than Snatcher, but be aware going in that it's still a problem.
Unlike the story, there's nothing quite so audacious about the gameplay. To be fair, when Snatcher was first released in 1988, Kojima was still establishing himself as a game designer. This is a fairly rote point-and-click adventure game. It thankfully avoids being as obtuse as other adventure games, especially of its era, but it's far from revolutionary.
At a few points in the story you're thrown into a shooting gallery, which is maybe the most "gamified" part of Snatcher. These were clearly designed around a light gun, but since I emulated the game I wound up using a regular controller. I do, however, have a copy of Policenauts and a Stunner, and if it's anything like that... well, it's safe to say it's not reinventing the wheel either. These shooting galleries are few and far between, and function to get the player more engaged in Snatcher's set pieces, but there's ultimately so few of them that I don't think they add a whole lot to the experience.
I've often wondered what kind of games I'd want to make if I had the wherewithal to get into game design, and I think where I've settled is that something that combines the adventure/visual novel qualities of Snatcher and the gameplay of early Shin Megami Tensei is my ideal. Perhaps that just says something about me wanting to fill the areas where Snatcher left me wanting with something else I am otherwise as enthralled by. I don't know. What I'm sure of is that Snatcher made an impact on me more than I was expecting it to, and despite some lackluster gameplay elements and a few bad story elements, it's in tight competition with Metal Gear Solid for my favorite Kojima game, and easily breaks my top five favorite games of all time.
Gillian and his estranged wife Jamie wake up amnesiacs, having been found near the point of origin for a biological weapon known as Lucifer-Alpha, which killed most of the global population. Hoping to unravel the mystery of their past, Gillian joins JUNKER ("Judgement Uninfected Naked Kind & Execute Ranger" or "Japanese Undercover Neuro-Kinetic Elimination Rangers" depending on your region), an agency tasked with hunting bioroids known as Snatchers, who have been killing and replacing members of society to carry out a larger conspiracy.
As an adventure game, Snatcher is the perfect vehicle for Kojima's voice to shine through. Granted it does about as powerfully as a flood light, but when you compare this to his previous games it's hard to deny that this was the jumping off point for his particular brand of storytelling. The main story is rich with conspiracy and intrigue, nukes and global catastrophe, all told from the perspective of the finest collection of weirdo freaks this side of FOXHOUND. When not chipping away at Snatcher's overarching mystery, you can steep yourself in the history and culture of Neo Kobe City, which is surprisingly fleshed out. I usually don't get so immersed in a game's world, but the sheer scope of optional scenes and dialog is on par with Metal Gear Solid's codec conversations. I found myself compelled to click on absolutely everything in a scene just to wring the most I could from this game.
Kojima's puerile and abstract sense of humor is present as well. Gillian can hit on every breathing female he encounters, call up 1-900 numbers, or go get a slice of Neo Kobe Pizza (which involves dunking a slice into some soup. It's a delicacy, shut up.) The Outer Heaven club is packed with Konami characters, including Rocket Knight and Goemon, and your partner is Metal Gear Mk. II, a remnant of the "Metal Gear menace of the 21st century." There's definitely a lot of flavor here. However, there's also something to be said about Kojima's depiction of women, and how at times the childish sense of humor that colors his games result in some pretty offensive situations and depictions. Kojima has struggled with this his entire career, but it's definitely more prevalent in his earlier work. Comparatively, Policenauts is far more guilty about this than Snatcher, but be aware going in that it's still a problem.
Unlike the story, there's nothing quite so audacious about the gameplay. To be fair, when Snatcher was first released in 1988, Kojima was still establishing himself as a game designer. This is a fairly rote point-and-click adventure game. It thankfully avoids being as obtuse as other adventure games, especially of its era, but it's far from revolutionary.
At a few points in the story you're thrown into a shooting gallery, which is maybe the most "gamified" part of Snatcher. These were clearly designed around a light gun, but since I emulated the game I wound up using a regular controller. I do, however, have a copy of Policenauts and a Stunner, and if it's anything like that... well, it's safe to say it's not reinventing the wheel either. These shooting galleries are few and far between, and function to get the player more engaged in Snatcher's set pieces, but there's ultimately so few of them that I don't think they add a whole lot to the experience.
I've often wondered what kind of games I'd want to make if I had the wherewithal to get into game design, and I think where I've settled is that something that combines the adventure/visual novel qualities of Snatcher and the gameplay of early Shin Megami Tensei is my ideal. Perhaps that just says something about me wanting to fill the areas where Snatcher left me wanting with something else I am otherwise as enthralled by. I don't know. What I'm sure of is that Snatcher made an impact on me more than I was expecting it to, and despite some lackluster gameplay elements and a few bad story elements, it's in tight competition with Metal Gear Solid for my favorite Kojima game, and easily breaks my top five favorite games of all time.
2 Comments
I generally like his work, but even his games I don't like I find something fascinating about. Snatcher is definitely less self-serious than most everything else he does, though, and I think it kinda benefits from that.
FallenGrace
1 year ago