Review
Release Date: 1994
Platform:
Sega CDDeveloper:
Konami Co., Ltd.Publisher:
Konami of America, Inc.Reviewed by
Dan Bailey on 4.25.2003
| Review Rating: 10/10 | User Rating: 8.5/10 |
It's not too frequenly that you come across a game that has unique enough characterists to make the title absolutely nothing like any piece of software that you have played before. Most games in the current era are developed with a genre already in mind, leaving this industry with far too many cookie cutter titles and carbon copies of other games. It seems like ages since the last truly innovative and original game came out. Snatcher is one of those titles that at has almost no other games released domestically to even compare to it.
Before I delve into the various gameplay aspects of Snatcher, I thought it would be a fitting opportunity to go over the history of the game. The original version of Snatcher was released for the MSX computer system in Japan. Developed by the legendary Hideo Kojima the title was one of the most popular MSX games ever. For the uninitiated the MSX was a home computer that Konami supported heavily in the late 80s and early 90s. Many of their most popular franchises such as Akumajo Dracula and Metal Gear debuted on the MSX platform. Snatcher for the MSX however is a very different title then Snatcher for the Sega CD. From version to version there was quite a bit of evolution done on the game, which I shall now explain.
The original version of Snatcher created for MSX introduced the characters and had a similar storyline, however many specific details of the story were apparently left out as were some of the "sub quests" and origin sequences. In addition the story ended early with the 3rd act missing due to time constraints. The original version of Snatcher for the MSX also has a slightly different game play engine although it was primarily menu driven investigation. Due to the relative success of the original Snatcher on MSX Konami did what most game companies do when they have a hit on their hands, they tried to make more money off of it's popularity. In doing so the game that was created was known as SD Snatcher. SD Snatcher was a classic style RPG using the Snatcher characters and storyline as it's setting and featured Super Deformed (thus the term SD) versions of all the characters. This game leads to the completion of the story and lead to yet another remake.
This remake was for the PC Engine Super CD system and was known as Snatcher CD-ROMantic (notice the play on the word CD-ROM). This game was released in 1992 and it was the first "complete" version of Snatcher. Developed by Kojima himself Snatcher CD-ROMantic became the first ever game to be given to be tagged a "digital comic". Using the power of the CD format the game used still frames of animation (with moving mouths and limbs) and several hours of in game voice acting to make the entire game feel like a giant comic book. The extra memory of the Super CD format allowed for large amounts of detailed still frame drawings, the ability to use voice acting as well as higher quality audio sampling and occasional animated cut scene to create a world that wouldn't have been possible to produce on any other system up until that point due to memory restrictions. The PC Engine Super CD version was also the first to contain the entire story of Snatcher with all 3 acts. Needless to say, with all the innovations brought on by this complete version of Snatcher, CD-ROMantic was a huge success in Japan. Snatcher’s success also led to a small handful of imitations (which for the most part never made it to the US) such as the Dreamcast title July. Unfortunately, due to the well-documented failure of the US version of the PC Engine system the Turbo Grafx 16 and it's counterpart the Turbo Duo, the Super CD version of Snatcher had absolutely no chance of being released domestically. Eventually, Konami decided to port CD-ROMantic to the Mega CD platform with the intent of releasing it worldwide. Unlike the PC engine Super CD, the Mega CD (known as Sega CD here) had a relatively decent sized user base in North America and Europe and a foreign release of Snatcher was feasible on the console. Strangely enough though, due to the lack of success of the Mega CD system in Japan. The Mega CD port of CD-ROMantic was only released in North America and Europe on the system. So the Japanese Mega CD version never saw the light of day. And that brings us to the Sega CD version of the game which is a direct port of the Snatcher CD-ROMantic with a few minor changes here and there mainly due to the technical differences between the systems and additional shooting sequence to keep one heavily story oriented sequence more interesting.
The story of Snatcher is rather complex and it is chock full of interesting plot twists and unexpected scenarios. Thus deciding what to reveal and what not to reveal regarding the story is far and away the most difficult part of writing this review. It would really be an incredible shame if anything in this review were to spoil the story at all so I have decided to be as austere as possible with my character and story descriptions.
The intro to the game starts out by revealing the existence of Snatchers. Snatchers are a bio-roid life form that has appeared out of nowhere. They appear and in winter killing people and stealing their identities. They have the ability to assume the shape, look and even sound of an individual to almost perfectly copy the person being snatched. They have artificial skin that has the look and texture of real skin; it can sweat and even bleed. The menace has the entire nation of Japan in a state of emergency and the government has decided to take action. They established a group of investigators known as J.U.N.K.E.R.S.(Japanese Undercover Neuro-Kinetic Elimination Rangers in the US version) whose job is to identify and destroy all Snatchers. The origin of the Snatchers is unknown and it is believed that they could be anything, from mechanical creatures of alien origin to artificial intelligence gone mad.
Now that you know a little bit about the Snatchers I can move on and tell you about the main characters. You play the role of Gillian Seed. After being found by a government agency three years back in the Siberian desert with a bout of amnesia, the only word you could remember about your past was Snatcher. In search of your past went to thriving Japanese metropolis of Neo Kobe, which is a hotbed for the Snatcher menace. After receiving training from the Special Forces, you have accepted a position as a JUNKER. Which is where you begin. Then there is Jamie Seed, Gillian’s wife. Jamie also suffering from amnesia Jamie is presently employed at Neo Kobe Pharmaceuticals. Like her husband she was also discovered by the government 3 years back. Fans of one of Konami's most popular series are sure to recognize Gillian’s sidekick. It's name is Metal Gear MKII, Metal is a robot used to support JUNKERS in investigation by being able to take readings of magnetic data, metal gear has sensors for sound, motion, electric waves and more. It can store 3D images of anything needed into it's memory and can cross reference evidence, and those are just some of MGMKIIs features. Metal Gear even has a Vid Phone built in if you ever need to make a call. Metal Gear MKII was developed to look like a smaller version of the famed Metal Gear nuclear launchers that had caused a big stir nearly 50 years earlier.
As I mentioned in my history of the title, Snatcher is known as a digital comic. You may be asking yourself "Just what is a digital comic?” well I shall explain. A digital comic is a game that acts more as a book you read and watch or as a story then something you actually play and Snatcher is the game that started the genre. In Snatcher you only have a few real "action scenes" and those are shooting scenes. Almost the entire game is spent investigating areas, objects, places and talking to people. The main menus in the game are Look, Investigate, Move (when available), talk (when available), possessions, and use metal gear. What makes this interesting is that besides garnering evidence and finding your way through the game, depending on what you look at, investigate and ask (and how many times you do it) you get different results. Sometimes (if you've saved recently and don't mind being a jerk in a game) it's fun to intentionally offend people until they do something about it or gives in to your offensive demands. There are a few sequences where you get some awfully interesting results by doing so. There are also several other interesting game play features. One is the videophone, there are a handful of secret or hidden numbers in the game you can call for some amusement. Not only is it somewhat fun to do, it adds an incredible amount of depth to the seedy nature of Neo Kobe. There are also a handful of things you can do with the Jordan database computer in JUNKER headquarters. You can spend hours uncovering and tinkering with these extras and secrets hidden throughout the game.
Besides the menu driven portion of the game I also mentioned the shooting scenes. There isn't a whole lot to them to be honest with you. You can use your controller or the Justifier light gun (which was made for Lethal Enforcers) to shoot at and hit enemies during the very few action sequences in the game. The idea is simply to hit the enemies quick enough before they kill you. There is also a small shooting range that you come across to practice your shooting, but with so little actual action in the game, practicing shooting isn't really necessary but it can be a lot of fun. Just in case anyone has the Justifier gun around I would recommend not using it. It is one of the cheapest made and least responsive light guns I have ever encountered. The foul firearm just makes shooting more difficult due to it's crooked shooting from more then a few feet away (just to note, I've tried several justifiers and none of them shoot well, the guns just stink) and is sure to cause more headaches then added enjoyment. You are best off to just play with your trusty controller and put the ugly blue gun where it belongs, the garbage.
The most interesting aspect to Snatcher besides the story and characters is the atmosphere of the game. The futuristic city of Neo Kobe looks like you might expect a giant city of the future to look like, it emits the aura of Blade Runner and the Harry Canyon sequence from Heavy Metal with it's gorgeous looking night time in the city feel that is present for most of the game. The cyberpunk kind of surroundings really add to the feel of the game and draw you into your surroundings. With neon lights and skyscrapers at every turn in some parts of the city it really gives off the futuristic sense of wonderment.
The dialogue and writing in Snatcher is simply put remarkable. Many of the characters have very deep and specific personalities and the flavor of the writing really fits the mood of the game. The dialogue is quite simply spectacular, and the overall effect of the writing when mixed with the dynamic characters and immersive story makes this game a totally engulfing experience. Snatcher easily has one of the best-done localizations in the history of gaming, especially when considering the astronomical amount of dialogue that needed to be written.
The graphics in Snatcher are fantastic for a Sega CD title. Most of what you see is stills or just moving stills of characters, places and so on. This works very well though since all of them are beautifully drawn with gorgeous looking backgrounds and characters. There are a few quasi FMV sequences but for the most part all of the game is done with still screens and movement giving spectacular graphical results. Besides the minor lack of sharpness and color you hardly will notice that this is a 16-bit game.
The sound in Snatcher is actually one of its most impressive features. This is mainly because of its bar setting voice acting. At a time when very few games had voices, those that were dubbed into English usually had horrible voice acting that could very well have been recorded and performed by the janitorial staff of the companies doing the translations. Snatcher tried to set the standard, the voice acting is excellent for the most part, although a few characters sound a bit over-the-top. Overall this is one of the strongest efforts I have ever seen on an English dub of a title and is comparable only to one of Konami’s other voice intensive products Metal Gear Solid.
The music in Snatcher while not amazing fits the mood very nicely as do the sound effects, which add a lot to certain scenes. To this day I can clearly remember one of the dramatic tones used in several of the most important and surprising scenes in this game and thinking how it almost frightens and shocks you when hear the chime.
The packaging of the Sega CD version of Snatcher is decent but not fantastic. It has a Black and White manual on high quality glossy paper. Obviously a color manual would have been preferred but Black and White was the standard at the time and the paper is better then average quality. There is a small manga comic strip translated into English on the inside of the manual that is interesting to look at and read but it isn't terribly relevant to the game. The manual is useful at introducing the characters and the game play aspects but isn't really that needed. The front cover art is hideous to be blunt. It features a poorly colored and gritty looking drawing of Gillian on the cover pointing a gun. The good news however is that back cover has a great sketch of original game art featuring many of the characters and some attractive looking screens from the game. If only Konami had chosen to re-use the art from the PC-engine version of CD-romantic on the cover they may have been able to sell a lot more copies of the game. I believe that quality packaging does make a difference with some games and this is a title that surely suffered sales wise because of what can only be described as one damn ugly cover.
Snatcher is one of the most sought after and treasured games released domestically in the past 10 years. With the incredible popularity of Kojima's Metal Gear series and the scarcity of Sega CD systems and original copies of this game, the only English version of Kojima's masterpiece is only going to get harder and harder to find. The title was remade was once more for the PSX and Saturn, but Mr. Kojima apparently did not oversee these remixes, resulting in significant of changes in art, content, and sound that is for the worse. So much for the worse apparently that according to many diehard fans, these changes make the PC engine-Super CD version and Sega CD version of Snatcher superior to the 32-bit remakes. Konami of America has replied on many occasions to fans asking for a re-release of Snatcher on PSX and a domestic release of it's prequel Policenauts (which was originally scheduled for a domestic release on the Saturn but due to the Saturns early demise in the US the game was cancelled with according to some reports an all but complete translation) in the US. However, each time a PSX release was denied for various reasons and it seems highly unlikely that either game will ever be issued in the US for PSX. Which once again leaves the only version of Snatcher available in English being the 16-bit Sega CD one. Don't be scared by the fact that the game is 16-bit and might not be able to compare with current software in terms of graphics, sounds and other improvements made available by more current hardware. The game feels, looks, sounds and plays just as new and fresh today as it did at its release. Very simply put, Snatcher is an innovative title that broke new ground in multiple aspects of gaming in general.
I myself didn't get a chance to play this classic until 1998. Before playing Snatcher, I had been worried that I might be somehow disappointed with the title due to it's age and my tolerance of older hardware decreasing. I fortunately had nothing to worry about, since there are no other US released games in the digital comic genre (unless you count the Sierra game Rise of the Dragon also on the Sega CD) the game doesn't feel at all dated since there are no more modern titles in it's genre to compare with in terms of engine, graphics or innovation. Additionally because of the quality of the stills, arts, and dub, Snatcher looks and sounds absolutely amazing for a 16-bit game. Add that with the fact that it has arguably the best story and presentation of a story I have ever seen in a game and you have a game that is still a winner and well worth buying over 99% of new software today.
The only real complaint that I have with Snatcher is that the game is not a title you really play, since there is so little actual action in Snatcher. Much of the game is spent watching events unfold and reading dialogue with not a lot of actual interaction unless you want to start experimenting. Some have said that the Snatcher experience is more like reading a choose your own adventure book then playing a game. Still, there is absolutely nothing like Snatcher available in English on any console. Despite the aforementioned problems some people have with the way it plays and the mediocre packaging, I very simply can't recommend this game enough. It's incomparable story, groundbreaking dub, amazing graphics and incredible overall presentation more then make up for its flaws.
