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.