Retro Review - Snatcher

Immediately after finishing playing Policenauts I set out to try Kojima's other game, which in terms of gameplay is quite similar to Policenauts, but in terms of plot is much darker and more graphic. A game which takes a lot of inspiration from the mythical movie Blade Runner or perhaps more specifically from the novel from which Blade Runner is inspired, but whatever the case, this game of the genre of graphic adventure and visual novel, like Policenauts is one of those Kojima games which have been overshadowed by the shadow of the great Metal Gear despite being really good games, although it should be noted that this is a game that never left Japan and it was the fans who made the respective translation into English many years later.

That's why today's Retro Review is about: Snatcher.

Snatcher is set in the future, with elements of the cyberpunk genre, in which we find ourselves in the year 2041, after several years in the past the world population was attacked by a biological virus which was created and spread from Mother Russia (Typical that the Russians have always been the enemies in both movies and video games of some years ago). After this biological attack, a large percentage of humanity has been reduced. Already in the "present" of the game, that is, the year 2041, another problem has arisen and is that they have begun to appear sporadically in the city called "Neo Kobe City" bio-mechanical humanoids which is not yet known where they come from, however, it has been investigated that one of its main functions is to replace the human race and because of how they were built, differentiate between them, which are called "Snatcher" and between a human, it is very difficult. However, as in Blade Runner, the protagonist of this game Gillian Seed, who works for the agency "Junkers" is assigned the mission to find and investigate a series of crimes related to the "Snatcher". The plot is quite similar to that of Blade Runner, but with certain elements that make them different, but in essence it can be said that "Snatcher" is inspired by the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" As does Blade Runner.

Like Policenauts, Snatcher maintains certain elements of the anime, but in itself, all its environment and cyberpunk elements are those of Blade Runner, there are many similarities that in fact, it looks like a video game adaptation of that movie. But like Policenauts, Snatcher in terms of graphics is quite outstanding, with a style and quality in both character and scenery designs and elements such as: weapons, cars, buildings and any element that alludes to the "future" is very well implemented in this game.

The whole "cyberpunk" dark atmosphere that manages to create this game is outstanding, you can really notice the decadence of humanity in every place we go through the city, in addition, unlike Policenauts, Snatcher is much more graphic, much more violent and much bloodier, not afraid to show the Snatcher totally destroyed and being violent by the protagonist of the game or any other character. In terms of color, it has certain limits, but despite those graphical limits, Kojima managed to create a video game that despite the years, has aged quite well. And it's one of those games whose retro look makes it look even more striking today.

Once again we are in front of a game with a spectacular soundtrack, I think it is not a surprise considering that Kojima worked on this video game. It is one of those soundtracks that is better to listen to them instead of reading about how it is, because it really is very cool. In the same way the sound effects complement very well with the environment and the ambience of the city and the places we are going to go through. Simply outstanding.

Snatcher, like Policenauts, is a game of the genre "graphic adventure" and "visual novel" whose gameplay is guided by the narrative and its plot. It is a game that still has a lot of dialogue and in which inspecting the environment is essential to obtain information or some useful object in our mission.

This is a very interactive game as far as the story is concerned, talking to the NPCs is very important to continue and know more about what is happening in the city. The story is told through scenes in which we can interact or not, always using the classic "point and click" system so characteristic of adventure games. And just like Policenauts, this game will also have certain action sections, in which the gameplay will change to an FPS where we must shoot certain enemies. In essence, Snatcher has more of the same features as Policenauts, or rather, Policenauts has more of the same mechanics as Snatcher, since the latter was developed before Policenauts.

As I mentioned in the Policenauts post, this type of game is not for everyone, although it maintains many characteristics of a conventional "adventure graphic" genre, the way in which the mechanics of this game are used is totally different. Mainly because Snatcher bases much of its gameplay on narrative, something that is much more important in this type of game than in a more conventional "adventure graphic", it is because both Snatcher and Policenauts have "visual novels" as a sub-genre, although between these two genres of video games there are few differences.

Snatcher is another gem of video games, which like Policenauts, are two games considered cult games that deserve a little more recognition within the video game industry. It is one of those games that not everyone will like, but for those people who like games of this genre, but have not yet played it, it is 100% recommended.