Snatcher

Released on November 30, 1994 for the Sega CD by Konami, Snatcher features graphic adventure gameplay set in a futuristic, cyberpunk world

I have more nostalgia for the Sega CD than for any other console, save maybe the NES,SNES, and Atari 2600. I'll never forget watching it boot up for the first time at my cousin's house, stunned by the high quality music, blown away by the voice-acting in the games. I felt like I was watching a high-performing CD-ROM computer game on the television. Later on, I finally acquired my own Sega CD, and immediately researched to find the best games. One game kept showing up near the top of the lists: 1994's Snatcher. There was one problem, though: a copy of Snatcher, which turns out to be quite rare, costs about as much as a down payment on a house. Thankfully, though, I was able to grab a playable copy through...certain means. Is Snatcher worth the hype?

No matter what you think about this game, you cannot deny the excellence of its fonts

Snatcher immediately immerses its player in glorious late-80's/early 90's cyberpunk atmosphere. The opening cutscene feels like Blade Runner by way of a William Gibson novel, as the player is dropped into the skyscrapers and night lights of the artificial island city of Neo Kobe, Japan. Most of the world's population was killed by disease 50 years before, and now that the survivors have rebuilt, they're under attack by an emerging threat called "Snatchers." Snatchers are essentially robot copies of existing people, who have been secretly kidnapped and murdered. No one knows what the Snatchers want, or where they came from, but the opening cutscene features Terminator-like imagery and design in regard to the titular villains, as well as a sense of neo-noir, as the game's heroes, the JUNKER's are introduced. JUNKER's are essentially old-fashioned detectives, tasked with hunting down and eradicating the Snatcher menace. The player takes on the role of the newest JUNKER agent, Gillian Seed, a man suffering from amnesia because this game was created by Hideo Kojima. Yes, THAT Hideo Kojima.

 

Just put Arnie's skin on this thing and give it a minigun

Kojima, the famous Metal Gear auteur, keeps Snatcher's story fairly simple to start. As Gillian, the player is tasked with investigating the Snatcher menace mystery, investigating crime scenes, interviewing suspects, gathering evidence, talking to informers, while also trying to regain his memory. Gillian also attempts to reconnect with his estranged wife (who also somehow has amnesia). The gameplay style here reveals the game's PC roots, as it was originally released there in 1988 ,with less bells and whistles. As Gillian, the player interacts with the world through a series of prompts, including LOOK, INVESTIGATE, TALK, and ASK. Essentially, the player uses these prompts to look around the environment, generally shown as a static, partially-animated screen, as they try to find something out of the ordinary. Conversations with informants, colleagues, and suspects follow dialogue trees, just like in a classic PC adventure game.

 

Not gonna lie...all that robot juice is making me thirsty

While Snatcher doesn't quite fall into "visual novel" territory, this isn't exactly challenging gameplay, either. Truthfully, you can just go through all of the LOOK/INVESTIGATE prompts in order, until you do the right things and progress. There's not a lot to it, but the text and dialogue is so involving and well written (and translated), this portion of the gameplay never gets tedious...and it's also not the only form of gameplay here.

You also get to shoot stuff. *SIGH* This game is so cool.

During certain portions of the story, Gillian is attacked by either Snatchers or their evil little drone minions, and Snatcher turns into a first-person shooter. These segments verge from prolonged 60-90 second shootouts, to what we'd now consider quicktime events. They keep the player on their toes, as a safe-looking crime scene can be invaded by a Snatcher at almost any moment. The player can even optionally use the famous Sega CD lightgun, the Justifier, for these segments, though I found it a bit unreliable, and preferred to just use the regular Sega control pad. With the control pad, these shootouts aren't overly difficult (just keep firing and aim everywhere!), until near the end of the game, when the Snatchers get both more plentiful and more mobile. While these moments only make up maybe 5-10% of the game, the constant threat of them happening adds a bit more excitement to the game.

 

You're terminated...

While I do think both modes of gameplay are fun, they're not quite Snatcher's main attraction. Snatcher's main draw is its neo-noir and specifically 80's/early 90's cyberpunk atmosphere. The towering buildings and spotlights, the 1940's/1950's office interiors of Blade Runner, the weird post-modern architecture of Total Recall, the post-apocalyptic civilization vibe of Akira, the "what even is human" vibe of William Gibson's Neuromancer, it's blended into something special here, and then combined with a sort of weird, goofy, self-referential, fourth-wall breaking sense of humor. 

Even with all this cool, futuristic imagery, the biggest billboard says SEGA!

The characters in Snatcher draw attention to the fact that you're playing a video game several times. Gillian makes a hilariously failed pass at every woman with which he comes into contact. Your goofy robot sidekick is called METAL GEAR! Yes, like Kojima's Metal Gear. As the humor popped up, I was a little scared it would derail the darker, violent (yes, Snatcher is violent), grittier tone of the game...but instead it only makes the game more charming.

Also, look how cute this little guy is! Who's a good robot? Who's a good robot? Metal Gear is! Yes, he is!

I've already touched upon the art design, but Snatcher's graphics are also great, a blend of top notch 16-bit work and early 90's PC graphics. They go a long way toward building the game's atmosphere, though the sound design also does some heavy lifting. Around 1/3 of the game's plentiful conversations are voice-acted, and the work, while not quite top tier, gets the job done; it won't win any awards (and it didn't), but I enjoyed it. However, the voice work, in tandem with Masahiro Ikariko's cool, jazzy soundtrack, and the game's immersive sound effects, helps Snatcher quite effectively transport the player into its world. With all that said, there is one element that keeps Snatcher away from "masterpiece" status, and it's a bit of a Kojima trademark.

 

Uh...not your nose...

Snatcher's plot, though it contains twists and turns, doesn't feel contrived for most of its run, save the amnesia angle. While it may not blow genre conventions out of the water, the story is coherent and fun...up until the final 30 minutes of this ten hour experience. Kojima games are known for overlong cutscenes, and Snatcher avoids these too...up until the final 30 minutes. I am not necessarily saying the end of this game sucks. I am saying that after a satisfying 9.5 hours of gameplay, featuring a fairly uncontrived story, which employs a cool, neo-noir, cyberpunk tone, the final 30 minutes of Snatcher is a convoluted, melodramatic cutscene. The tone shifts, the music gets sappy. Again, this last 30 minutes doesn't ruin the game. It can't. Snatcher is a cyberpunk classic...but without the final tone-shift, it could have been a masterpiece. 

 

Ironically, after its most noirish image, Snatcher turns into a Kojima soap opera

However, as I said, Snatcher is still a classic, ahead of its time, and timelessly out of time. The JUNKER station, Gillian's home base, is so wonderfully realized, a place where the player can bond with engineer, Harry, and office secretary, Mika, pick the JUNKER chief's brain, putz around in Gillian's office, and practice shooting at the firing range. Metal Gear also has a cell phone, and Gillian can makes calls to numbers he finds throughout the game, almost anytime the player wants. Gillian can also take the station turbocycle to almost any location in the game, giving the illusion of a free and open Neo Kobe City, making the game feel even more immersive. There's even a station computer, which not only includes info on suspects, but historical and cultural entries that more fully flesh out Snatcher's world. You can even go home to Gillian's apartment whenever you want, which someone gives the game even more of a cool, weird, Blade Runner/Philip K. Dick vibe. Snatcher is not quite perfect, but it deserves to be played by fans of any of the genres I've mentioned--and I can easily see myself playing through it again. Don't let the ridiculous price point be a barrier keeping you away from Snatcher...just like in any great game...there are alternative ways to play...

Uh...Google it

Graphics: 9.0/10.0
Sound: 9.0/10.0
Gameplay: 9.2/10.0
Lasting Value: 8.0/10.0
Overall (Not an Average): 9.2/10.0