Snatcher for Sega CD

As many games as I played in my teenage years, there are very few where I can specifically recall being changed by my experiences with them. Snatcher, for me, was one of those games. Originally released for the MSX 2 computer in Japan in 1988, it wasn’t until 1994 that the game arrived on US shelves for the Sega CD. Hideo Kojima was not a household name like he (sort of) is now – at least not a gaming superstar. I remember being in the store buying this game at Electronics Boutique (remember that name?) and thinking that the only thing puling me towards this game is the fact that I had gotten a Sega CD, but 90% of the other Sega CD games sucked, and it looked like a Blade Runner/Terminator bastard child, two of my all time favorite films. Somehow back then, that was enough to warrant a purchase, and luckily this one paid off.

The game begins with a great, moody intro video that actually sounds more like a Resident Evil precursor, complete with a super cheesy voiceover that details a worldwide biological disaster causing a semi-apocalypse called “The Catastrophe”. The world is now in the middle of another threat, the Snatcher menace. Snatchers are android life forms of unknown origin that “snatch” the skin from a living person and wear it to conceal their identities. This allows them to take anyone’s identity and gain considerable power. After the story is established, you are soon introduced to your character, Gilliam Seed (professional Blade Ru…sorry, Junker). He’s the reluctant protagonist and suffers from amnesia after an event involving his wife who also suffers from amnesia. From this point, the decidedly noir cyberpunk adventure kicks off and provides some good plays on identity.

I was never a huge point-and-click adventure gamer, but this game takes a similar approach, even though you do not have a mouse. Each area you explore has a list of topics or items to research. The information you get will unlock new items to explore and will eventually advance the plotline taking you to even newer areas. It’s an interesting take on being a detective, and it does a great job of putting you right in Gilliam’s shoes, trying to put the pieces together. The exploration and detective work does require a good amount of backtracking, since some bits of information won’t be available to you until you do something else. When you do find that clue that opens up your next task, it’s still remarkably rewarding, even after 20 years.

You can tell this is a Kojima game because the areas you explore are packed with detail and atmosphere. This might not be the latest and greatest game running on the sickest hardware, but you will rarely find a game that can accomplish so much immersion with so little. The music, graphics and art design all combine to give threatening locales a sense of real dread and the safer areas a more calming feel. Sometimes you almost don’t want to pick up that teddy bear because you’re afraid of what you’ll find. The feeling is palpable. Oh, the inclusion of an assistant mini robot called “Metal Gear” is also a vague hint at…Metal Gear, Kojima’s other obscure series.

There are moments of action that actually utilize the Sega Genesis light gun. Unfortunately, I don’t have the light gun anymore, but it’s easy enough to use the controller. Thankfully, these are not a huge part of the gameplay since it’s actually much more difficult to aim using the controller given the speed attacks can come in.

Kojima did a lot with this game, and he turned in a far more impressive game than the original Metal Gear on NES. It’s not for everybody, but this is a game that deserves to be re-released or remade as a downloadable title with some updates. With a fantastic story, a rich style of adventure gaming with a few bits of sci-fi gore thrown in, you have yourself a winner with this game, folks. This is another one of those tough to find games that go for a ton on eBay, but if you’re a cyberpunk, or point-and-click fan, this is a must play before you die.