Snatcher [Archive] - I-Mockery Forum

thordog

Feb 25th, 2007, 08:24 PM

The age is the future. The place is a post-apocalyptic Neo-Kobe, an artificially-made island in Japan. You are Gillian Seed, a JUNKER agent with a bad case of amnesia, whom only seems to remember the word "Snatcher". The Snatchers are a plague upon mankind. They came from seemingly nowhere, slowly increasing in number, and systematically murdering anyone important enough to be a possible target. Robot skeletoids that resemble "Terminators", with the added ability to adjust it's physical features to look exactly like any human being (Except children, elderly people and above averagely tall people), fit into a specially created artificial skin, then killing and taking over the life of said person. The JUNKER agents are a special team of people that have the needed skill to destroy Snatchers, and are well aware of their only weak point on their foreheads. Needless to say, you aren't alone out there - Jean-Jack Gibson is the only other JUNKER that's still around in Neo-Kobe. Mika Slayton is the good-looking receptionist who will also assist you with training and information, though rarely leaving her cubicle. Harry Benson is a technician who is responsible for the best assistant you'll ever have.... A small blue field robot that assists and follows you, records anything that happens, saves your game, collects evidence, and even gives you sarcastic witty retorts - Metal Gear. Unlike his humongous death tank "big brother" though, this Metal Gear isn't equipped with any offensive weaponry. Finally, there's one ally you meet a bit later in the game; a Bounty Hunter called Randam Hajile, who saves your ass on more then one occasion, and holds a secret even he himself isn't aware of... This game is your typical "Choose what to do" Text Adventure in a futuristic cyberpunk themed setting, glorified with lush Animé graphics that are terrific for its age, scarce shooting sequences, and many spoken sequences with very good voice actors. Also, the Sega CD version has uncensored scenes such as... heads twisted off their very torsos, decomposing skinned corpses with maggots coming out of all facial orifices imaginable, and of course a shower scene of a girl that leaves poor Gillian wet behind the ears, with much sarcastic joy of his aluminum assistant. As expected, actual gameplay is slim to none, and you really can't go "wrong" and screw up the story for yourself, though there ARE plenty of humorous hidden sequences to be found to those that look for them. The game does suffer a lot from "Do EVERYTHING there is to do here or you may not continue!" sequences, which hurts the game a bit in my opinion. Also, there are a couple of actual shooting sequences where you move a crosshair to a part of the 9-square grid (The 8 respective directions on the joypad, and the middle) and shoot, hopefully -before- whatever's in the grid hits you. These are the only parts in the game that you can actually get the "Game Over" message, however you can continue the game just before said shooting sequence an unlimited number of times. All in all, fun game, good graphics, great voice acting, decent music, sometimes frustrating in advancing, sometimes humorous, sometimes gross, sometimes perverted. Get your hands on this if you like text-heavy adventures, you will not be disappointed. Screenshot 1 - Gillian and Metal Gear make their way through an underground tunnel. Screenshot 2 - Gillian, Metal Gear and Randam Hajile inspect a hidden staircase. The mugshots are there to determine who's saying what in a speech sequence. Screenshot 3 - A partially damaged Snatcher keeps Mika Slayton as a human shield. A shooting sequence follows, hit him, not her!