Never heard of Snatcher before?
If you answered no, you missed out on a true cyberpunk masterpiece and should hang your head in shame, But I can’t totally blame you if you didn't as this little gem got a European release in December 1994 during the last months of the Sega CD short life span and wasn't given a port to any other console in the U.K so not a lot of people got the chance to play it.
This game was written and directed by Hideo Kojima (creator of the metal gear series) and this is one of his best works both in terms of atmosphere and story. And speaking of story you play Gillian Seed an amnesiac working for an Anti-Snatcher task force called J.U.N.K.E.R. who’s tasked with hunting down a breed of artificial life-forms or bioroids known as "snatchers" that have began appearing on the artificial island of Neo Kobe City, killing their victims and taking their place in society. Nobody knows exactly what they are or where they come from. The player's goal is to track down the source of the snatchers and discover Gillian's mysterious connections with them. So it does have a slight Blade runner movie vibe going for it.
In terms of game play it may be very different to what you’d currently expect from Hideo Kojima, it being a point and click instead of an action game. But this is a good thing as I think this genre is better given Hideo Kojima’s style as it allows for more character dialog interaction and really brings the world to life and I found myself getting attached to the characters and sucked into the story like watching a good movie.
Like other point and click adventures a lot of the game play involves finding items, solving puzzles and talking to characters for clues, but this also gets broken up with some shooting sections which can be played with a lethal enforcer light gun instead of the game pad which is a nice touch if you've got one.
Snatcher is a great example that state of the art graphics don’t make a great game, as given that it’s 21 years old and 16 bit mega drive graphics it still looks good and gives you a detailed locations to explore and has good cut scenes and there's plenty of hidden Easter eggs (such as the hilarious scene involving a Neo Kobe pizza).
You can see where a good part of the CD’s storage went and that was the sound and it’s very well used with some of the best voice acting I've heard and really good background music make it totally absorbing and adds the right amount atmosphere to keep you hooked from the start to the very end.
Overall thoughts Snatcher is like a good sci-fi movie you want to watch over and over again and it’s filled with the cinematic presentation we’ve come to expect of Hideo Kojima, good story, great characters and plot twists a plenty that even to this day people still want a sequel. But I’m not one of them, Snatcher stands great on its own and does not need a sequel or a remake tagged onto to it, but that said I would like to see a re-release of it so people who missed out the first time could experience this gaming classic.