Similar Games...

Post by **Henry Spencer** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:35 am

Anyone have any games that you feel are similar to Snatcher in some way or another? This topic is dedicated to games you feel were similar in one way or another.

There are many games that are similar to Blade Runner, but few have matched the greatness of Snatcher. I made this topic as a way of recommending other games that you feel have a distinct feel to them that remind you of Snatcher, either with gameplay or their style or whatever.

A game I played when I owned a CD-i (no joke) was called Burn:Cycle. It was my first ever venture into the world of cyberpunk and as you can understand, as a child, it really left a mark on me, I loved it. Playing it again today brought back all of these memories, as well as being able to complete the game now (since the puzzles as you can understand were very hard for a ten year old to comprehend). I must say, I cannot recommend this game to the rest of you here, reason being, it was to me, a really original cyberpunk. Sure, it has inspiration stemming from Blade Runner (and perhaps Snatcher too), even so, the storyline itself I felt was really original. So original in fact, that Johnny Mnemonic stole every single detail from it. No joke. Nobody would notice though, since the game was only released for the CD-i at the time of the film was made, so the filmmakers got away with it. The film was rather cruddy anyway, so bleh (I have a soft spot for it though, I have to admit).

This game however was truly amazing, the game featured live actors (who are rather good, I might mention, they really got into their respective roles pretty well), a terrifying music score and a very dark flavour to it. It was a point and click adventure, which included shooting sequences (which you could use a lightgun with) and plenty of puzzles to solve. The graphics are rather dated, but it does feature a very 90s feel to it, so it isn't too bad. Plus the storyline will keep you interested anyway.

Thankfully, the game was ported to both the Mac and PC, so you can just search for it to download somewhere, or buy it. I urge each of you to play it, you will not regret doing so, believe me.

Anyone else have any recommendations for fans of Snatcher?

Post by **seraphssavior** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:50 am

Kinda...The first half of Perfect Dark...I know most of you have probably played this, and can understand what I mean. Without spoiling too much, the game takes on a pretty huge "Sci-Fi" Twist about halfway through, but before that, the game's pretty cool. It just seemed like that sci-fi stuff came out of nowhere, but the first few levels are awesome, with the kind of dark story telling we all seem to be fans of.

Post by **Crowley** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 3:17 pm

To be fair, Johnny Mnemonic is based on a short story by William Gibson from the 80's... I think.

Other good cyberpunk games I can name would be Neuromancer, Rise of the Dragon and Blade Runner for PC. I have a game called Angel Devoid: Face of the Enemy somewhere around here, which I still haven't played. Personally I have a soft spot for FMV games for some reason. That reminds me of a game simply called Ripper, which deals with a serial killer in a cyberpunk environment. Tex Murphy adventures are good cyberpunk-style stuff if you can handle the quirkyness and that Tex ends up saving the world in every game so far. You shouldn't take these games too seriously.

If I'm allowed to jump genres a bit, I personally enjoy the Privateer games. Sure, you've got space battles and stuff, but they have that nice dark atmosphere and are full of characters with ambiguous morals.

Post by **JunkerMike** » Thu Jul 05, 2007 3:41 pm

So far, the only Snatcher clone I know of is "The Space Adventure", by Hudson Soft. I made a thread about it in the "General Gaming" part of the forum not too long ago.

Post by **joeypete** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 12:18 am

Rise of the Dragon!

That Game is solid. Of course it is 2nd (3rd or 4th LOL!)place after you have played Snatcher. ROD lacks polish when one puts it head to head with Snatcher- still give it a go! For its own course it is a fun game.

Where you find a copy (Sega CD is what I played BTW) is your issue- get it where you may. A real disc with packing tho (good connection to the history of games through the ages) is always better then just a few less MBs of space on ones HDD after some data transfer server to client if you get my hint.

Still how ever you play it, while not fully as good as Snatcher, it is fun. Check it out!

There is a DOS version that looks better but I have not played that version.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/rise-of-t ... creenshots

See what I mean.

Enjoy!

Post by **Crowley** » Thu Aug 09, 2007 9:27 am

joeypete wrote:There is a DOS version that looks better but I have not played that version.

I have also played the Amiga version, which looks better than Sega CD, even though it only has 32 colors. Funny thing, that.

Post by **joeypete** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 12:27 am

Psy-O-Blade Moving Adventure

Snatcher style gameplay with a sci fi setting packed with tension as the story gradually cocoons you up

I'll give this a go when I have some time. All in Japanese tho- like you'd expect! LOL!

Post by **Henry Spencer** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 3:30 am

Hmmm, good find!

http://www.pcengine.com.br/brain/brain.htm

Dead of The Brain I & II for the PC Engine seem to be VERY similar, perhaps even a rip-off, what you think?

I'm getting them anyways.

Post by **joeypete** » Tue Aug 14, 2007 7:29 pm

Nice find! I went to buy that title from the games site I hit for Japanese imports (there are a few of them actually) and the games is selling for $150-$240 USD!! Yikes! So I just got the ROM of it, as ppl sometimes do...

That will do for now- some day I'll make it legal.

Should be fun to play this!

Translation in the workswork in progress it looks like

Good find! It came out for the MSX2, NEC PC98, PCEngineSuperCDROM, and the Sharp x68000 it seems...

Very cool![/url]

Post by **Henry Spencer** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:14 am

Thanks, looks like an underrated cult hit anyway. Be cool if this was to be ever translated one day (if it's a good enough game that is).

Post by **Marc** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 11:56 am

Ha, the games look interesting enough (except for some corny dialogue), but what an Engrishy title. Check out this gem too (top frame):

What's a "know you better"?

Shadowrun for the Sega CD is very similar to Snatcher, although it has strategy RPG-type battles instead of first-person shooting. The writing is pretty damn good too (though it's only in Japanese).

Post by **joeypete** » Wed Aug 15, 2007 7:48 pm

LMAO!! This seems to be a stock padding phrase put into the disclaimer. Like "a verdict of guilty has been discovery for all those who illegals commit" sign in Engrish when they mean to say plainly "we prosecute violators/offenders" the stock phrase (needless put in) is "guilty verdict"... LOL!

I don't think that even in the original Japanese (which they were thinking in 1st I'm sure - or at least hope they were) they had a phrase there- so they padded with what seemed to fit the theme.

English phrase interjection in Japanese communications gives things ,and ppl, a sense of having modernity and having an "edge" appeal by its use. Even for legal disclaimers it would seem!

Unintentionally funny as hell, that is for sure!

At least they got the menus right.

I'm not mad tho- most fan boy Japanese is just as bad as the above to the Jananese who hear/read it I'm sure (mine at times included

)!

Post by **Henry Spencer** » Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:44 am

Osiris wrote:Ha, the games look interesting enough (except for some corny dialogue), but what an Engrishy title. Check out this gem too (top frame):

What's a "know you better"?

Shadowrun for the Sega CD is very similar to Snatcher, although it has strategy RPG-type battles instead of first-person shooting. The writing is pretty damn good too (though it's only in Japanese).

So do you or do you not own this game?

And yes, that's pretty awful engrish.

Post by **Mr. Seed** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 3:57 pm

I've spotted quite a few Japanese PSX games that have a very policenaut edge to the visuals - and there's also a Jap DS game thats quite recent... I can't remember any of their names though!

Playing Hotel Dusk at the mo... Kyle's pretty cool - but no "GYRIAN!"

Post by **StreetTrash** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:42 pm

Virus for the Saturn is probably the only game I can think of that comes anywhere close to living up to the Snatcher/Policenauts titles. I can think of quite a few others that are similar like Detonator Orgun for Mega CD, but Virus stands out as probably the best of the best.

Unfortunately, it's Japanese only, although the interface menus are all in english which makes it a little more friendly. Also has an english walkthrough guide avaliable so it's not impossible to play through. It's Hudson Soft game and the animation is really top notch, in fact I'd say it's at least on par with that of Snatcher and slightly below that of Policenauts.

You can find a really nice well written review detailing more info about it here

http://www.mobygames.com/game/saturn/vi ... erId,6226/

Post by **Henry Spencer** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 4:53 pm

^ I remember a few guys here saying the game wasn't too good, the animation looks nice enough though, I'll give it a shot.

Rise Of The Dragon (obvious one, but hey, this seems to be a collection for those who want to know, like myself):

Post by **StreetTrash** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:19 pm

^Do you happen to recall some of the bad points they may have mentioned about it? I think it's a pretty good game, although if you hold the storyline and characters up to the same standard of Snatcher/Policenauts you might be disappointed. It's pretty hard for any game to live up to that level of greatness. As far as Snatcher style games go, I personally feel it's at least one of the top 2 or 3. Shadowrun might be the best, but the animation quality of Virus probably seals it as the best looking of all the similar style games.

Also, I thought I should throw out Illusion City. It's more of a traditional RPG, closer to SD Snatcher than Snatcher itself, but set in a cyberpunk environment. Theres also a partial english translation for the MSX version. It's only translated up to disk 6, still leaving disk 7 and 8 incomplete. Better than nothing I suppose.

Post by **snatcher1988** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:39 pm

http://youtube.com/watch?v=phzoOhphfXc

Here's a video of the intro to the MSX version of Illusion City

Gotta love that FM sound chip. It was without a doubt the best thing about the PC-88 version of Snatcher.

Post by **joeypete** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 9:48 pm

Mansion of Hidden Souls for the Sega CD is kind of in this area (adventure game). Not so much tho for cyber punk.

Cyberia is tho. I'm lazy so here is a link to the screen shots.http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/cyberia/screenshots

"Quantum Gate: The Saga Begins" fits, but that games sucks shit!

There are many that fit the bill it seems.

Post by **Marc** » Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:16 pm

Ugh, yeah, I have Virus. I don't like it, as much as I really, really wanted to. The game is very slow going plot-wise, and the 3D dungeon sections are terrible.

And no, Henry, I don't have any of the Dead of the Brain (that title...) games, though I might pick up one of them sometime.

Mansion of Hidden Souls I enjoyed.

Post by **Synthoid** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:38 am

I'm playing through the Blade Runner game, you simply can't go far wrong with it.

I'd also recommend Beneath A Steel Sky, it's not in the vein as Snatcher or Policenauts in terms of gameplay, but it's an exceptional piece of point and click adventure gaming. You can get it freeware now too, courtesy of SCUMMVM.

Post by **Henry Spencer** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 5:13 am

Blade Runner for the PC is one of my favourite games. Beneath A Stell Sky was amazing too.

The first Broken Sword had a great plot, with many twists, with a point and click gameplay system. It's a classic that all fans of point and click adventures should like.

This game in particular interests me for the Saturn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunacy_%28video_game%29

There's a fan site for the game Lunacy here: http://www.yumenokeshiki.com/lunacy/

On the cyberpunk front; http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/cyberpunk-games/

Tue Sep 04, 2007 11:48 am

Henry Spencer wrote:This game in particular interests me for the Saturn:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunacy_%28video_game%29

There's a fan site for the game Lunacy here: http://www.yumenokeshiki.com/lunacy/

I bought Torico (U.K. name for Lunacy) years ago. I liked it, but it's definitely a hit-or-miss game. I wouldn't really compare it to Snatcher, but if you liked Mansion of the Hidden Souls, you'd probably enjoy Torico/Lunacy.

It's quite atmospheric, and I really like the soundtrack, but it can be a little annoying triggering cut scenes to proceed in the game, and the plot was a little predicable.

Post by **Henry Spencer** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 12:14 pm

Ah, no, I know I won't find anything as good or even like Snatcher again (one of a kind), just searching around for games that match a certain criteria (cyberpunk/horror/adventure) that the likes of Policenauts and Snatcher fit into. Nothing more. Torico/Lunacy sounds quite good.

Post by **Synthoid** » Tue Sep 04, 2007 6:05 pm

Henry Spencer wrote:The first Broken Sword had a great plot, with many twists, with a point and click gameplay system. It's a classic that all fans of point and click adventures should like.

Yeah, just finished playing that the other night actually. On the lookout for Broken Sword II.