"Another masterpiece from Kojima..rivaling even the mighty Snatcher.."

Policenauts is the pseudo-sequel to Snatcher. Although created by the same man as Snatcher (and Metal Gear), it is basically the same type of game, but it's a fully separate game on its own..and a masterpiece of a game at that..
The game starts in 2010 when the first human space colony is created, the Beyond Coast. 3 years later, 5 men are chosen to protect the colony. Gatse Becker from Scotland Yard, Joseph Sadaoki Tokugawa from Japan, Salvatore Toscanini from New York, and from L.A., Ed Brown (your best friend) and you, Jonathan Ingram.In 2013, during a routine space walk, Jonathans' suit mysteriously malfunctions, and he is hurtled into deep space. 25 years later...Jonathan is miraculously discovered. Physically he is 28,while in reality, he is 55.....2040....Jonathan now lives in Old L.A. and runs an investigation agency. His estranged wife, Lorraine, visits him. She has since remarried and her husband has gone missing. She asks you to help find him, but you refuse.She leaves. As Jonathan watches her through the window, he sees a mysterious man across the street with a detonator. Jonathan yells at Lorraine to not enter the car, but its too late. The car explodes. Jonathan chases after the culprit, but to no avail.He races back to the scene to comfort Lorraine. As she lays dying,she asks, as her final wish, for him to find her husband and look after her daughter, Karen.Lorraine passes away and Jonathan agrees to fulfill her final wish, and thus, he returns to Beyond Coast, and the adventure begins...

Gameplay - 8/10 - Gameplay is very simple. You move a cursor around, and click on anything you wish to examine. During shooting sequences, you move a red dot around and shoot. This is sometime a bit hard to maneuver, but all around its effective. Simple control scheme, but feels the game perfectly.

Story- 9/10 - The story, as with all Kojimas' games, is incredible and very involving.Even to the minutest of details, the story is sheer bliss. The only problem being is that there is no English version, so even though you can not read all the minutest of details in the game, the sheer visual presentation makes the game still enjoyable, even in Japanese.

Grapics - 9/10 - The graphics are also great. Everything is beautifully drawn, from the characters faces to all the locales you visit, to all the FMV sequences and shooting sequences. The only way it could be higher is if the game were run in hi-res mode, but its not, and it still looks incredible.

Music and Sound F/X - 9/10 - Again, great sound effects and another wonderful soundtrack. It's so good I even have 3 soundtracks of it LOL Seriously though, it is a great soundtrack.

Replay - 8/10 - Even though its only a digital comic, every time you play, its like you still find something different about the game you didnt know before, mostly having to do with little references and tidbits that flesh out the world of Policenauts.

Version Differences - In the 3DO version, the FMV sequences are more like ''Saturday morning'' quality, but are still very nicely done, and 2 of the sequences are totally different than from the other versions. Many still shots are also of different qualities than from other versions. The 3DO version was the first released after the PC-9821 version and you see between this version and the PSX and Saturn versions where certain things were cleaned up, redrawn and a little redone.Still a very great game in itself and great to have..also nice to have those 2 little different cutscenes :)

Buy or Rent? Well, figuring you cant really rent the game here, you kinda have to buy it :) But, anyway, it is worthy of a purchase. Everything from the story to the graphics to soundtrack is sheer perfection. One of my personal favorites of all time.....Superb

OVERALL - 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/26/01, Updated 09/26/01