Policenauts
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is a
graphic adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...
developed and published by
Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...
. It was written and directed by Hideo Kojima, and originally released for the PC-9821 in 1994. A
hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...
story, ''Policenauts'' is set in the mid 21st century and follows Jonathan Ingram, an astronaut recently recovered floating in space in cryosleep after an accident at a space colony sent him drifting into space for 24 years. Now a detective in Los Angeles, Ingram travels back to the colony to investigate the murder of his ex-wife and her husband's disappearance. As he begins his investigation, he starts to uncover an illegal
organ trafficking Organ trade (also known as Red market) is the trading of human organs, tissues, or other body products, usually for transplantation.(Carney, Scott. 2011. "The Red Market." Wired 19, no. 2: 112–1. Internet and Personal Computing Abstracts.) Acco ...
ring. Kojima conceived ''Policenauts'' while working on '' Snatcher'' (1988), and began development in 1990. He wanted the production quality to match that of major motion pictures, and created a scripting engine to give him more creative control. Drawing creative influences from American
buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) *Buddy Rogers (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr. (1921–1992) *Buddy Boeheim (born 1999), Amer ...
television shows, contemporary social debates on
anti-Japanese sentiment Anti-Japanese sentiment (also called Japanophobia, Nipponophobia and anti-Japanism) involves the hatred or fear of anything which is Japanese, be it its culture or its people. Its opposite is Japanophilia. Overview Anti-Japanese senti ...
and
organ transplantation Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transpor ...
, and Japan's heightened interest in space travel following the first Japanese man's trip to space in 1990, he sought to explore the concept of how living in space may affect human society and life, socially and physiologically. The original PC-9821 release utilized
pixel art Pixel art () is a form of digital art drawn with graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers and arcade video g ...
, while the 3DO, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn ports featured
cel animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proc ...
by
Anime International Company , often abbreviated as AIC is a Japanese animation studio founded on June 15, 1982 and located in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. On December 10, 2015, AIC RIGHTS Co., Ltd was established through a company split, in which AIC Rights received the transfer ...
. An English localization was planned for the Saturn but was eventually cancelled, with Kojima citing technical problems with the translation. After interest in Kojima's work grew following the release of ''
Metal Gear Solid is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces opera ...
'' (1998), demand for a translation built until a
fan translation Fan translation (or user-generated translation) refers to the unofficial translation of various forms of written or multimedia products made by fans (fan labor), often into a language in which an official translated version is not yet available ...
of the PlayStation version was released in 2009. Critics have praised ''Policenauts'' for its animation, voice acting, and overall presentation; several commentators have analysed its cinematic influences from films in the
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
,
action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
,
comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...
, and buddy genres, while others noted its reflection of Kojima's fascination with science and technology, and have praised its storyline, technical writing and
worldbuilding Worldbuilding is the process of constructing a world, originally an imaginary one, sometimes associated with a fictional universe. Developing an imaginary setting with coherent qualities such as a history, geography, and ecology is a key task f ...
. Along with ''Snatcher'', which has been retrospectively identified as its spiritual predecessor, ''Policenauts'' has been called one of the best science fiction works in games, and a foundation for Kojima's later work in the ''
Metal Gear is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...
'' franchise.


Gameplay

''Policenauts'' is a
graphic adventure An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...
game with a
point-and-click Point and click are the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse, usually the left button (''click''), or other pointing device. An example of point and ...
interface. It has also been called a
visual novel A , often abbreviated as VN, is a form of digital semi-interactive fiction. Visual novels are often associated with and used in the medium of video games, but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with sta ...
and an
interactive movie Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but m ...
. The player moves a cursor freely across the screen to click on objects to examine them. During conversations, the player is given dialogue options to choose from. Once the right object in the scene has been examined or the dialogue options have been exhausted, the game progresses to the next scene in the story. In versions with cel animation, these scenes the player must examine are stills from the animated cinematics, so the game moves seamlessly between them and cutscenes. There are occasional action scenes where the player must fire a gun at enemies in a
first-person perspective A first-person narrative is a mode of storytelling in which a storyteller recounts events from their own point of view using the first person It may be narrated by a first-person protagonist (or other focal character), first-person re-teller ...
. The Sega Saturn version supports a
light gun A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games, typically shaped to resemble a pistol. Early history The first light guns were produced in the 1930s, following the development of light-sensin ...
for these segments.


Plot

In 2013,
Los Angeles Police Department The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
officer Jonathan Ingram (
Hideyuki Tanaka is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo who is attached to Aoni Production. He is a graduate of the Toho Gakuen School of Music. He is most known for his roles in ''One Piece'' (as Donquixote Doflamingo), ''Dokaben'' (as Tarou Ya ...
) was one of five "Policenauts", police officers who received astronaut training to protect Beyond Coast, humanity's first functional self-supporting space colony. During the test of a new space suit, an accident causes Jonathan to drift into space, presumed dead by his colleagues. In reality, the cryogenic survival system in the suit preserved him, and he is found and revived 25 years later. During that time, Beyond Coast has become the principal development location for potential interstellar travel, and is protected by a dedicated police force dubbed the Beyond Coast Police Department (BCPD). In 2040, Jonathan has become a
private investigator A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...
on Earth in Old Los Angeles. He is visited by his former wife Lorraine (
Chiyoko Kawashima is a former Japanese voice actress. She was born in Tokyo, and retired from voice acting in 2001; her final role was that of Maron Kusakabe's mother: Koron Kusakabe in '' Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne''. Filmography *'' Adieu Galaxy Express 999'' as ...
), who remarried while he was presumed dead. Lorraine asks for Jonathan's help in solving the disappearance of her husband, Kenzo Hojo; the only clues are a torn leaf, a set of capsules, and the word "Plato". Jonathan is reluctant to take her case at first, but after Lorraine leaves his office, she is murdered by a man in a black motorcycle suit. After failing to catch the culprit, Jonathan decides to fulfill Lorraine's final request and travels to Beyond, where he is reunited with his former LAPD partner, BCPD Vice Department chief Ed Brown ( Shōzō Iizuka), who agrees to help Jonathan investigate the circumstances surrounding Hojo's disappearance and Lorraine's murder along with Vice Unit members
Meryl Silverburgh is a video game character in the ''Metal Gear'' series by Hideo Kojima. She was originally a character from the 1994 Konami adventure game ''Policenauts'', which was directed by Hideo Kojima. After her original appearance, she was redesigned and r ...
(
Kyoko Terase is a Japanese voice actress currently employed by Aoni Production. She currently resides in Tokyo. In the past, she has been credited under the stage name . Roles Anime television series * '' Attack on Titan'' - Moses's Mother (Ep. 1) * '' Pok ...
) and Dave Forrest ( Bin Shimada). During their investigation, Jonathan receives information from Karen ( Kikuko Inoue), Lorraine's daughter with Hojo, that Hojo was growing increasingly stressed working at Tokugawa Pharmaceuticals, which is helping research medical solutions to health problems caused by living in space. Jonathan and Ed also run into former Policenauts Gates Becker (
Osamu Saka is a Japanese actor and voice actor, who is managed by talent agency Aoni Production. He was born in Osaka, Osaka Prefecture. Filmography Television animation ;1960s *'' Gigantor'' (1963) – Gavan *'' Kamui the Ninja'' (1969) – Sukumi ;197 ...
) and Joseph Tokugawa (
Iemasa Kayumi was a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from the Tokyo Metropolitan area. He was the official voice-over actor for Frank Sinatra and Donald Sutherland. Biography Iemasa Kayumi was born in Tokyo Prefecture and moved to Kagoshima Prefectu ...
), the latter of whom Jonathan suspects of being involved. They receive further leads from a former co-worker of Hojo's; the informant is later killed and used to lure Jonathan and Ed into an unsuccessful booby trap. Hojo's body is eventually found, and Jonathan is framed for the killings. Tokugawa and Becker are revealed to have both been responsible for Jonathan's accident, and the prime movers behind an
illegal drug The prohibition of drugs through sumptuary legislation or religious law is a common means of attempting to prevent the recreational use of certain intoxicating substances. While some drugs are illegal to possess, many governments regulate the ...
and
organ trafficking Organ trade (also known as Red market) is the trading of human organs, tissues, or other body products, usually for transplantation.(Carney, Scott. 2011. "The Red Market." Wired 19, no. 2: 112–1. Internet and Personal Computing Abstracts.) Acco ...
ring designed to counteract the negative side-effects of being in space for long periods of time. Hojo became involved in the conspiracy to save Karen from her terminal bone cancer, but eventually tried to break away and was murdered. With help from Ed and Meryl, Jonathan storms the Tokugawa headquarters, killing Lorraine's assassin and then confronts Becker. When apparently cornered, Jonathan tricks Becker into revealing the whole scheme through a live video feed, exposing the scandal to Beyond Coast. Ed saves Jonathan by killing Becker, while Meryl and the remaining police arrest Tokugawa. Jonathan donates his bone marrow to Karen upon learning that he is her biological father, and returns to Earth.


Development

''Policenauts'' was developed by
Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...
and directed by Hideo Kojima.
Translation
)
Kojima began to explore concepts for ''Policenauts'' during the development of '' Snatcher'' (1988) when memory limitation issues prompted them to take a break. He wanted the game to remain in the adventure genre, feeling it was the best method to express what he wanted with video games. He was also growing frustrated with game development and wanted more creative control. After the release of '' Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake'' (1990), he developed a scripting engine so he could maintain control over when animations and music played instead of the programmers. Development on ''Policenauts'' began in earnest in 1990 and lasted four years. Kojima wanted to explore a near future scenario that could realistically occur rather than outlandish science fiction. The game's story was influenced by news that captured his interest at the time. One such influence was the public debate over
organ transplantation Organ transplantation is a medical procedure in which an organ is removed from one body and placed in the body of a recipient, to replace a damaged or missing organ. The donor and recipient may be at the same location, or organs may be transpor ...
and brain death injuries. Another influence was the rise in
anti-Japanese sentiment Anti-Japanese sentiment (also called Japanophobia, Nipponophobia and anti-Japanism) involves the hatred or fear of anything which is Japanese, be it its culture or its people. Its opposite is Japanophilia. Overview Anti-Japanese senti ...
caused by the American crime film '' Rising Sun'' (1993). Some Asian-Americans held protests, fearing the negative characterization of Japanese in the film would lead to hate crimes. Space travel was also an influence after
Toyohiro Akiyama is a retired Japanese TV journalist and professor at Kyoto University of Art and Design. In December 1990, he spent seven days aboard the Mir space station. He became the first person of Japanese nationality to fly in space, and his space mi ...
became the first Japanese person to travel to space in 1990. Concurrently, many NASA documents about space travel and its effects on the human body were being published in Japan for the first time and were hot topics among Kojima's friends and family. Kojima was curious as to what effect living in space would have on the human body, relationships, and wondered what facets of humans would be exposed in space. He chose to explore these concepts in ''Policenauts''. Kojima mixed his space interests with the aforementioned social issues to build the thematic basis of ''Policenauts'' and hoped the players would ponder these topics. Earth was called "Home" in the game while the space colony was named "Beyond", names chosen to reflect a parent-child relationship. "Beyond" also references the colony's distance from Home and the 25 years protagonist Jonathan Ingram passed through during his cryosleep. Kojima hoped that these names would reflect the persistence of human society and relationships, even after extreme technological advances. The colony's cylindrical shape was inspired by ''
Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ''Mobile ...
''. ''Policenauts'' was originally titled ''Beyond'', but Konami changed the name after they were unable to trademark it. Kojima's familiarity with film and television influenced the cinematography in ''Policenauts''. Though not attempting to use video games as a vehicle for presenting movies, he wanted to fill what he perceived to be a lack of production quality in games. Kojima worked to take the excellence of acting, lighting, direction, and storytelling in filmmaking and match that quality in his games. He took inspiration from American
buddy Buddy may refer to: People *Buddy (nickname) *Buddy (rapper), real name Simmie Sims III (1993–Present) *Buddy Rogers (wrestler), ring name of American professional wrestler Herman Gustav Rohde, Jr. (1921–1992) *Buddy Boeheim (born 1999), Amer ...
television shows he enjoyed growing up like '' Starsky & Hutch''. The game was originally going to be marketed as a "Cinematic Virtual Reality". Konami did a trademark search early in development that turned up empty, but by 1994, the "Virtual Reality" term had been trademarked so it was dropped.


Release

''Policenauts'' was first released for the PC-9821 on July 29, 1994. Kojima received a letter from a hearing-impaired player after release, upset that modern games like ''Policenauts'' with its CD-ROM technology were replacing game text with actual speech. Kojima originally omitted subtitles to evoke a cinematic feel, but he added them for following versions to satisfy the players. The first port was for the
3DO Interactive Multiplayer The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, also referred to as simply 3DO, is a home video game console developed by The 3DO Company. Conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the 3DO was not a console manufactured by the company ...
and released on September 29, 1995. A short demo with a game glossary, artwork, and design documents was released on April 21, 1995 called the ''Pilot Disk''. The 3DO version and subsequent console ports had a drop in
display resolution The display resolution or display modes of a digital television, computer monitor or display device is the number of distinct pixels in each dimension that can be displayed. It can be an ambiguous term especially as the displayed resolution ...
, and used newly animated full motion video in contrast to the animated stills used in the PC version. The visuals were animated by
Anime International Company , often abbreviated as AIC is a Japanese animation studio founded on June 15, 1982 and located in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. On December 10, 2015, AIC RIGHTS Co., Ltd was established through a company split, in which AIC Rights received the transfer ...
using traditional cel animation techniques. The game was ported a second time to the PlayStation, released on January 19, 1996. A bonus disc called ''Policenauts Private Collection'' was released concurrently which has most of the same content as the 3DO's ''Pilot Disk'' bonuses plus storyboards and the game script, as well as select shooting segments from the main game. The full motion videos in this version run slower at 15 frames per second (FPS) compared to 24 on the 3DO. Some story details that suggested subplots were also removed. The PlayStation launched while Konami was still developing ''Policenauts'' for the PC-9821. Seeing the system's potential, Kojima promised himself he would make a ''Metal Gear'' game for the system, though first he ported ''Policenauts''. In contrast to computer games, Sony and other console manufacturers ran quality testing on games for their consoles to check for bugs and rate game content. When ''Policenauts'' was being evaluated,
Shuhei Yoshida is a Japanese businessman and gaming industry veteran. He was the President of SIE Worldwide Studios for Sony Interactive Entertainment from 2008 to 2019, before moving onto other SIE-related projects. Yoshida has been a key member of the Play ...
of
Sony Computer Entertainment Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), formerly known as Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE), is a multinational video game and digital entertainment company wholly owned by multinational conglomerate Sony. The SIE Group is made up of two legal co ...
told Kojima they were discussing the extent of breast jiggling in the game. This version was re-issued on August 7, 2003 through Konami's online store, and it was re-released digitally on
PlayStation Store The PlayStation Store (PS Store) is a digital media store available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The store offers a range of downloadable conten ...
on May 14, 2008. The final port was for the Sega Saturn, released on September 13, 1996. The version comes packaged in a slipcase containing the game case itself and a hardbound art book. It also includes some additional scenes and some modified story details, including the readdition of removed details in the PlayStation version. Kojima insisted that the Saturn port have increased video fidelity, retaining the 3DO's original 24 FPS and not using
Cinepak Cinepak is a lossy video codec developed by Peter Barrett at SuperMac Technologies, and released in 1991 with the Video Spigot, and then in 1992 as part of Apple Computer's QuickTime video suite. One of the first video compression tools to achiev ...
encoding. The port also includes
light gun A light gun is a pointing device for computers and a control device for arcade and video games, typically shaped to resemble a pistol. Early history The first light guns were produced in the 1930s, following the development of light-sensin ...
support, a concept Kojima had since the inception of a Saturn port. His hope was that players would feel more emotion using the gun in ''Policenauts'' than in games like '' Lethal Enforcers'' (1992) which he felt did not evoke empathy. The Saturn version also has some of the content featured in the ''Pilot Disk'' and ''Private Collection'' bonus discs released on previous consoles, such as some of the making-of videos and an interview with voice actress Kikuko Inoue (unlocked after completing the game once), as well as the glossary, which is now accessible during play, allowing players to look up keywords whenever they are first used in the story.


Localization

An official English translation of ''Policenauts'' was announced for release on the Sega Saturn in 1996 in North America. It appeared in catalogs with promotional box artwork, but the game never materialized. Kojima discussed making an English translation three times, but encountered translation difficulties. As he explained, the Japanese dialogue was parsed into phrases with flags the program could reference, and making English dialogue work with this system would be too difficult. According to Jeremy Blaustein, who worked in Konami's international business department and led the translations of ''Snatcher'' and ''
Metal Gear Solid is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces opera ...
'' (1998), there were never plans to localize ''Policenauts''. He personally felt it was one of Kojima's weaker games, not enjoying the "space cowboy" theme and feeling it lacked the tension and humor of ''Snatcher''. Industry journalists have speculated in hindsight that Konami may have passed on localization because of ''Snatcher'''s commercial failure and ''Policenauts''' long scenes and protracted dialogue during an era of heightened consumer interest in 3D action games. After the successful release of ''Metal Gear Solid'', fan interest grew in ''Snatcher'' and ''Policenauts''. Around 2000, a petition on the Konami of America online message boards prompted the subsidiary to discuss localizing ''Policenauts'' with Konami of Japan. Their attempts were unsuccessful because Kojima did not want to work on older games. In response to the PS One re-release in 2003, fans organized an email campaign to pressure Konami to localize the game once again. Their attempt was publicized and supported by ''
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
''. Work on an English
fan translation Fan translation (or user-generated translation) refers to the unofficial translation of various forms of written or multimedia products made by fans (fan labor), often into a language in which an official translated version is not yet available ...
began in 2002. In February 2007, the team announced it was nearing completion with a planned release for the second half of the year. Other help was provided by Youtuber Slowbeef. The translation was finally released two years later in August 2009 as a patch for the PlayStation version. It can be played on an
emulator In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use pe ...
, or a PlayStation modified to read
CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the i ...
s by ripping the game files from retail discs, applying the English patch, and burning the patched game to CD-Rs. Because some fans consider the Sega Saturn version a superior port, fans released a translation patch for it in 2016.


Reception

In Japan, critics praised ''Policenauts'' for its high level of presentation. Both ''
Sega Saturn Magazine ''Sega Saturn Magazine'' was a monthly UK magazine covering the Sega Saturn, a home video game console. It held the official Saturn magazine license for the UK, and some issues included a demo CD created by Sega, ''Sega Flash'', which included ...
'' and ''
Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the f ...
'' praised the quality of animation, voice acting, and its engrossing setting. ''Sega Saturn Magazine'' felt it was more like a movie than a game and praised its unique blend of genres, but found some of the text difficult to understand and warned that its heavy scientific writing may not be suitable for everyone. ''Famitsu'' described the narrative as "
hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...
". Both publications recommended ''Policenauts'' to fans of adventure games and
anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...
. The game was also reviewed in contemporary Western publications despite its lack of localization. '' Computer and Video Games'' previewed the 3DO version and considered it a sequel to ''Snatcher''. They felt the game had an interesting plot, "bizarre and inventive" characters, and appreciated the "level of senseless violence and gratuitous rudity of graphics." ''
GameFan ''GameFan'' (originally known as ''Diehard GameFan'') was a publication started by Tim Lindquist, Greg Off, George Weising. and Dave Halverson in September 1992 that provided coverage of domestic and import video games. It was notable for its ex ...
'' reviewed the PlayStation and Saturn ports; they felt it pushed the genre of
interactive movie Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but m ...
s better than previous games in the genre and praised the game's intricate technical details, although they cautioned that its specificity may put off some players. They also praised its suspenseful storytelling, and felt it was worth players' time even though it emphasized text over action. They concluded that ''Policenauts'' was "a masterful achievement, a near-future scenario so intricately detailed, well thought out and full of originality it puts Hollywood's best attempts at sci-fi to shame." Konami was busy releasing many sports games at the time, so ''GameFan'' feared it would not be localized.


Retrospective

''Policenauts'' has continued to receive praise for its writing and presentation in retrospective reviews. Critics highlighted Kojima's cinematic influences from science fiction films,
buddy cop Buddy cop is a film and television genre with plots involving two people of very different and conflicting personalities who are forced to work together to solve a crime and/or defeat criminals, sometimes learning from each other in the process. ...
films, and other Eastern and Western films: in particular, the character designs drew comparisons to ''
Lethal Weapon ''Lethal Weapon'' is a 1987 American buddy cop action comedy film directed and co-produced by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and co-produced by Joel Silver. It stars Mel Gibson and Danny Glover alongside Gary Busey, Tom Atkins, D ...
'' (1987). Mark Ryan Sallee of ''IGN'' called the game a manifestation of Kojima's film obsessions, and accomplished in its "unique direction and striking moods" thanks to the strength of its animation and vocal performances. Comparing the game's production values to anime of the mid-1990s, Bob Mackey of ''
1Up.com ''1Up.com'' was an American entertainment website that focused on video games. Launched in 2003, ''1Up.com'' provided its own original features, news stories, game reviews, and video interviews, and also featured comprehensive PC-focused conten ...
'' liked how the game transitioned seamlessly between cutscene and gameplay, and preferred this style of presentation to games with high-quality cinematics that do not complement the gameplay. N. Ho Sang and Peter Tieryas of '' Kotaku'' wrote that "Its flashes of ''Lethal Weapon''-esque intrigue give way to the deep metaphysical meanderings that makes for the usual Kojima mind meld on top of fantastic production values and mesmerizing art." Kojima's fascination with space and future technology was noted in several reviews, and the elaborate detail placed into describing hypothetical technologies and commonplace items was frequently singled out for praise. Critics also felt the game's scientific terminology and dark themes were well-translated by fans into English. Regarding the game's story, Sallee wrote that the "somber dialogue" progressed it in a unique way. Kurt Kalata of ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' criticized the story as predictable, and described it as "empty, merely a buddy cop film with some sci-fi elements". Parkin found that despite ostensibly being a detective story, the game's narrative was thematically concerned with middle age, and was fascinated by the game's focus on middle-aged characters as opposed to adolescents in most other games. Sam Bishop of ''IGN'' also praised the game's strong characterization. The game did receive some criticism. Some felt its moments of sexual humor — notably the option for Jonathan to
grope In a sexual context, groping is the act of intentionally touching another person in a sexual manner without their consent. The term generally has a negative connotation in many societies, and the activity may be considered sexual assault or ot ...
the breasts of many of the game's female characters ― conflicted with its otherwise serious tone; Mackey explained that this was a remnant of the game's original release on Japanese computers during a time when the market was flooded with
hentai games An ''eroge'' ( or , ''erogē''; ; a portmanteau of ''erotic game'' , ''erochikku gēmu'') is a Japanese genre of erotic video game. In 1982, Japan's Koei, founded by husband-and-wife team Yoichi and Keiko Erikawa (and later known for strategy ...
. Concerning criticisms of its slow pace, Mackey wrote that the game requires patience, while Kalata criticized the lack of a dialogue skip option. Parkin wrote that its format is outdated and not for everyone, but still called it "a triumph of gentle interactive storytelling", and felt it could be enjoyed by those with interests in "thrillers, point and click adventures, science fiction homage and Japanese esoterica".


Legacy

''Policenauts'' was not well known in the West until the fan translation was released 2009. Critics have expressed interest in a re-release or sequel. Sam Bishop of ''IGN'' included it among a list of games he wanted to see receive a high-definition remaster. N. Ho Sang and Peter Tieryas of ''Kotaku'' included it on a list of desired sequels, and expressed interest in a proper English port of the original. Writing in 2013, Jon Leo of ''GameSpot'' wrote that he wanted to see the game re-released for the PlayStation 4, feeling it could be a good mainstream push for visual novels and adventure games. While still working with Konami in 2012, Kojima expressed interest in exploring a follow-up to ''Policenauts'', but felt it was difficult to carry out from a business perspective. Bob Mackey of ''1UP.com'' criticized Konami for failing to acknowledge or pursue localization of ''Policenauts'' and other non-''Metal Gear'' games by Kojima. In retrospect, the game is often called a spiritual successor to ''Snatcher.'' Sang and Tieryas wrote that "''Snatcher'' was a masterpiece. ''Policenauts'' took it a step further." Both have been called some of the best science fiction works in games, and are credited for establishing Kojima's style that propelled him to excellence with his later games. Some of the ''Policenauts'' staff went on to hold lead development roles on Kojima's later efforts, including the ''
Zone of the Enders is a video game franchise created by Hideo Kojima and Konami that focused around combat in space with mecha called Orbital Frames. The original ''Zone of the Enders'' was released for the PlayStation 2 in March 2001. A sequel, '' Zone of the ...
'' and ''
Metal Gear is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operativ ...
'' series. The character
Meryl Silverburgh is a video game character in the ''Metal Gear'' series by Hideo Kojima. She was originally a character from the 1994 Konami adventure game ''Policenauts'', which was directed by Hideo Kojima. After her original appearance, she was redesigned and r ...
and the Tokugawa Corporation in ''Policenauts'' were repurposed for the ''Metal Gear'' series.


Notes


References


External links

*
''Policenauts'' PSone Books re-release official website
* * {{good article 1994 video games 3DO Interactive Multiplayer games Detective video games Full motion video based games Interactive movie video games Japan-exclusive video games Konami games Light gun games NEC PC-9801 games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation Network games Point-and-click adventure games Sega Saturn games Visual novels Video games about police officers Video games directed by Hideo Kojima Video games scored by Tappi Iwase Video games set in the 2040s Works about astronauts Fan translation Video games developed in Japan