A Walk to Remember
The year is 2013. Beyond Coast is the first human space colony, built by humanity to be the first step to conquer space. Responsible for maintaining order on this colony are the group named Policenauts, with 5 members coming from different police departments all over the world. Jonathan Ingram, a young officer from Los Angeles, is chosen, as is his partner Ed Brown. They joined the team composed with Scotland Yard’s Gates Becker, NYPD’s Salvatore Toscanini and Japanese Police Department’s Joseph Sadaoki Tokugawa. Jonathan knows the responsibility he bears being a pioneer in space exploration and works hard to keep the balance of his work abroad and his relationship with his wife, Lorraine.
In space, all is silence, all is cold. A walk in the great dark is only accompanied by the beating of the heart and the non-stopping thoughts that flash through the mind. The eyes look for the only place you can call “Home”, a big blue sphere, filled with hopes and dreams. Weightlessness can’t help your shoulders of the burden to secure this dear place. Suddenly, an alarm disturbs your peace. Something is not right, you lost control of your movements. This is a test, after all, but it shouldn’t happen. Your partners can only watch when the only cable that keeps you near them is ripped apart by the force of destiny. The dreams are fading away as you close your eyes. Diving into the deep abyss, you can only embrace the nowhere.
With this short opening we’re introduced to our protagonist, Jonathan Ingram, living as a private detective in a city known as Old Los Angeles in the year 2040. He looks like the same Jonathan as we saw in the opening, but why? We can’t think about it too much, as someone knocks on the office door. As she walks in, Jonathan loses all the words he could be saying now. A love long lost, a face long seen. Lorraine came to seek Jonathan’s help finding her missing husband, Hojo. She was living on Beyond Coast, so why did she come here? With nobody else to trust, only Jonathan could help her. It’s too much right now, he must have time to think before accepting this pledge. But an explosion changed everything. Bullets fly away in a desperate chase, Jonathan never lost his bullseye aim, but hitting his opponent seems to be of no effect. After coming back to his office, he can only say goodbye to the woman he once loved. Jonathan never thought about coming back to space, after all, the accident that took years of his life left a scar in the past that never fully healed. But he must do it again. For Lorraine. For himself.
As we take control of Jonathan’s actions again, we’re now heading to the first human colony in space, Beyond Coast. We must not only solve the mystery of Hojo’s disappearance, but confront the past of Jonathan, meet some old friends and make new enemies along the way. The present is now a lost future. He may never adapt to it, but he must learn the secrets behind this new world or his own life can be on the line.
Lethal Weapon in Space
Policenauts may seem like only one of many Japanese adventure games released in the 80’s and 90’s. Surely it has elements in common with other games, but with a distinctive “flavor”; it’s Kojima “seasoned”. American culture is an influence on Japanese gaming development, Kojima is a movie buff, and his works reflect this passion. His previous adventure game, Snatcher, draws heavy inspiration on Blade Runner, one of the movies that defined the science fiction genre at the time. A first look at Policenauts may give the impression that we are going to play a “Lethal Weapon in space” kind of game, but it would be too shallow to reduce both games to a movie-based experience. Ed Brown is much more than a Murthaugh and the only similar trait between Jonathan and Riggs is the mullet hair, a common fashion in the 80’s. As the game progresses, we will be presented with the flaws and strong points of both characters, how they deal with harsh situations and, mostly, how the duo think they fit in this future.
As the game begins, we know we already are in the future. The 80’s and 90’s saw a lot of works dealing with the human future and Japanese media was no different. Anime, like the world known Akira, and games launched at that time helped to build this kind of work. Works we may use to imagine how we may be living tomorrow, but always reflecting the current state of our society. As the late philosopher Mark Fisher used to say: “it is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism” (phrase attributed to American philosopher Fredric Jameson). Space Beyond is this future imagined by Kojima, a new society built to be the next step of human living, near, but apart from Earth. When Jonathan arrives, he finds a place trying to be so different from “Home”, but, in the core, just the same. The streets are clean, the sky is blue, there is no pollution, only the police have firearms, the streets and buildings were planned to be pleasant, the city departments are effective, but everything is controlled by one company, directly or indirectly. Living there is not only expensive, but anyone should follow the company guidelines, their rules are laws. Jonathan and Ed must face this very company to unravel the secrets of Hojo’s disappearance. But how can they accomplish this task in a city controlled by this very company?
On the run, friendships will be made, enemies will cross our path and love will be shown in many forms. The people we interact with in the game are the pillar to understanding our mission. Policenauts has its share of stock characters, but this is not a bad thing. The way the cliché is used is what matters in popular works. The trustful friend, the stern boss, the sweet girl, they are all well placed in the game, making the character design shine. Kojima uses the stereotyped sexy girls along the way, as we may expect it in a lot of games and anime, and, of course, today we may seem it very inappropriate, but these situations are only briefly found throughout the game. The point is the way Jonathan deals with these characters throughout the story, we will be inside his mind and make our own judgements of what’s right or wrong. The game has a few choices to be made, but keep in mind this adventure game is very strict on following one path only.
In the end, we are not only playing a game, but we are in touch with the time of its development and release. Chances are if you’re a millennial, you may enjoy the experience more than younger audiences, as you will be no stranger to its themes and aesthetics. But make no mistake, Policenauts is a well written and built piece of culture anyone can enjoy, as long as you are willing to get aboard this ship to the future the past once thought about.
The Good Old Konami
Policenauts, was first released by Konami in 1994 for the Japanese computer NEC PC-9821, but is most recognized by its following ports for the Panasonic 3DO (1995), Sony PlayStation (1996) and Sega Saturn (1996). The work of the already celebrated at the time Hideo Kojima, responsible for the success of two Metal Gear games and another adventure game, Snatcher. Kojima began working on Policenauts in 1990, wanting more creative control over the games. As we would know today, he was greatly inspired by the movie industry and decided to stay in the adventure genre, developing a script where he could retain control over the animations and music of the game. Unfortunately, the game didn’t receive an English release, remaining restricted to Japanese speaking audiences until the release of fan made translations for the Playstation and Saturn.
Policenauts is an adventure game with point and click mechanics. Although the game has an extensive library of spoken dialogue and many animation scenes, it’s heavily text-based, like any other game of the genre. Attention to detail allows the player to explore the different scenarios, clicking on objects, places and people with different results as the game progresses. Combat scenes are not usual, being restricted to a few specific events in the game, but, at some point, you will have access to a police station shooting gallery to practice your aim. The Saturn version supports the use of the Konami light gun Justifier for the shooting parts, but it’s possible to use the joystick or a mouse in any other release.
As Kojima's fame rose up after the release of Metal Gear Solid, his past works began to get attention. At the start of the century, Policenauts got some fan made translations for the PlayStation and Saturn, with high quality ones for both consoles released by the fan group Junker HQ. In both versions, it is recommended to use a “.m3u” file to better manage the saves between discs, as it can be annoying to retrieve the save file for another disk on some emulators (as I could confirm in my experience). At the present time, the PlayStation version is the only one with Retroachievments support, not only for the story, but specially challenging ones for the Shooting Range. My favorite PSX Retroarch core, “Beetle HW”, ran the game flawlessly.
Pros
- + Excellent narrative
- + Characters personalities
- + Space theme development
Cons
- - Few action scenes
9
Gameplay
Point-and-click gameplay without item and inventory management.
9
Graphics
90's art style at it's best, but the animated sequences are hindered by the PS1 capacity.
10
Story
Kojima gets tons of references from different medias, put it in a cauldron, season it japanese-style and cooks it at low fire. The result is a superb meal.
10
Sound
Magnificent soundtrack, the music sets the tone for each place and mission.
5
Replayability
There's no multiple paths or endings.
9
out of 10
Overall
For old style adventure gamers who want a mature story, there's no mistake, Policenauts is a must play.
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