Policenauts

[JaySevenZero]

Here's where you can contribute your thoughts and opinions for Policenauts for potential inclusion in the forthcoming podcast.

A friendly reminder that where the feedback for the podcast is concerned, we love it - but keeping it brief is appreciated. We do want to include a breadth of opinions where appropriate, but no-one wants a discussion podcast that’s mostly reading out essays. Better to save yourself time and cut to the chase if you can.

[Alex79]

Out of interest is anyone here actually playing this before the show? (Other than those who will be on the actual show, of course!)

I'm about halfway through the game at the moment and enjoying it. Just wondered if anyone else is playing.

[Alex79]

Playing via the translated PSX ISOs on my Vita and just took me ages to work out how to transition from disc one to disc two. Was looking all through the Adrenaline (PSP emulator) settings before realising you do it through the 'official' Vita settings - just in case anyone has the same issue!

[RetroClarence]

How are you finding it?

[RetroClarence]

I played it on the Saturn using pre-patched ISOs and in doing so realised my Saturn needs a full recap!

[Alex79]

SPOILERS IN THIS POST!

You have been warned!

It may have taken me the best part of 15 years to finally get this game finished, but I was determined to complete it before the show, and I'm glad I finally have!

Policenauts really is a great game. It's more visual novel than anything else, aside from a few shooting gallery sections, but it tells a really interesting story and as I grew closer to the end I found myself absolutely hooked, wanting to know what was going to happen next. The story is full of twists and turns, some are very predictable (come on now, we all saw Karen being Jonathan's daughter coming from a mile off, right?) but some really caught me off guard. I did not, for example, see Gates betraying Jonathan coming, and some of the deaths were quite shocking too.

I feel like I have to try to say something interesting because there's no other feedback for the show, but I don't really have a huge insight into the game! I really enjoyed it, thought. The atmosphere is really cool, a neo-noir detective story helped in no small part by a truly excellent soundtrack, a mixture of smoky jazz and cyberpunk style synths. The visual style of the game is also very appealing to me.

I feel like many people have said over the years that Kojima should just make a movie, and perhaps this is the closest he's ever got. I think it could make an really good short anime series.

But - we can't ignore the elephant in the room. And that elephant is Kojima himself. With all the maturity of a pre-pubescent schoolboy, he's enabled the player to come across as a lecherous old man who hits on every woman he sees, not to mention copping a feel and jiggling boobs whenever he can. But then, who's in the wrong? Kojima for enabling it, or me for trying it. Perhaps I've shown myself up there more than anything else. The game also has a few very unfortunate transphobic and homophobic slurs which haven't aged well. Not that they were ever okay.

In summary, I really, really enjoyed this game. I think Kojima can write a good story and perhaps this is the most straightforward one he's ever told. I would recommend the game to any fan of his work, or any fan of visual novels or the cyberpunk detective genre. It's a shame this game never got an official western release, but I do hope Kojima tries his hand at something like this again one day.

THREE WORD REVIEW: Smutmaster strikes again.

[Yukios]

It seems like a lot of people have been saying for a long time that Kojima should just make a movie, and maybe this is his closest attempt at that.
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[Kinketsu]

I just listened to this episode today. At one point the team discusses the game listing the actor when the character appears on screen and there was an interesting discussion about how this feels cinematic even though it does not occur in cinema. In Japan, this is the norm in "taiga dramas", big, prestige year-long TV dramas that air on NHK. They are usually historical and feature famous actors in guest spots for an episode or two so the show stops to tell you who the person is and who is playing them. I wonder if this is what Kojima was mimicing.

[Alex79]

That's interesting. The Yakuza games do something similar too with pausing the action to introduce new characters with their own title graphic, although I don't think they include the actors name.