Pleasurable and Tense
As of late, I've been...a little obsessed with a little something called "Pleasure of Tension". To quote from my Twitter:
"Decided on something I need to do next time at the Temple of Athame in #MassEffect3. START PLAYING 'PLEASURE OF TENSION'! XD #Snatcher"
"'PLEASURE OF TENSION' MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER. Need to be motivated to jump out of the bed in the morning? PLEASURE OF TENSION! #Snatcher"
"Sounds like something fell over downstairs but can't be arsed to check on it? PLEASURE OF TENSION!"
"Trying to figure out what to have for supper? PLEASURE OF TENSION. #eatmusicfordinner"
You probably don't know what "Pleasure of Tension" is. You've probably never heard "Pleasure of Tension", and many people haven't. But it is one of the most addictive, catchy, earwormy tunes I've ever heard. And part of that earworminess comes from the origin of "Pleasure of Tension". To properly understand my love of "Pleasure of Tension", I'll have to tell you about a little story called Snatcher.
Snatcher is a visual novel/adventure game that was created in 1988 by Hideo Kojima-best known for the Metal Gear series. Snatcher was made after the first Metal Gear game, and it was where Hideo Kojima put all of his good ideas before he made Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. (DEADLY POISONOUS ZANZIBAR HAMSTERS.) Snatcher only had one Western release, on the ill-fated Sega CD add-on for the Sega Genesis. Add in graphic scenes at a time where Mortal Kombat was causing quite a stir, and you have a recipe for failure.
Despite its poor sales, Snatcher became a cult classic. While Snatcher takes...erm, "inspiration"...from numerous other works such as Blade Runner and The Terminator, it tells a fascinating, intense, and intrigue-filled story. Fifty years after a disaster that wiped out half of the world's population, mechanical creations begin abducting and murdering humans in order to disguise themselves and take the place of their victims. The protagonist, Gillian Seed, was found with his wife Jamie in Siberia, both suffering from amnesia. After the two separate and Gillian undergoes military training, Gillian joins an organization called the "Japanese Underground Neuro-Kinetic Elimination Rangers", known as the Junkers, dedicated to identifying and terminating the mechanical beings known as Snatchers. The story keeps you on your toes, quickly demonstrating the danger of being a Junker in an extremely memorable and chilling scene. (In fact, Fallout 3 contains a reference to the scene I'm talking about.) Snatcher throws numerous puzzles your way, requiring you to use deduction to figure out suspects and find clues. Best of all, the story keeps you guessing all of the way-until the end, it's never clear what the truth is, and what you may suspect to be obvious may turn out to be completely inaccurate.
However, there is one thing that is very predictable about Snatcher. That predictable element is "Pleasure of Tension". Any time the story takes a twist or a revelation is discovered, "Pleasure of Tension" starts going. It's catchy as hell and just feels like a "detective" type of tune; it gets your adrenaline going while keeping you in a keen state of mind. Something's either about to go down or is already going down, and it's your job to investigate it.
The game is certainly my favourite adventure game (suck on that, Walking Dead), and a great experience for sci-fi/cyberpunk/mystery fans. Perhaps the best means to experience the game are the Let's Plays by slowbeef, available in screenshot and video format. While there is a wealth of fascinating and amusing content that slowbeef doesn't explore in the game, it's a great way to get the core experience, along with some truly hilarious commentary. If you're not so picky about emulation though, I would certainly suggest to give it a try for yourself. While the gameplay at times is flawed-you're often required to do every possible action in order to progress the plot regardless of how logical it would be, and the slight delay that makes the shooting sections a bit tricky-Snatcher remains an impressive story throughout and has hours of intrigue to enjoy.
And I suppose it would be just as good of a game without "Pleasure of Tension". Except what tune would I then have to get in the zone and totally obsess about?
"Decided on something I need to do next time at the Temple of Athame in #MassEffect3. START PLAYING 'PLEASURE OF TENSION'! XD #Snatcher"
"'PLEASURE OF TENSION' MAKES EVERYTHING BETTER. Need to be motivated to jump out of the bed in the morning? PLEASURE OF TENSION! #Snatcher"
"Sounds like something fell over downstairs but can't be arsed to check on it? PLEASURE OF TENSION!"
"Trying to figure out what to have for supper? PLEASURE OF TENSION. #eatmusicfordinner"
You probably don't know what "Pleasure of Tension" is. You've probably never heard "Pleasure of Tension", and many people haven't. But it is one of the most addictive, catchy, earwormy tunes I've ever heard. And part of that earworminess comes from the origin of "Pleasure of Tension". To properly understand my love of "Pleasure of Tension", I'll have to tell you about a little story called Snatcher.
Snatcher is a visual novel/adventure game that was created in 1988 by Hideo Kojima-best known for the Metal Gear series. Snatcher was made after the first Metal Gear game, and it was where Hideo Kojima put all of his good ideas before he made Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. (DEADLY POISONOUS ZANZIBAR HAMSTERS.) Snatcher only had one Western release, on the ill-fated Sega CD add-on for the Sega Genesis. Add in graphic scenes at a time where Mortal Kombat was causing quite a stir, and you have a recipe for failure.
Despite its poor sales, Snatcher became a cult classic. While Snatcher takes...erm, "inspiration"...from numerous other works such as Blade Runner and The Terminator, it tells a fascinating, intense, and intrigue-filled story. Fifty years after a disaster that wiped out half of the world's population, mechanical creations begin abducting and murdering humans in order to disguise themselves and take the place of their victims. The protagonist, Gillian Seed, was found with his wife Jamie in Siberia, both suffering from amnesia. After the two separate and Gillian undergoes military training, Gillian joins an organization called the "Japanese Underground Neuro-Kinetic Elimination Rangers", known as the Junkers, dedicated to identifying and terminating the mechanical beings known as Snatchers. The story keeps you on your toes, quickly demonstrating the danger of being a Junker in an extremely memorable and chilling scene. (In fact, Fallout 3 contains a reference to the scene I'm talking about.) Snatcher throws numerous puzzles your way, requiring you to use deduction to figure out suspects and find clues. Best of all, the story keeps you guessing all of the way-until the end, it's never clear what the truth is, and what you may suspect to be obvious may turn out to be completely inaccurate.
However, there is one thing that is very predictable about Snatcher. That predictable element is "Pleasure of Tension". Any time the story takes a twist or a revelation is discovered, "Pleasure of Tension" starts going. It's catchy as hell and just feels like a "detective" type of tune; it gets your adrenaline going while keeping you in a keen state of mind. Something's either about to go down or is already going down, and it's your job to investigate it.
The game is certainly my favourite adventure game (suck on that, Walking Dead), and a great experience for sci-fi/cyberpunk/mystery fans. Perhaps the best means to experience the game are the Let's Plays by slowbeef, available in screenshot and video format. While there is a wealth of fascinating and amusing content that slowbeef doesn't explore in the game, it's a great way to get the core experience, along with some truly hilarious commentary. If you're not so picky about emulation though, I would certainly suggest to give it a try for yourself. While the gameplay at times is flawed-you're often required to do every possible action in order to progress the plot regardless of how logical it would be, and the slight delay that makes the shooting sections a bit tricky-Snatcher remains an impressive story throughout and has hours of intrigue to enjoy.
And I suppose it would be just as good of a game without "Pleasure of Tension". Except what tune would I then have to get in the zone and totally obsess about?