Nintendo 64x64

Body Harvest Cover (Click to enlarge)

8/64

1998

Body Harvest

"A hugely underappreciated gem, Body Harvest was DMA Design?s (later Rockstar North) first attempt at a 3D open-world game. Playing as a genetically enhanced super-soldier, you must travel across time and thwart a race of sinister aliens before they can harvest mankind. Ambitious, yet buggy and lacking in polish, Body Harvest is greater than the sum of its parts, providing a fun, action-packed experience."

8/10 - Martin Watts 64

#nintendo64x64

User Reviews (10)

"This is truly ahead of it's time, and probably best described as an early future-world build of games like GTA or Crackdown. True - the game has it's faults, but those are far outshone by what it gets right, and if you are looking for a shooter with exploration then there are few more competent that this. If you own an N64, try this! Under-appreciated!"

9/10 - THENAMESNORM 64

"There are few more memorable and fun experiences on Nintendo 64 than driving up and downhill on a motorbike in "Body Harvest". At least until things get serious and you spot a swarm of aliens spawning in the horizon. Then it's time to wipe the smile of your face, pull your guns and remember why you're there in the first place. Brilliant, underrated classic."

9/10 - Shiryu 64

"Yellow and blue. All I really remember. Summer was long but winter felt longer. There was a happy little cat and a bird taking a bath. Most cars left promptly at daybreak, trickled home out of order, hours later. Ice cream in May or chili in January never really mattered much. Open and close over and over, never stopped ever. All I remember really."

8/10 - theberrage 64

"Hard, glitchy at times but a highly ambitious N64 classic. The shear scale of the maps was incredible and it wasn't lacking in vehicles you could use to get from one part to the other. I would recommend anyone to play this hands down. It's a shame that there hasn't been a polished version of this game or anything like it since. Play it!"

8/10 - CerberusAzdin 64

"Body Harvest was one of the games I went back to over and over again. Sure it had technical issues, but no other game game you the freedom and variety at the time that's found on this cart. It was crazy to just jump into any vehicle you wanted, some even having other abilities. It seems every time I played I discovered something new."

9/10 - TRON 64

"This is one of those games where I think the tech of time and the developers lack of 3D experience let it down more than the idea or grand vision. It was decent enough, with some great ideas at it's core but it was very rough in most areas and it doesn't stand the test of time particularly well. A sequel would be interesting."

6/10 - Kirk 64

"Body Harvest perfectly illustrates what the N64 means to me: originality, flair, game-longevity, heart-thumping excitement. I was in awe of the scope of the worlds, the amount of vehicles to drive and the game's level of challenge; I never completed it but I damn well tried! Graphically it doesn't hold up well today but anyone not familiar with it must give it a go."

7/10 - N64Memories 64

"Despite featuring one of the slowest protagonists in gaming, the huge locations filled with destructible villages and population, and the enormous range of vehicle types give this game a scope unheard of at the time of release. Although my copy became so full of bugs both intentionally and unintentionally that it became impossible I will never forget incinerating invading hordes with the sun shield."

7/10 - AJWolfTill 64

"The graphics were early-N64 polys covered with lo-res textured. The story was B-movie fare. And the mission objectives were generic get-here-and-do-this. But BODY HARVEST is easily my most recommended game for the N64. When I tell people it's the first GTA they don't believe me. But this is GTA with a sci-fi sheen. And it still has some great shooting mechanics. A historic game."

8/10 - WhiteTrashGuy 64

"One example of the breakthroughs that happened in the N64 dynasty. It's the kind of game that despite it's difficulty and clunky early 3d controls left you with a sense that you needed to return for a long open ended session as soon as possible. It featured more playable weapons, vehicles and locations than anything else of it's time. Not a cake walk, either."

8/10 - Ren 64

Comments 25

6ch6ris6

i so want to play this game some day!

Uncle_Franklin

Never played this, would get on VC if they release it.

Shiryu

A modern day remake of this would not go amiss.

Kirk

This game was a great idea and I had a decent amount of fun playing it at the time but those graphics were/are just bad and the controls were very clunky. It was actually pretty cool once you got further into the game and as I recall had to use a metal shield or something to reflect light beams and stuff that allowed you to open gates or whatever it was.

I think if they remade this game today with about 1000x the amount of polygons, no fogging and much tighter controls that it would actually be really good, even if it were in principle still a pretty simple polygon game.

I mean if this was about as "sophisticated" as these graphics look I think it would works wonders for this game: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vY7flUfLv4&index=2&list=FLPRNNGLAaYqhvf_xmif5RiQ

xVAKAR1ANx

Blast from the past, I use to like this game alot

AhabSpampurse

I still have my cartridge upstairs. This, and Silicon Valley are two of my all time faves.

Nintenjoe64

@TruenoGT I rented it from Blockbuster and didn't realise until I took it home that the D-Pad changed weapons so I could never make any progress.

heathenmagic

This was my most played Nintendo 64 game I have to admit. Good memories of a great game. Remake is a nice idea, not sure if it would work though.......

tom_q

I used to love this as a kid but I always played it with all the cheats on.

Laxeybobby

I loved this game on my N64. This could do with a WiiU remake.

YoshiTails

I believe this was made by the folks who went on the create Grand Theft Auto 3. It's primitive but all the open world nuts and bolts are there. More a Space Station Silicon Valley man myself though

Lunapplebloom

Never owned this for obvious reasons. The games title alone screams "Do not buy!" to my parents if they ever looked at it.

Interesting though that the ground concept for open worlds was there, though buggy.

Twilight_Crow

I never tried this, didn't call my attention. I was even less into violent games back then, for obvious reasons.

jos

I remember if you selected the easy difficult and failed to reach a fix point in the game in certain period of Time the portal would lock up forcing you to restart the game in Hard mode,

Like to see Rockstar North port this game with a small update to the textures, to the VC or steam

N64Memories

I got my parents to buy this solely based on N64 Magazine's review. I loved it. Yes it's ropey, even back then, but it was a great play. I found it incredibly rewarding.

BrizzoUK

Was such a good game, remember playing as a young kid, definitely ahead of it's time.

MeloMan

Sigh... I knew I was going to start getting upset. There STILL a few games I have yet to play from Nintendo 64's catalog. People used to ask me "did you play this?" all the time and sadly I never did. Now I'm remembering a couple others I wanted to play: Hybrid Heaven and Mischief Makers.

NintendoFan64

@MeloMan Well you've probably played more must-play titles than I have. I never even played Banjo Kazooie, and I should probably be ashamed for that.

SKTTR

Body Harvest was one of the first N64 games in development. It was supervised by Nintendo staff as Rockstar was part of Nintendo's "Dream Team". However, it was denied by Nintendo's quality control many times, for a few years actually.

Once it was considered good enough to be released on the N64, the engine was later used for GTA3, Vice City, San Andreas, etc.
Similarities like the open-world, tons of cars/bikes/boats/planes to use, and seemingly random stuff happening, are assets that are still used in GTA.

I wonder if GTA would have been the same today if Nintendo didn't push Rockstar so hard back then. Maybe GTA wouldn't even exist.

Bizzyb

This game had such a beautiful soundtrack. Haunting, soothing, and heart pounding tunes were all present. The rest of the game was rough around the edges but it was hard to deny how impressive the open world was back then.

So many different vehicles you could use...from jeeps to bikes and even jet fighters! Definitely one of the most underrated and hidden gems of the N64

Jim_Purcell

This game was teased in the early promotional material before N64 was released (back when its was the ULTRA 64!). I was quite intrigued by it at the time. And then YEARS passed until it finally found its way to the system pretty late in the N64's lifespan. I actually never got around to picking it up until AFTER the N64's lifespan when it was on clearance racks at KB Toys.

I still have my copy, though I have not played in 10+ years. I remember it being okay, if rather graphically underwhelming, it definitely LOOKS like a first year release N64 release title. Which isn't shocking, since it was suppose to be.

Jim_Purcell

Also. Holy crap. That PAL region box art is a LOT better then what we got in North America.

JimLad

One of my favourite N64 games. The real precursor to GTA3. So many more vehicles though: cars, bikes, planes, trains, trucks, tanks, boats, helicopters... all dotted over the landscape. Nothing beat that sense of relief when you find a vehicle after being on foot for ages. You literally need them to survive, because you wont outrun the aliens.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyJaaYoWPPw

Kirk

@mjc0961

Well I didn't really remember how far into the game it was but I just recalled something with a shield and light etc. I don't think I did actually play that far into it to be honest. Maybe a few "levels" or "missions" as I recall but I don't really recall. It was always a bit clunky and fugly and stuff, even back then, so I'm not going to hold it against myself for not playing more.

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