Man, this Grand Theft Auto clone has a lot of bugs. Let's Play Body Harvest


The entire world is ripe for a harvesting, and everyone’s invited. In Body Harvest, all of humanity has become cattle for the consumption of an invading race of insectoid aliens. A century after the beginning of the slaughter, the few remaining humans resolve to send two of their finest back to where it all began in a last-ditch effort to undo their own extinction. It’s not going to be easy…

This Nintendo 64 cult classic presents a campy sci-fi journey through the history of our doomed planet, and faced its own doom many times during development. Rockstar North, then called DMA Design, were originally hired by Nintendo to bring their game designing ambition to an exciting upcoming console. Rockstar were already faced with the monumental task of figuring out what 3D games ought to be, and Nintendo meddling in their every move sent their vision for Body Harvest off in bizarre directions that no one could have anticipated. Ultimately, Nintendo decided not to publish such a violent product, opting instead to launch the Nintendo 64 with only two games and leaving Body Harvest shelved for years before it found a new publisher and saw the light of day. By then, it was no longer impressive to look at or control, 3D gaming having made leaps and bounds whilst it lay dormant, but it still stood on its own charming premise and showed the world one of the first examples of open world gameplay, which set the groundwork for Rockstar to take over the next console generation with the release of Grand Theft Auto 3, and the rest is history.

In this LP, I hope to see more of this unique game than I ever have before. It’s an exceptionally unforgiving game, and in the years I spent playing it, I never got past the second of its five levels, not even with cheats. I will be joined by different guests for each new level on this attempt to correct my past gaming mistakes.

Level 1 - Greece 1916 with Skippy Granola

Level 2 - Java 1941 with dscruffy1

Level 3 - America 1966 with Anoia

Level 4 - Siberia 1991 with Zain and Scruffo

Level 5

with Kaboom Dragoon and Derek Barona
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

4 Likes

This LP was started last summer and is currently one update away from completion, so I figured I’d finish and archive it exclusively here in THE ZONE. The finale will be coming soon!

I borrowed that game from a friend back in the day. I actually managed to get to like America if I remember correctly before I had to get it back. Always wondered how it plays out. So I’m totally gonna watch this LP, and most likely have my rose tinted glasses towards this game shattered.

I still think it’s pretty good, even after playing it to completion in the modern day. It’s definitely not perfect, though, and I’m really impressed by anyone who got past Java, or even just to Java.

I didn’t know this LP existed. I’m definitely going to watch this. I’m one of those people who love this game yet never made it past Greece.

Honestly, I’m quite glad you’re LPing it, because I certainly wouldn’t put myself through it again. I imagine it must feel incredibly clunky today.

Gonna have to watch this. Loved Body Harvest back in the day but only managed to get past Greece. Should probably dig it out and give it another go some time.

I only got as far as Greece in both this LP and back in the 90s when I tried playing this game. It was one of several we had on a borrowed N64 for a few months but my brother and I had no idea how to beat the first level.

Hopefully I get around to watching the rest of the LP, since the game doesn’t really work on emulators.

Caught up on this over the last couple days. What a deeply weird game. I have a copy of it that I must’ve gotten in the early 2000s when N64 cartridges were dirt cheap at used game stores. I used cheats and a Gameshark to at least see the later levels but never got far in any of them.

Had no idea this was ready for launch then shelved. I wonder why Nintendo didn’t just try sneaking it into their post-launch schedule when M-rated stuff like Turok was first starting to come out for the system.

Level 5

with Kaboom Dragoon and Derek Barona
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
(New!)

Finally wrapping the LP up with this last episode! I had abandoned this LP, but bringing it back and putting a cap on it like this seemed like it’d be a fun way to test out this new forum, and it was. Even though I’m really down on the LP itself, I am glad some people discovered it from this thread and I hope some of you have enjoyed this unique game.

@moderators This Let’s Play is now completed, you know what to do. Thanks!

1 Like

Gonna watch through in a few hours. I remember as a child actually being terrified of this game.

It was a lot of fun to finally see the entirety of this, having only played through the Greece stage as a kid. Congrats at finishing this pretty damn difficult game!