Shenmue

Review by bizzarro

This game sports the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen on any console, PS2 included. Every movement, every detail has been rendered so perfectly, it's hard to imagine that there's a line between reality and this digital world. When I say every detail, I meant every single little detail. For instance, you can actually read the street signs in the game. The posters on the walls are readable and every movement of every character is so fluid and smooth, I can't believe these aren't real people just moving. The only real problem in this area is that when there are a lot of people on the screen, it does slow down some, although this is understandable, as everything is done in real-time.

I'll be perfectly honest with you; the sound in this game is really a mixed bag, here. You see, the main character's voices (Ryo, Ine, Fuku... etc.) are all done very well. However, the supporting characters (especially the children in this game) have the whiniest little voices, and it makes you want to punch them and yell "SHUT UP!"

Also worth noting is the fact that the voices are dubbed into English, but it looks as if Sega spent some time making the characters look as if they were speaking English rather than Japanese, so I gave them big ups for that. The backgrounds in Dobuita and the Harbor are done very well, the indistinct chatter and the machinery fit in very well. Also, the orchestral soundtrack is done very well, and I really appreciated the ability to purchase cassettes and play them on the cassette player and in the Passport disk.

This is quite possibly the best part about the game of Shenmue. Just about everything is interactive in this game, from turning on lamps to picking up oranges. The game does just about everything possible to keep the gameplay fresh and new. It has something called QTE's (Quick Time Events) that require players to have fast reflexes and make decisions for themselves. You can also get into the insanely cool Free-Battle Mode where you take place in Virtua Fighter-style fights. You can train, learn new moves, and perfect the ones you already have. You'd better train too, because your saved game data can be transferred into Shenmue II.

Also, at some points in the game you'll be able to drive a forklift and a motorcycle. Both of those actually are a load more fun than you might think. You can earn money from driving the forklift. Money is also a key point in the game. You can buy little toy capsules containing a figurine from the Sonic or Virtua Fighter series (note to reader: Shenmue was created by Yu Suzuki, the creator of the Sonic and Virtua Fighter series, along with Hang-On, Space Harrier, and several other games.) You can also go to the You Arcade in Dobuita and play darts, Excite QTE games, and emulated versions of Hang-On and Space Harrier.

So as you can see, the gameplay in Shenmue is quite varied. To be perfectly honest with you, this story, while still very good, is far from complete. However, this is the way it was meant to be, because as I said earlier, this is a revolutionary concept for a videogame. This is really only chapter one of sixteen (the actual name of the game is Shenmue - Chapter 1: Yokosuka.) As such, we will not know the real ending until the last chapter has been completed and shipped.

I gave this game a high score for it's story because I felt it would not be fair to judge the game's story based on the fact that it is "incomplete". The story begins as Ryo returns home from a day at school to discover 3 strangers have invaded his father's dojo and have attacked his family and killed his father. What happens from then on is up to you to find out.

I have never quite seen as many extras in a videogame as I have in Shenmue. For starters, you'll get the really cool Passport disk where you can get information about the game, listen to musical tracks in it, watch videos that you've already viewed in the game, and connect to the internet. On the internet, you can trade the items such as Prize soda cans or figurines that you've accquired in the game for other items. You can also post your scores for how fast you've beaten the game. Also, once you beat the game, you can plug in the Third Disk and replay what is known as the 70-man battle, and post your time on the internet. Overall, you can't go wrong with all of these extras as they do add a long time to the replay value.

Putting this game at #2 on Miffo and TsGamer's Top 25 Games on Dreamcast List was a no-brainer (yes, it was a shameless plug; I don't have any shame... It was surgically removed years ago.) With all of the extras and replay value, there's really no reason why this game isn't in everyone's Dreamcast library. I also think that the whole "chapter" concept is a really good idea. In short, this game is definitely worth your purchase, time, and effort.