Ever since the launch of the Dreamcast, I've been hearing about a game called Shenmue. I've seen screenshots, first impressions, and previews. When it finally came somewhere around 2000 (hey ! You can't expect me to know all these things !), Sega has proven to RPG fans that it would become the future of RPG's. In Yu Suzuki's latest creation, you will play as main character, Ryo Hazuki in his quest for Revenge for the death of his father. Shenmue is an interactive game that keeps track of the times, changes, and events. For example: if Christmas was only weeks away, someone would be dressed as Santa Claus and some houses and stores would be covered up in Christmas decerations. Okay, that's enough. Now lets talk about how the game is like. First off, the graphics are flawlessly detailed. Some characters don't show much facial expressions, but most of the time, they'll make a slight twitch or an expression even. The sound is...uh...not bad. There's some catchy '80s style tunes (No ! We're not talking about Billy Idol or Aerosmith's music ! It's Sega's customizable '80s music) you'll hear when you go to a bar, somewhere around the outdoors, anywhere ! The voice acting is kinda horrible. Ryo's voice sounds great, but most of them are straight-up annoying ! The more I kept hearing Goro use his squeaky voice, I press the B-button to skip it so I can hear Ryo's. The gameplay and controls are cool. Controling the character isn't really that hard, if you have already played RPG's similar to Shenmue. Some people would complain how slow and unresponsive it is, but it's actually easy (that's what you get for playing to much corny adventure games, kid !). The best part of the gameplay are the QTE battles and the freestyle battles, where you can duke it out with neighborhood gangs and mad locals. The storyline is seamless...until Disc 3. The storyline on Disc's 1 and 2 have great stories, but Disc 3's story lags a bit. Most of the time, you have to race daily, everytime you got to work and after the race is done, you have to do some work as a forklifter. Wow...fun (sarcasm) ! There are times when you'll encounter a fight on Disc 3 (I love beating the tar out of the Mad Angels at the Yokosuka Harbor), which turns Disc 3 slightly exciting. And the most exciting part is, you get to play classic Sega arcade games like Hang On and Space Harrier (100 yen a game). So in the end, Shenmue turns out to be a perfect gaming experience for RPG fans. This game is so great, even some of those ignorant PS2 lovin' Dreamcast haters will give this pup a go. If you want to be taken back to the '80s again, Shenmue won't dissapoint.
Ever since the launch of the Dreamcast, I've been hearing about a game called Shenmue. I've seen screenshots, first impressions, and previews. When it finally came somewhere around 2000 (hey! You can't expect me to know all these things! ), Sega has proven to RPG fans that it would become the future of RPG's. In Yu Suzuki's latest creation, you will play as main character, Ryo Hazuki in his quest for Revenge for the death of his father. Shenmue is an interactive game that keeps track of the times, changes, and events. For example: if Christmas was only weeks away, someone would be dressed as Santa Claus and some houses and stores would be covered up in Christmas decerations. Okay, that's enough. Now lets talk about how the game is like. First off, the graphics are flawlessly detailed. Some characters don't show much facial expressions, but most of the time, they'll make a slight twitch or an expression even. The sound is... uh... not bad. There's some catchy '80s style tunes (No! We're not talking about Billy Idol or Aerosmith's music! It's Sega's customizable '80s music) you'll hear when you go to a bar, somewhere around the outdoors, anywhere! The voice acting is kinda horrible. Ryo's voice sounds great, but most of them are straight-up annoying! The more I kept hearing Goro use his squeaky voice, I press the B-button to skip it so I can hear Ryo's. The gameplay and controls are cool. Controling the character isn't really that hard, if you have already played RPG's similar to Shenmue. Some people would complain how slow and unresponsive it is, but it's actually easy (that's what you get for playing to much corny adventure games, kid! ). The best part of the gameplay are the QTE battles and the freestyle battles, where you can duke it out with neighborhood gangs and mad locals. The storyline is seamless... until Disc 3. The storyline on Disc's 1 and 2 have great stories, but Disc 3's story lags a bit. Most of the time, you have to race daily, everytime you got to work and after the race is done, you have to do some work as a forklifter. Wow... fun (sarcasm)! There are times when you'll encounter a fight on Disc 3 (I love beating the tar out of the Mad Angels at the Yokosuka Harbor), which turns Disc 3 slightly exciting. And the most exciting part is, you get to play classic Sega arcade games like Hang On and Space Harrier (100 yen a game). So in the end, Shenmue turns out to be a perfect gaming experience for RPG fans. This game is so great, even some of those ignorant PS2 lovin' Dreamcast haters will give this pup a go. If you want to be taken back to the '80s again, Shenmue won't dissapoint.