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Shenmue, WOW!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Name: Shenmue
System: Dreamcast
Release and development: Sega-AM2 and Sega
US release date: November of 2000
Development and/or staff origin: Japan
Supported devices: VGA and VMU along with discontinued online support
Genre: RPG

Story elements score: 9.9 out of 10

Story elements: Shenmue is based on the ever popular Japanese story of seek revenge for someone's provoked death, in this case the father of Shenmue. The plot may seem shallow when first starting the game, yet after a few events becomes very deep. It seems that the story is communicated to the audience in a very elegant manor. Shenmue demonstrates some of the best execution of plot to this date in the RPG genre.

Game play system score: 10 out of 10

Game play system: Shenmue demonstrates one of the best exploration systems of the RPG world. Shenmue consists of a free roaming system that allows the gamer to enter most buildings and truly enjoy the environment. The battle system is based around a fighting system found in fighting games and is also a free roam system. The battle system is enjoyable for fans of non-turned based RPG's and can be appealing to others as well. The only flaw is the time system; you wake up at 8:30 and must be home at 11:30. Each hour is performed in a time frame of 5 minutes and some events only occur at certain times (such as the ability to talk to key game characters). Also great deals of quick time events (reaction timing) are included as side quests and in standard progression of game play.

Environment and artistic value score: 10 out of 10

Environment and artistic value: The environment and character interaction with the environment is truly beautiful. Very few games compare with the aesthetic beauty of Shenmue. Also a unique time and weather system add to visual enjoyment for the gamer.

Graphics score: 10 out of 10

Graphics: As with the environments, the graphics accurately depicted the lavished style of the game play. Even though the graphics are a bit dated to current standards, they can still be considered revolutionary. The few flaws that the camera system does posses are quickly overshadowed by the other factors. Take in to consideration that the original Japanese release of this game has a date of late 1999, and the gamer will be amazed at the visual quality. Overall the graphics show the up most visual quality of Dreamcast titles.

Sound score: 1 out of 10

Sound: This is the most lacking part of Shenmue. Ambient sound is produced well and at a fairly high sample quality. The major problems exist in the area of voice acting. Sega should have kept the Japanese soundtrack with subtitles. The remedy to the US release is the ability to only have text active and no voice acting (available in options menu).

Music score: 10 out of 10

Music: Possibly the best RPG soundtrack in relation to a Dreamcast title. The music is breathtaking and is perfectly dynamic to the environments and situations. If you don't get the game (I say this a lot) invest in the soundtrack. A nice touch is that the soundtrack comes available upon the included passport disc to Shenmue. Yet you can only enjoy the soundtrack of the passport disc by the use of your Dreamcast.

Replay value score: 8 out of 10

Replay value: If you enjoy it the first time it can be fun to play through it a few more times. Not much change through a replay will be evident, other than it is much shorter since all the exploration can be kept to minimum.

Overall score: 10 out of 10

Bottom line: A great timeless Dreamcast title that can be found used for under $20 and is to this day very enjoyable. If you don't own a Dreamcast it may be worth shelling out $60 for a used Dreamcast, controller, memory card and Shenmue.

Pros: Great story, Good Game play, awesome visuals, and breathtaking music

Cons: The voice acting is very low in quality

SLOW AND EXTREMELY REPETATIVE

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 6
Date: January 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

The one word to best describe Shenmue is not "groundbreaking" its repetative. Talk to 50 persons to find the one with the clue to carry the game forward and when you get that, repeat! Action is sparse and senseless wandering is essential to the game. I HATE talking to EVERYBODY to discover that I have to go to meet someone the next night! To make things worse youu can't skip time so you really have to wait and wait and wait. The "Quick time events" are cool but too far apart to save this snooze fest. Shenmue got old after Disc 1 and went downhill from there.
The graphics are awesome and the idea behind the game is cool but not well done. This game can put you to sleep faster than sleeping pills. The worst part of this game is working in the harbour for 5 days and having to do that stupid forklift race each day, yawn and tedious to the MAX. I have no desire to finish the game as you never face the bad guy, not even in part 2 you just keep walking and talking, walking and talkin, walking and talking (get the point of this game). If you like wasting precious life that could be used to live then this is for you...otherwise get a more fulfilling gaming experience elsewhere.

Two stars for graphics and innovative concept.

Does Mr. Yakamoto Live Here?

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: November 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is one of the most time-consuming and frivolous games out there for the Dreamcast. The missions are dull with hardly any decent action. The one quest that stands out in my mind the most is one where you have to find Mr. Yakamoto. You are given no idea as to where he lives and go door to door trying to find him. It always happens that his house is the last you look at. Another problem is the fact that many of the quests are given to you at one time and you have to wait 24 hours before you can actually do them. There is no way to make time go forward so about 35 of the 40 hours needed to complete this game will be on waiting around for the place you need to go to open.
This game is very disappointing and if you are somewhat interested in it, borrow it from a friend. If you don't have any friends, then only dish out the $6 to rent only if you think you might like it.

Great Game for anyone with some TASTE

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: December 18, 2000
Author: Amazon User

The aim for yu suzuki in this title was realism, and storyline. This game surpasses that of any game ever made in realism. It is a well directed masterpiece, and is the introduction to a massive quest to find the killer of your father, who happens to be looking for an item you posess that if found can lead to a horrible disaster as he is trying to ressurect the spirit of a legendary beast known as chi-you. The journey will lead you through japan, hong kong, china, and more, in a compelling storyline that will leave you breathless. The graphics and voice acting themselves are incredible, and this is a worthwhile game to buy on dreamcast.

I can't say the game is perfect (but i AM entitled to my own opinion, so, YES IT IS!!) it depends on what you consider perfect. If you want an immersive, realistic, and involving game, where you can have some realistic battles and solve puzzles and riddles in a well rendered world, then you definatly should buy it. If you prefer action-packed games or sci-fi games, or a bloodfest, go find quake 3 arena, unreal tournament, Jet grind radio, or other such games. But I think that this was an accomplishment by yu suzuki, and that it is well worth it 50 dollar price tag. Don't believe me, go buy it, you will either think it's an awesome game or not, but im sure you'll play through the game anyway.

But ofcourse,, remember most of all, this is chapter one, the introduction, to a long 15 chapter series that will not let you down.

-elsydeon

Fun yet dissapointing at end

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: January 10, 2001
Author: Amazon User

In Shenmue you play as Ryo Hazuki. You watch your father get killed by Lan Di and you go on a quest to find him. During the game there are vivid buildings and no blocky people. Stores ranging from a burger bar to a bar to a tobacco shop. Also the best part about the game is that the people will go about their daily business every day. You can actually follow a person to watch the go about their routine. The game includes very fun Free Battles, QTE where you have to press a certain button at the right time, and fun interaction with characters. Even though this game still has flaws. When you are in a qte or free battle, if you lose you just replay the sequence. And this is extremely easy for the qte seeing as you just have to remember the button sequence and repeat it. But most of all the most dissapointing part was at the end. Eventually at the end you go to China to search for Lan Di. The guy at the dock teachs you a move which is extremely hard to do and you wont need anyway. If you are thinking of what i mean it's because the game ends after you battle a bald guy NOT Lan Di. After you battle the bald guy the game is over. The whole point of the story was to go after Lan Di thinking you would battle him but you don't ,which really dissapointed me. It would have been better if the game continued and you went to China, but there will probably be a second part of Shenmue coming out soon where he goes to China.

Ignore the bad reviews of this game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: January 17, 2001
Author: Amazon User

... While I wouldn't say that this game is perfect (what game is?), I will say that it is definitely groundbreaking and innovative and ENJOYABLE! If you are the type of person that only enjoys constant action, then I guess this game isn't for you. I would think that RPG fans would eat this up, although it is different from your typical RPG game. Think of it as an interactive martial arts movie of sorts. You do spend a lot of time running around and interviewing people, but that's what would really happen if you were trying to track down a mysterious man who murdered your father. I guess it's a just a matter of personal taste, but I was totally engrossed in this game while I was playing it. I couldn't wait to get home from work so I could pick up where I left off. I would recommend this game to older gamers like me (I'm 30) since they can probably appreciate this game much better than your average 13 year old hack-and-slasher who thinks this game is "too boring" and "doesn't have enough fighting." LOL...You kids should realize that there are other games besides Tony Hawk (which I love by the way).

Awesome Graphics. Okay, Now Where is the Replay Value?

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: January 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When I bought this game on the basis of the critic reviews it got, I was anxious to pop this game into my system. I played it, and I'll tell you: it's by far the best graphic and technoligical game I've seen (not far behind is Skies of Arcadia, NFL 2K1, and Rayman 2). I'll come right out and admit this is my 2nd RPG I've ever played in my life (1st, Chrono Cross which is a cool game). However, I played Shenmue with such low RPG strategy experience and it was so incredibly easy. This game took me about 13 hours max to beat (Chrono Cross took me at least 40 hours to beat), and I had no feeling to play it anymore. The storyline was pale and repetitive down to the pint where I want to pop my Dreamcast open and wreck the disc with a 200 ton mallet (not possible, unfortunately). What I'll say is that this game deserves three stars because it is beautifully created graphically, but I see absolutely no replay value or lasting appeal to this game, thus, in my opinion, no reason to spend 50 bucks on it.

DO NOT GET!!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 4
Date: July 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Well when I saw this game it looked pretty cool. But once I started to play it, it was really boring. Yeah, it does have cool things like the graphics are awsome and they talk. The story line is pretty good. But still dont get this game, the only thing you do is talk to people the whole time. There isnt really lots of fighting, which is the funnest part of this game. You only fight like 10 time or somthin like that. At the end of the game you just leave for HONG KONG and that is it. Then you have to buy SHEnmue 2 and they don't have english versions only japanese. If you like talking only I recomend this game but if you like action DO NOT GET THIS.

Not for Die-Hard Video ... Addicts

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: March 28, 2001
Author: Amazon User

Great graphics, good story line (this is one of 16 possible more games - Shenmue 2 will be out by December 2001) great music & great idea. A very mature game. People who say video games are imature and childish should test drive this game. This has done to RPGs what Mario 64 has done to platform games. Shenmue has raised the bar.

BUT,... if your looking for a FLASH-POW-BANG game, THIS IS NOT IT. Shenmue is like drinking some sort of expensive wine - it has to be done slowly. Shenmue is not for people looking for a rush or for those who suffer from ADD.

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it before you buy it. There is a 90% you will like it, A LOT.

Not so good anymore

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 2
Date: April 12, 2001
Author: Amazon User

When I first got a glimpse of Shenmue, I thought it was a cool game. The previews were awesome(however you spell that)and it looked great. I began playing and got so addicted that I hated going to school for the entire dayand couldn't play it. But after I found out that there was no magic-oriented or powers, it got old quite quickly. Finally, after I got to the motorcycle sceen, I was bored to heck. Needless to say, the first half of the game was top notch, but the second half [stunk]. Not to mention the fact that the game doesn't end, it goes on to sequel games. So, if you like Fighting/RPG games in one, you'll love Shenmue. For me, 1st person RPGs will never make big. The only thing I can do with Shenmue now is trade it to my friends for a little time for their games.

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