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Beautiful game - if you have an attention span.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: June 13, 2001
Author: Amazon User

There are some one-star reviews of this game. There are many more four- and five-star reviews, mainly because the kind of person you need to be to rate Shenmue 1 star doesn't often have the attention span necessary to write an entire Amazon review.

This is where a lot of people are going wrong reviewing this game. They spend a few hours cluelessly wandering around, not using the Notebook which *tells you* what you're looking for now, not going to the fortune teller in Dobuita who *gives you clues*, not using their own mental processes to *think* about what Ryo should be doing, and on the basis of this conclude that it sucks. Not true. Usually the next piece of information can be found in a matter of minutes, letting you ever closer to the action sequences - Virtua Fighter style fights with up to 70 enemies (Shenmue was originally planned as a Virtua Fighter RPG), QTE reaction tests, movie cutscenes that can be amazingly realistic at times, minigames like forklift and motorcycle riding, arcade games (play Space Harrier all over again!), etc. Even mundane things like going shopping, feeding a pet cat, using vending machines. There's enough to do.

Now: the voice acting. The voice acting ranges from fantstic (Ryo, Nozomi, Chen Gui Zhang) to terrible (some passersby, children). Note that most of the important voices are great. It's almost a formula: the less plot-important a character, the worse their voice. Desperate loser Goro is a real overactor. But then in RL desperate losers *do* overact to impress.

Why four stars? I'd like 4 1/2. But it is rather too easy (can't "Game Over" at all). It's also relatively short. But what is there is absolutely beautiful. The final disc in particular made my jaw hit the ground on more than one occasion. My final "day" of game time left a mark. Just like the final scenes episode of the final episode of your favourite TV show, you could tell: "This is it. This is ending, and soon." It's beautiful.

If you read this far, congratulations! You have the attention span Shenmue would like you to have. Go buy. Now.

Masterpiece

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 21
Date: June 07, 2000
Author: Amazon User

There is no way to explain Shenmue in ANY way, except this: it is the FIRST game where you can effectively do ANYTHING you want. Even if you DON'T like video games, you'd like this. The scenery, people, and events are JUST LIKE REALITY. The fighting engine on this game even rivals those of TRUE fighting games. It's the first of it's kind, and on a scale of 1-10, it's a 25. When you play it, you'll think the same.

Best Game Ever

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 12
Date: November 24, 2000
Author: Amazon User

If you have a Dreamcast and don't buy this game you are missing an amazing experience. To not have this in your library is like not having "Soul Caliber" or "Crazy Taxi." This game is really the best game I have ever played. Beautiful graphics are definitely here, as can be witnessed by the screen shots published in various magazines and posted on websites, but they are only the pretty colored paper wrapping this fanatastic gift from Yu Suzuki.

This game is what so many others out there are not, fun and entertaining. In this title it doesn't feel like you are playing a game, but living a life. I started to think of it like the movie "The Truman Show" after a while. Believe it or not you become so immersed in Ryo Hazuki's life that when you do see something that disrupts the illusion, you feel a mild shock. Walking up closely to characters who were eating at a burger stand and seeing that they really were not eating their food, but simply moving it close to their faces was one such slap in the face for me.

One of the key factors involved in making this illusion of reality float is that no single challenge seems out of place, neither too difficult nor too easy. I enjoy a decent challenge like any other gamer out there, but I also think that this can definately detract from the fun. The difficulty of this game reminded me a lot of "Metal Gear Solid" or "The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time." It isn't a cake walk, but it certainly isn't Rocket Science. The real emphasis here is the story, and what a story it is.

You begin the game on the day that Ryo Hazuki's father is murdered by a mysterious man dressed in elaborate silken robes. From this point on your focus is to discover the man's identity, find out why he killed Ryo's father, and deal out justice. But Ryo doesn't own even one rocket launcher, let alone a pistol to aid his cause. Heck the guy doesn't own a car, so he either has to walk or ride the bus to get anywhere. He progresses through the game by talking to people to gain information (by the way I am so glad they did not subtitle this game; the voice acting is really really good, something rarely found in a game of this sort) and when talking doesn't work, he employs his skills in martial arts. There is a real fighting engine in this game, not just some slopped together mess. It of course is like Virtua Fighter (Yu Suzuki you know) and it plays very nicely.

The Quick Timer Events (these are like the original Dragon's Lair back in the olden days) that were talked about so much are fun to participate in and do not dominate the gameplay at all. They actually are interactive FMV sequences. Any game of this sort will have FMVs to carry the story along, this one is no different except that in some of them you get a chance to participate. Again these sequences do not dominate the game, they are scattered throughout, but they in no way make this game anything near the Simon Says type of affair that some outlets were speculating before release. This is a game that may only take you four days of constant play to finish, so if quantity is what you crave you may be disappointed. Yet, there are so many cool things to do besides solve the mystery you could easily play one game for a month at least. From collecting all the little toys in various vending machines, playing arcade classic "Hang On" or an addicting darts game to gambling away your allowence at the slot machines (my personal favorite) there is plenty to keep you occupied besides the main quest. But, as far as quantity versus quality goes I will say this: I can easily finish "Metal Gear Solid" in about four hours and I can Whup "Resident Evil:Code Veronica" in about two days, yet I love both of these games and count them as timeless classics and always will.

The coolest part of all is that this is only Chapter One. What will Ryo do next? Whatever it is, I hope he does it soon. I can't wait to see where Yu Suzuki takes this amazing tale in the future!

Here's the reason why you should buy a Dreamcast

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: April 14, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I already had the dreamcast when it first came out. I think it's like 9/9/99. Anyway, then after one month, I sold the system and wit for Playstation 2 cause I didn't found that many uses of Dreamcast. Then I heard about shenmue and one my friend told me that you could do almost anything you want in that game. I didn't actually believed but the screen shots at segaweb.com did. Then I couldn't wait to play shenmue and I bought the Sega Dreamcast again for 100 bucks. Now after beating that game, the only thing I could say is this: Unbelievable.

Shenmue servers realistic environment including FREE World. Now the creator Yu Suzuki, created a new genre cause it couldn't fit any exit ones. It's called FREE which stands for "Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment". The Graphics are real, People in the streets just look like in real life. Each time when you talk to people, they talk different things. I'm a Game Developer and I respect that sega went through lot of trouble for making this and spend over $70million dollars. This is one realistic game that will give you FREEDOM of your own. The story is Unbelievable and the story will stay in your heart forever. Shenmue 2 will be out soon.

But Shenmue IS NOT for everyone. If you don't like slow games, then there is no reason to get this. It requires Patience. That is all you need. You may need to find some clues and stuff. But if you have some patience, then Shenmue will blow your mind away using one of the state-of-the-art Technology. There is also some Movie scenes. These scenes will show you some ideas about what's going on just in case you're lost in the graphics.

Graphically, shenmue is a masterpiece. Yu Suzuki is one of the respected sega's designer and the Lead Developer of AM2. When you get shenmue you get the following things:

1) 3 Disc 2) Shenmue Passport

One additional Disc comes with Shenmue: Limited Edition. The addtion disc contains Sound Tracks from shenmue. Shenmue deliers one of the best sound tracks ever. Sound will change your mood while playing this Masterpiece.

All you need is atleast 60 blocks of Memmory from your Memmory Card and ofcourse a Sega Dreamcast:). Also to enjoy this full game, you MUST need the MEMMORY CARD since it's 3 disc long and the only way to collect the data from the other disc is using memmory.

Well I hope this review will help you decide whether it's a good game for you or not. If you already own this and if you need help or Guide, then you may contact me at Gearun2000@cs.com.

-Lenny

Words are beyond the emotion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 20
Date: October 09, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Shenmue is the amazing multimillion dollar creation for Sega Dreamcast. Every detail is strung into this spectacular game. This game was originally designed for Saturn, but was ported to Dreamcast because it was better. Yu Suzuki's masterpiece is so intricate and so detailed it leaves Squaresoft wondering why they didn't think of this before. TEhe game is so complicated it even gets down and dirty. This game is only the 2nd/3rd game (Pokemon Gold/Silver) to feature the 4th dimension: time. Yes, if you wanted to go into a store, you would have to check your watch to see if the store was open. If it wasn't, you'd have to wait for the store clerk to come down the street, clean up, and then open the gates before you can come in! Wow! This game is only Chapter One of a 20 chapter series. You don't even learn what Shenmue means until Chapter 8! Well, until then, you can kill time by going to the arcade and playing perfect ports of Space Harrier and Hang On! This is not a game for everyone, but if you want to play a game that is more gorgeous than...well...words are beyond the emotion.

great; read and review!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: January 26, 2001
Author: Amazon User

I recently wrote a review for Shenmue and I realize that my judgment was completely premature. I hadn't completed the game yet. In fact, I wasn't very far. Anyway, this game, though frustrating at times (trying to find people, etc.) is amazing. The graphics are crystal clear, control is great, fights are awesome, and the realism is unparalleled.

People exist in Shenmue as they do in the real world. You have friends, enemies, and strangers that go about their lives and aren't concerned with yours.

My personal favorite parts of the game include the following:

1.) Your job at the harbor. Driving a forklift is so cool! Plus, you race with your co-workers everyday before you begin your work. You are supposed to move crates around to different warehouses. It's pretty fun really... 2.) Real-time battles. I think there should be a Shemue fighting game because I loved these battles. There's nothing quite like getting in a fight with six people and using your moves you've learned from friends to beat the ... out of all of them. 3.) The instantaneous judgment situations. At certain parts of the game, a button will flash on the screen, and if you don't press the button you will (for example) get punched in the face.

So, in conclusion, kudos to Yu Suzuki and everyone at Sega of America, inc. You've done a great job!

Gaming Perfection...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: November 10, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This game is just that. Gaming perfection. Although the main character, Ryo, is overly polite, this game will blow your mind. The graphics are incredible, and the size of the game is just unreal. Ever since I started playing videogames I wanted a game in where I could do anything that I wanted, and this is as close as it gets as of November 7, 2000. Don't deprive yourself of this perfect gaming experience, buy this game.

Best game of the year!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 11
Date: December 13, 2000
Author: Amazon User

General/Summary: This game ascends to a new level of enterteinement. A brand new genre that is beyond a RPG, amazing graphics, phenomenal sound, immersive story, and great interaction. There is no doubt, Shenmue is not simply the best game of the year for Dreamcast but also for the games scene, and maybe is the game of the century! Gameplay: While it feels someway weird at the beggining, after the erliest minutes you get used with the controls. Free Battle is difficult at the beggining too, especially for the cameras that are litle bad. Besides that the gameplay make you feel in heavens with the lot of interactivity and lot of stuff you can do: play arcade, buy soda, toys, play snooker... Simply the most realistic game ever.

Graphics: Amazing, gorgeous, brilhant, phenomenal, great... it's simply the best graphics ever grace on the history of the games at a 640x480 resolution at 30 frames per second. The graphics are full of detail, textures are clean, charactes and structures have a lot of polygons. It's is masterpiece.

Sound: Well, the sound is epic, makes you feel that you are inside a movie, the voice acting is great too, they are exactly the voice that you thing that characters would have.

Good Graphics, but they forgot the game!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 14 / 22
Date: November 27, 2000
Author: Amazon User

This is a good game, but not a great one. I hate to say it (because I like the loose concept of the game), but I was disappointed with Shenmue. I have to give recognition to the fine artistry and graphical quality. However, herein lies the problem.

So much emphasis was put on the graphics that they forgot to add the game. Shenmue really isn't a video game at all. It is more like you are watching a movie and every once and awhile you have to pause it, do some tedious task, and then you get to watch a little more. You really don't feel like part of the game. It often felt to me that I was not playing at all, but watching someone else play. I kept waiting my turn, and before I got my turn the game was over. This problem was also exemplified by the fact that you can not die (lose, be killed, whatever you choose to call it). I don't know about you, but I like a bit of a challenge. Not even having Ryo's fate in my hands made me feel even more like a bystander.

One other problem I have (probably the most significant to me) is that after all that "playing" you find out that you are just going to have to wait for the next video game to see what happens. You can form your own opinions about that, but I have to admit that I felt a bit taken. I just wanted to play a game. I didn't sign up for some long-term deal where I would have to buy several sets of discs to find out what happens. They should call the game Shenmue: Chapter One. At least then you would know that your entire [money] is going to only one chapter and not an entire game.

If you want to see some great graphics and casually watch one chapter of a story unfold, then this game is for you. However, if you want a challenge, the possibility of losing, a game that may come out differently if you were to play it again, I don't think Shenmue is for you. I recommend Half-Life and Final Fantasy 9 for many hours of video game enjoyment. Happy gaming.

Great Game although not mainstream

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: December 12, 2000
Author: Amazon User

Shenmue is graphics, voice, music, and a totally original gameplay experience. Imagine being able to literally pickup, manipulate, or view almost every inch of your gaming world. You can even pick up pictures off the wall for no reason at all in most cases. Or play games at the local arcade, real 80's games like HangOn. Then go get a job at the harbor driving a forklift for a company and getting paid. Then add it the character interaction and motorcycle driving and all the little mini adventures that paint this world full of different genres from racing to fighting to rpg this game has it all. Such a compelling storyline driven by the murder of your father by a Chinese martial arts guru that wears fine silk clothes with a dragon design. The game is exceptional. It covers 3 GD ROMs but the game comes with 4, the fourth disc is a biography and character info as well as alot of other extra stuff that really is icing on the cake for a great game.

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