Hi Guys!

I've written an article about Shenmue at http://newbreview.com/?p=21991 that you guys and gals may be interested in.

I'm really interested in what you guys think as there'll obviously be some tough customers - I'd greatly appreciate any praise or criticism.

I realise that this post could be construed as 'plugging' but you have to admire my audacity at least, right?

Right? :-"

Wow, I'm absolutely beside myself by the responses! Thank you all for your kind words and I'm so pleased to see that I've inspired RyoHazuki84 to talk about his own experiences!

The article came about from a frustration, one that few people acknowledge that the two games were a gift, and have merits that are rarely articulated. When I do notice people discussing Shenmue I always hear or read things along the lines of: 'The game was alright, the forklift driving was the best bit' or, 'Where is the gameplay?' etc.

So I wanted to speak up about what Shenmue really offers and wanted to do everything I could to do it justice. I worked on this article for five days and struggled to keep the content under 2,000 words and had to cut entire paragraphs to tighten the pacing. It took me five days to condense my viewpoint as concisely as possible, so everything posted here means an awful lot to me!

I'm definitely interested in tackling Shenmue II, but first I need to play through the entire game again to completely refresh my memory. I still have my Dreamcast hooked-up and Shenmue II in its frayed-as-all-hell sleeve. I need to find a unique angle that tells a different story to justify writing this, but I'm certainly up to the task.

Special mention to Ziming for his/her incredible dedication and the promotion of my piece!

Cheers all!

:-)

I normally go straight ahead at the intersection past the arcade. I always liked to amble into the Tomato convenience store on the way back and attempt to win the Sega Saturn ports of Hang On and Space Harrier at the raffle.

I'm chuffed that you singled out a sentence from my favorite paragraph, as to me that was the crux of my piece.

(Is that Katie Melua as your avatar I see?)

It's interesting that Martin Robinson decided to write a retrospective now, of all times... Lovely write-up.

My piece on Shenmue II will be finished in the week. This series needs to reclaim its voice.

I hear you on that. Perhaps I was too all-encompassing in my approach, but I wanted to appeal even to the uninitiated (Newb Review) - in that even if the essence of Shenmue doesn't impress them, I wanted for them to at least appreciate the game for its superficial accolades, while engaging fans at the same time. Not easy.

This will not be an issue in my Shenmue II write-up, as I now have that out of the way.