I know it's been out for a while but post your reviews anyway
Shenmue II Xbox Review
The original Shenmue was a experience like no other, for the first time in computer game history you were free to go anywhere and see everything, it was a game where you could easily spend an entire day just exploring the huge environments or speaking with the hundreds of individual characters that you could interact with. Yu Suzuki (the games creator) pioneered a new genre with his bold new game this was to be called Fully Reactive Eyes Entertainment or F.R.E.E for short.
Shortly after the originals release a sequel was confirmed, Shenmue fans all over the world rejoiced at the prospect of picking the story where they left off and stepping into the sweaty (probably) trainers of Ryo Hazuki the games main character once again, but alas a decision was made that split the market between the UK and the US and caused quite a bit of outrage and controversy.
Shenmue II was due to come out on the Sega Dreamcast like the original but in a surprise move by Sega was cancelled at the last moment in America to appear later on the Microsoft Xbox console while the PAL version was picked up for a current release in the UK by an independent publisher called Big Ben Interactive. This meant that UK fans got the game there and then (with Japanese voices and English subtitles) while those in the USA had to wait over a year or pay the expense of importing.
A year later and the Xbox version came out in the USA it had improved graphics, English voices and had 2 new features to boot. The first new feature was a view setting that enabled you to apply filters to the screen that changed the way you saw the game, the second feature was much better, a snapshot function that enabled you to take pictures of anything from shenmue and save it to your hardrive for later viewing.
Also included with the Xbox version of Shenmue II is a DVD called Shenmue The Movie it basically amounts to the major cut scenes from the first game stuck together back to back, it acts as a memory boost for those who haven't played it in a while or as a starting ground for new fans to the series, a bit like the way Capcom re-release all the Resident Evil titles on the console they next plan to develop for (only Shenmue The Movie isn't as good as the game and doesn't even include an extra documentary included on the retail Japanese DVD).
Finally Shenmue II is available here in the UK after months of anticipation I have played my copy thoroughly and am ready to Cleary state my honest opinion.
The original Shenmue ended with Ryo Hazuki (the games main character) setting sail for China to find his fathers killer Lan Di, Shenmue II picks up the story four days later with Ryo's arrival in Aberdeen harbour in Hong Kong, a strange place in a country he has never visited before that's very different to Yokosuka the town he grew up in.
The opening scenes of the game let you know that you're in for something really special, dramatic shots of the huge ship that Ryo is on cutting through the tranquillity of the sea is really spectacular, a cool way to kick start the game, it then switches to several shots of Hong Kong fully populated with people going about their everyday business, following those working at the pier to the gathering interest at a pachinko stand there are even people stopping to speak with their friends in the street.
Shenmue is a virtual world with virtual characters, each morning the sun will rise, people will get up and go to work, tourists will wander around town, some will visit the bars and restaurants and customers will visit any of the hundreds of individual shops on offer, even the weather will change according to what time of the year it is.
The gameplay that Shenmue is famous for has been improved dramatically, a big criticism of the original was that to progress you were forced to spend hours just hanging around waiting for an event to take place rather than actually advancing in the game.
The waiting was mainly due to the very thing that made Shenmue great, the fact that you could take your time and solve problems at your pace, for example you might have figured out where the tattoo parlour was at 9:00am and you were there and ready to go in at 9:16am but that doesn't change the fact that its not open until 12:00p.m and with several similar situations, waiting around at some point was inevitable.
Thankfully Yu Suzuki and his development team have taken a long hard look at Shenmue and how people responded to these long periods of doing nothing and have come up with the simple yet effective solution of giving people an option to skip time.
The skip time feature works in certain situations where you will have to meet someone or be at a place at a certain time yet you arrive early, a choice presents itself on screen, wait or quit, waiting will make the entire day pass in a few seconds while selecting quit mans that you pass time normally. You would do best to select wait in these situations but there are those occasions where the temptation to run down to the arcade and blow all your money on Outrun or Space Harrier just takes over.
Like I mentioned before Shenmue II plays a lot like the original with a few key improvements, you still have to find information and gather clues from people you meet, this time round when you ask someone who's familiar with an area for directions there's a good chance that they will actually take you exactly where you want to go. However ask a tourist or someone unfamiliar with the area and they will respond by telling you to ask someone else.
Now avenging your father is a risky business, there are points in the story where you will have no choice but to come up against dangerous characters who have the sole intention of beating Ryo up. Lucky for us Ryo has trained in martial arts all his life and is proficient enough to hold his own in a fight against most of these opponents.
Note I said "most" opponents, Lan Di, the man that Ryo is determined to find is a merciless and deadly martial arts master much more powerful and experienced than he who possesses the power to kill with a single strike.
This means plenty of martial arts practice for our young hero, while Shenmue I was primarily focused on finding Lan Di, Shenmue II follows your progression and growth as a martial artist. On your journey you will come across Tai Chi and Kung Fu masters that will teach you moves that will improve you in free battle and thus aid you on your quest. As part of his training there is a time when Ryo must not only master martial arts technique, he must learn something called Wude. Wude is the name given to the principals that all true martial artists should live by before they can be considered a master, these will help Ryo to regain some of the balance he has lost in seeking revenge.
Free Battle is where Shenmue really shows its Virtua Fighter origins, it works like this, say for instance someone starts a fight with Ryo, the game can shift genres into that of a top notch beat 'em up with an energy bar and a whole bunch of moves at your disposal. Deal with the bad guys effectively and you can progress lose and it could be the last mistake you ever make. This is why there is so much emphasis on practicing your moves. There are too many methods of practice to list here but if you are really interested look for a free battle guide available at shenmue-net the address is
www25.brinkster.com/shenmuenet/freebattle.htm
The second method of experiencing events in Shenmue is called a Quick Timer Event (QTE for short). A good example of this is that at one point in the game you are being chased through a building by a bunch of thugs, there's not enough time to take them all out all of a sudden a button combination flashes up on screen press the corresponding buttons on your control pad and Ryo will tornado kick a wall support causing the ceiling to collapse thus keeping the bad guys trapped long enough for you to make a getaway, also like free battle some of the QTE's have fatal consequences if preformed incorrectly.
The QTE concept may sound simple but it's a really effective way of bringing you closer to the action while keeping an action movie like pace. Don't worry the QTE's start of easy and get progressively harder as the difficulty level of the challenges increase.
There are many points in Shenmue II where you will require money to progress so working becomes an essential part of the game. Unlike in Shenmue I where you got a job shifting crates in a forklift wither you wanted to or not Shenmue II gives you the option of multiple jobs you can carry creates, work at a pachinko stall, gamble, arm wrestle, or my personal favourite take part in some illegal street fights.
Graphically Shenmue II Xbox version beats the Dreamcast version hands down, new effects that have been added include mip-mapping, texture filtering, and anti-aliasing for the non technical of you this means that the game looks a lot more crisp, the edges aren't as rough that the horrible fuzziness found in the Dreamcast has gone. Other points are that are relevant are that some of the main characters have had proper curves added to give them a more realistic look and the whole thing runs at a smooth 60 frames per second.
My only gripe being that the fade in that allowed characters to just appear is still present although not nearly as evident as it was is the original. Overall the graphics are good for what was originally a Dreamcast game and it is certainly not just a straight port (unlike games like Deadly Skies) and even if it was the incredible work that goes into the Shenmue series means that it basically still looks as good as most other Xbox games at this time, but I will be expecting Shenmue III to look improve on this by a vast amount.
My only major criticism of Shenmue II is the English voices acting, although most of the main characters suit their voices (even though Ryo does sound like a robot at times) many of the less important characters such as passers by and shopkeepers are very poor and completely laughable (low budget I imagine) this only bothers you for a couple of hours, by then you've either adjusted to it or stuck subtitles on and muted the sound.
Graphics
Better than the original and an improvement on the dreamcast version this is the way porting a game should be done, seeing the neon Hong Kong environments spanning into the distance and watching beautifully animated characters interact with each other so realistically is truly breathtaking at times only held back by the fade in.
8.0 / 10
Sound
The music in shenmue II is one area that it does not outshine the original, it seems as though less effort has been made creating the background music and the recycled music from the first game doesn't sound right in the new environments. The redeeming thing being that each location has an individual easily recognisable tune, although not as good as the originals still better than most game music out there.
9.0 / 10
Gameplay
An amazing experience from start to finish that rewards the time you invest in it with incredible fights and dramatic scenes that you will want to see over and over again. The characters and the environments are incredible and the many mini games aren't bad either.
10 / 10
Replay Value
Takes about 30-50 hours to complete doing the bare essentials when you reach the end you will feel like you have achieved something great then you'll want to do it all over again making sure to take part in as many of the secret events as possible. The snapshot feature prizes mans that you'll be busy trying to find some obscure characters for sometime, I found a great amount of replay in the shenmue collection.
9.0 / 10
Overall
If you're a fan of the original you'll love this as it improves on everything except the music go to the shop and buy this now… I mean now… stop reading go, if you didn't like the original this is different enough to merit renting it or at the very least borrowing it from a friend.
-Christopher-
Current Shenmue-Net Webmaster
[email protected]