Post by nostradumbass on Dec 24, 2006 1:10:39 GMT -5
In 2000, Shenmue, for the Sega Dreamcast, was one of the most controversial games of its time. Created by Yu Suzuki, also creator of the Virtua Fighter series, Shenmue was a very ambitious and unique title that aimed to give gamers a completely new experience by combining components of fighting, adventure and even role-playing games set in a living, breathing, real-time Hong Kong in the late ‘80s. The game told the story of a young man journeying across China in search of vengeance for the death of his father. There was really nothing like Shenmue’s revolutionary game play at the time, and as a result, the game’s sales were less than stellar in the states. This was partially due to cultural differences, as the game as a whole was very Asian oriented, and its highly unusual design met with very mixed reactions.
However, the game certainly was a showcase for the impressive capabilities of the Dreamcast. The game was absolutely gorgeous for the time and was one of the best-looking games to date. Shortly thereafter, a sequel continued the story of Shenmue in the eastern world, but unfortunately didn’t find its way to the US. That is, until 2002, when Microsoft made the decision to port the game to the Xbox in America. With the union of one of the most ambitious and original titles to date and the most powerful system on the market, expectations ran high, and for the most part, Shenmue II delivers, but there are some problems with it that prevent it from being a truly memorable experience.
In Shenmue II, we once again find ourselves controlling Ryo Hazuki, a young martial arts student driven to track down his father’s killer, a mysterious Kung Fu expert named Lan Di. The game begins immediately where the first left off, as we see a freighter carrying Ryo pull into a Hong Kong harbor after receiving a lead to Lan Di’s whereabouts. He steps off the boat with only a few dollars and a slip of paper with an address and the name of his contact written on it. I won’t be long, however, until Ryo discovers a massive criminal plot involving the kidnapping of his contact and two ancient artifacts that sends him on a dangerous quest spanning all of China that will lead him to the men behind this scheme, and to his father’s murderer.
If grasping on to the plot without any prior knowledge of the story of the original Shenmue seems intimidating, fear not. The Xbox port of Shenmue II comes packaged with a full-length DVD movie adaptation of the first game (Yeah, this game is pretty big in Japan) and the game its self provides a short, fifteen-minute long “digest movie,” outlining the story. The bulk of Shenmue II has Ryo tracking down his missing contact, Yuanda Zhu, and the men responsible for his disappearance, while the late ending stages of the game tells the aftermath of that adventure, which leads Ryo to a small village island connected to the old legend and the two artifacts, the Phoenix and Dragon Mirrors, mentioned in the story. Along the way, Ryo must face many tasks in his quest, such as dealing with thugs and gangs looking to get in his way, learning and mastering the ways of martial arts, and finding a way to save his contact without falling into the clutches of his enemies. Along the way, Ryo will gain allies in his quest that will follow and aid him when needed. The characters include enemy turned friend Ren, a reckless but phenomenal fighter, Wong, a junior thief with a heart of gold, and Joy, a crazy white biker chick (minor note, but I wonder why Japan thinks all Americans ride motorcycles and blare Motley Crüe 24/7).
Ah, Joy. It’s been a long time since I played a game with a character so annoying. Shenmue II has a few migraine-inducing characters to its name, but I think Joy wins first place there. Take her horrendous voice acting and add some confusing dialog, and you got a pretty terrible character that literally does not serve a purpose at all. She’ll pop up every five minutes in the beginning of the game, is forgotten about, and then in the latter stages, shows up inexplicably. I don’t know, I guess Suzuki wrote himself into a corner. She is entirely worthless and does nothing to advance the plot. When you meet her the first few times, you’d think she’s the love interest of Ryo (which I believe was Suzuki’s original plan), but the real love interest doesn’t show up until the end. Maybe they saw how bad her acting and dialog was and decided to go against it.
Speaking of dialog, the writing in Shenmue II is pretty hit-and-miss. While most of it is decent, sometimes it falls flat. This happens a lot when talking to minor characters or people on the street. It can be very stiff at times, and even though it occasionally gives you a cheap laugh at how bad it is, most of the time you’re left feeling confused at what just went on. However, this is always a common problem with Japanese games and it doesn’t distract so bad that it lessens the story or takes away from the game.
Oh, Joy, your beauty is matched only by your jarring voice and awkward conversations.
But I digress. The story is very strong, woven intricately with a brisk pace. There are no continuity errors or shark-jumping moments, and is told so that the player never losses interest. Unfortunately, if there is one place in the story that needed some touching up, it is the end game. Although some key plot lines are revealed and loose ends are tied up, it drags on painfully. The incredibly long winded dialog exchanges between Ryo and Shen Hua that make up this portion of the game are sure to bore and discourage the player with their entirely unrelated, and unimportant, subjects. However, one thing that this sequence does reveal is why the Shenmue series is named as such, a question that has haunted me for a long time. What’s worse; however, is the actual ending its self. It leaves us hanging. Big time. It’s obvious that Suzuki was planning on the series to span at least one more sequel, but as it stands, it’s highly unlikely that Shenmue II won’t be the last in the series. There is, however, a massively multiplayer online RPG in development called Shenmue Online, but there is very little chance at all that the western world will see it.
As mentioned before, Shenmue II was a port from the Dreamcast to the Xbox. At the time of its initial release overseas on the Dreamcast, the game looked absolutely gorgeous. And you’d think that a port of that gorgeous game to the most powerful system on the market would be one of the best-looking games ever. It wasn’t. Shenmue II is almost a direct port, with both versions looking almost the exact same. This was a big disappointment in 2002, when the Xbox hype was in full force. The lighting in the Xbox version was slightly improved, and some textures were polished up, but these tweaks were not very noticeable and the game’s age shows plainly. The character models, while good-looking in 2000, are very blocky, and the textures are still quite ugly. And speaking of ugly, wow, some of these characters look like they got hit in the face with a lead pipe and tripped over a speed bump on the way down.
Woof.
Sure, this looked awesome on the Dreamcast, but on the Xbox? Not so much.
Sound-wise, Shenmue II has two sides to its coin. The musical score is phenomenal, featuring a beautiful collection of pieces that do an excellent job of setting the tone and lending a distinct atmosphere to the various locales you'll find yourself in. The score is especially notable during the cut scenes, which feature Dolby 5.1 surround, a rarity then. The traditional Chinese music never fails to compliment the action on the screen perfectly, and add some layer of tension when needed. While the music is done exceptionally, the voice work overshadows it greatly with its terrible quality. While a select few characters are decently done, most are voiced atrociously and lifelessly. The actors seem genuinely uninterested in what they’re reading and do not do the game justice at all. Couple this with the before mentioned poor dialog, and talking to people is genuinely annoying. As mentioned before, sometimes, this bad voice work can be funny, but most of the time, it’s just bad. Ryo’s voice work, for example, is simply inexcusable for the main character. His monotone delivery and beyond-wooden acting is, at times hard to handle. I found it interesting, however, that further in the game; his acting seemed to get a little better, giving at least an ounce of emotion in his performance.
You know, you ARE hot on the trail of your father's murderer. Show some emotion, man!
Controlling in Shenmue II is a daunting task when you first start the game. Moving with the d-pad is something that will take getting used to, but once you do, controlling isn’t a tough task. The on screen interface now shows the outlines of the Xbox face buttons, which have their context-sensitive uses, such as opening a door or talking to someone, overlaid on them according to the situation. Conversation is laid out with various topics, including asking about places to gamble, places to earn a job, topics dealing with the main quest, and if it’s a store owner, purchasing items. Asking around is a good idea in this game for various reasons. Many of the areas in the game are easy to get lost in, and finding your destinations can be a tall order at times. You can buy maps of the area for a nominal fee, but I found them to be of little help. The best method of finding a locale is asking the people walking the streets. They will almost always guide you to your destination, or at least point you in the right direction.
One reason why Shenmue is considered such a revolutionary game is because of its open-endedness, and its sequel carries on that tradition. There is so much to do in the locales of Shenmue II, that there is no way to not be entertained. If you want to take a break from the main quests, there are ways to earn money, such as gambling in various games such as lucky hit or circle one. You can collect various trinkets such as SEGA toys or Zippo lighter (which can unlock various special features after completion of the game). You can enter fights to boost combat skill or earn cash. There are other events, such as arm wrestling, at your disposal. You can even get jobs at the docks or at the gambling stands. Something that really kicks ass is the inclusion of near-perfect ports of classic arcade games available for play such as Space Harrier, Outrun, and Afterburner II. The list goes on with what you can do. These various activities are always fun to do and help the game feel fresh. Replay value is abundant due to these activities, and will have you come back for more.
The main quest, however, mainly consist of exploring the living, breathing environment of the cities to progress the story. Shenmue II is a game that transcends genres greatly. The game combines action, adventure, even RPG elements, to create a truly unique game. Much of the game consists of following a lead to the next destination, playing through the events that follow, and go on to the next lead. There are stealth sequences, fighting sequences, item hunting, arcade sequences and more. The game has a solid length, with many hours to complete your quest. The game is timed, giving you a set number of days in the game to reach the end. This is not a problem, however, as the game gives you more than enough time to complete and do other activities. The save system is also very solid. Instead of having to find a bed to save at, your progress can be remembered by summoning the inventory screen and pressing the Xbox logo.The game is chock-full of action, with many action sequences that require Ryo to fight his way out, or act quickly. There are sequences called QTEs (quick time events) that have you quickly input a sequence of commands that quickly flash on the screen to pass the event. If you fail to input the commands correctly, you might be forced to fight, or restart the sequence from a certain point.
Speaking of fighting, the combat system is very stellar. The fighting sequences resemble Virtua Fighter in many ways, understandable when Suzuki is the designer. Along your quest you will be given, find, or purchase scrolls that allow you to learn more moves. Pulling off combos is fun, and you also have throw moves at your disposal. Fighting requires skill, as in tournaments, or in the latter stages of the game, the AI can squash you hard if you don’t formulate a strategy. Many of the fighters have their own style and weaknesses, and to beat them, you must exploit those weaknesses accordingly. All in all, a very strong system, and killing your enemies is ever so satisfying.
Despite being essentially a direct port, the Xbox version has some key differences. One being the ability to change the filters to give the game a more movie quality by making the colors washed out, or black and white, or more of an old kung-fu quality with white and brown coloring. As you can guess, you’ll never use this. The real big difference is the inclusion of a snapshot feature, which will save a photo of what you’re looking at in the game. Doesn’t seem too important, but in order to unlock the game’s extra features, you have to take a photo of some key items in the game world.
The features are actually pretty cool. There are short comics that will show a character’s back story, and the other features consist of some neat bonus images. Some being original screenshots of the original Shenmue project on the Saturn. This is very interesting to see and makes you think how Shenmue would have faired on the forgotten machine.
A shot of the canceled Shenmue on the Saturn. You have to wonder what could have been.
Unfortunately for me, I did not have the chance to play the original Shenmue before completing Shenmue II, although I understood the premise of the story by watching the digest movie mentioned earlier. I plan on playing the first Shenmue very soon, and if it resembles its sequel even moderately, then I can understand why it has received both so much praise and so much disgust. As I said before, the first Shenmue was so original and so ambitious that there was really nothing like it at the time, and after six years, that still holds true today. Both games are so different from the norm that I can clearly see why the series garners so much hate and adoration at the same time. I certainly don’t expect everyone to think the series to be a classic and I realize that this game is not for everyone. I myself found Shenmue II to be a great gaming experience, despite its dated graphics, nearly direct port status, and at many times atrocious acting and dialog, and if the first Shenmue is as good as Shenmue II, I’ll understand the hype.
8.5/10
helped $lim jinx NXT. Woops
