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Shenmue II Review

Chris Leyton

17/03/2003

Nearly two years after the game was released on the Dreamcast, can the Xbox 'enhancements' pull in a new audience???

Itâs been a long time since Shenmue was first revealed to the gaming world; although even the most hardened Sega fanatic cannot claim it was the gaming revolution that was initially promised, the games work at such a subtle level that many may have missed out on.

Shenmue 2 finally arrives on the Xbox in Europe, nearly two years after it was first released on the Dreamcast; can the game entice a new audience of Xbox owners and is it worth playing if youâve already played through the Dreamcast version???

For those new to the Shenmue Saga, a brief rundown to bring you all up to date follows; the Shenmue fanatics may wish to skip on to the full review.

Previously under the guise of Virtua Fighter RPG and Project Berkeley; Shenmue was officially announced way back in 1998. Promising to merge movie atmosphere with the interactive elements of a videogame, AM2 even went to the lengths of inventing its own genre - âFREEâ (Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment) - to house the game in. Whilst itâs a dubious sounding genre, Shenmue was quite unlike anything that had ever come before it; the sheer scope saw players being able to wander into the local convenience store to pick up Virtua Fighter characters from a toy dispenser to mastering fighting techniques and developing the main characters fighting style.

Originally due to be told over 16 chapters (of which the first game was only the first chapter); the epic story tells of the murder of Ryoâs father and his quest to avenge his death. The unravelling story has already taken us across Japan, China and Hong Kong, and promises to stretch even further then we initially believed.

Despite its ambitious scope and immense presentation values, Shenmue featured a number of gameplay flaws which frustrated gamers across the world; in particular progress through the first game was at a tedious snails pace, whilst sometimes you could find yourself in a âGroundhog Dayâ situation, coming close to cracking up as you search for the solutions.

To their credit Shenmue 2 increased the games tempo significantly, whilst the developers took on-board the various criticisms and created a sequel that improved upon the original immensely, in particular the game world was around ten-times larger and players no longer had to wait around endlessly for time-scripted events to kick in.

Following immediately from the events of Shenmue; Shenmue 2 on the Xbox comes complete with the Shenmue DVD to bring newcomers up to speed. Previously released only in Japan; the DVD details the events from the first game via the cut-scenes from the game and does a great job of introducing you to the main characters and whatâs happened.

The port from the Dreamcast has been handled by Microsoft Game Studios; unfortunately the team didnât have the opportunity to go right back and bring the visuals up to the Xbox standards, however to its credit (or the Dreamcast) the game still looks superior to a number of games specifically developed for the Xbox that weâve seen.

To try and improve the frame-rate from the first game, AM2 reduced the detail levels on the hundreds of NPCâs that populate the games environments. Itâs a shame that Microsoft didnât have access to the more detailed models, as the once stunning look of the games is now beginning to appear outdated and lacks the âwhoaâ factor that it once had. Weâre hoping that Shenmue 3 does get green-lighted (based on sales of this game!!!); being created specifically for the Xbox could result in one of the most beautiful games ever seen â“ bump mapping, per-pixel rendering, vastly improved light and shadow effects â“ hmmm makes me drool just thinking about itâ¦

To their credit Microsoft have created a number of âenhancementsâ over the Dreamcast original, but unfortunately they havenât really added anything substantial to the visual style that AM2 originally created. The most notable change is the inclusion of a âvaselineâ anti-aliasing effect, which results in a shimmying glow around characters; during the night time scenes where neon lights illuminate the scene this effect works pretty well, however itâs nothing startling so donât expect too much.

So what other effects have Microsoft included to convince you this isnât a two-year old Dreamcast title; well players can now add a number of filters to the screen, so you can play in black & white and an old-fashioned sepia tone â“ just what we wantedâ¦ Elsewhere Microsoft claims that Ryoâs model features even more detail, however to be completely honest we couldnât notice any differences.

Criminally the game still features the pop-in and slow-down that became a trademark feature of the series on the Dreamcast; whilst itâs certainly been improved, we werenât expecting to encounter this at all on the vastly superior Xbox. We were also hoping for load times to be completely removed; although theyâve been speeded up, the load times are still frequent and break up the natural flow of the game.

Other new features to the Xbox version include the ability to take pictures and save them to the Xbox hard-drive. This is actually more appealing then it initially sounds, as there are numerous points in the game that make you gasp. Itâs also plays a functional part, as photoâs of characters will reveal information on them when you go back to view them.

Oh yes and less we forget the atrocious voice-acting. When Shenmue 2 was released in Europe on the Dreamcast, it thankfully featured subtitles with Japanese voice-work. The Xbox version follows the same disastrous attempt at English dubbing as the first game; at times it almost becomes too much, leaving you to question who was responsible for almost crucifying this epic Eastern tale in its Western adaptationâ¦

Elsewhere itâs the same game that we grew to love on the Dreamcast; opinion on the series has split the gaming community, with some hating the relatively slow pace and lack of gaming conventions, whilst others love the way that you can become totally embroiled into the experience and while away the hours.

The depths of Shenmue work at a very subtle level, whilst it may initially appear to be a very constrictive experience, the game allows you to build your own experience quite effectively; for example the fighting system allows players to mould Ryo into the style that you choose, based on which moves you use frequently and those that you master.