Product Description
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Shenmue, a genre-busting work from Sega, is transcendent for
both its beauty and its innovative gameplay. In a convergence of
role-playing, fighting, and adventure elements, you play as Ryo,
a young man who's come home to witness his her being ally
beaten by thugs. This event immediately sparks in him a quest for
both revenge and an investigation into the mysterious jade amulet
the thugs stole. You'll have to play detective to gather clues,
such as possible motivations and whereabouts, from nonplaying
characters. Not all of the people you question will be happy
about you nosing around, so be prepared to fight and keep
fighting. You'll need money for the quest, and there's plenty of
minigame-style ways to get it--from forklift driving to casino
gambling.
The game features vibrant 3-D graphics, which are nearly
photo-realistic in their astounding attention to even subtle
detail. For example, the sky background changes slowly to denote
the passing daylight.
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To say that Shenmue is an anticipated title is an
understatement; the game made huge waves in Japan upon its
release, and American gamers have been waiting since then to see
what the fuss is all about. It's a game in which the concept
itself is the selling point. What if you could portray a young
hero in a fully realized Japanese city? Would you like to
participate in and influence an over-the-top kung fu-style
action-mystery flick in your living room? What if lots of combat,
cinematic flourish, detail, and a dash of romance were thrown in?
The game itself is awash in small details, crammed into a
confined space. The city of Yokusuka circa 1986 is rendered
beautifully in a short series of neighborhoods that are long on
detail even if short on variety. The story itself is ripped
straight from a chopsocky flick: you portray the young hero Ryo
Hazuki, whose her (a kung fu sensei, naturally) is killed
before his very eyes by a mysterious and frightening villain. Ryo
must uncover the identity of the killer and fight his way through
the city in an effort to avenge this wrongful death.
Shenmue's Yokusuka might be short on space--in total, it
represents maybe a square mile--but the detail is overwhelming.
You can interact with nearly every person or object that you see;
300 citizens go about their daily routines, and whom you
encounter is as much determined by where you are as when you are
there.
Much of this interaction involves combat that ranges from
Dragon's Lair-style reaction tests (such as timing a button press
to dodge an oncoming car) to freeform kung fu fighting. Further,
each second of real time equals about a minute of game time, and
Ryo has to be home by 11 p.m. each evening. The game moves at a
brisk pace, and each challenge or battle feels like a race
against time. Some might say that gaming doesn't get shallower
than this (you are essentially performing tasks and exploring,
instead of gaming), but the game feels like no other and is
ultimately satisfying by the time that it all ends. In this way,
Shenmue is more than a game--it's an event that's worth
experiencing. --Andrew S. Bub
Pros:
* Compelling, well-told story
* Good action and combat
* Fantastic sound and graphics Cons:* Plot is familiar to fans of
kung fu action films
* Task-and-exploration gameplay might seem slow to action gamers
- Disc 2 & 4 only, missing disc 1&3 comes w/ backup copies & with Orig, Case no manual..