Review : Shenmue for Dreamcast

I can't end Dreamcast week without writing about Shenmue.

Yu Suzuki is to Sega what Shigeru Miyamoto is to Nintendo. The games of Yu Suzuki are so much a part of Sega's arcade past it would be valid to say that if it were not for his games Sega would not be in the game industry. Shenmue is his ambitious Citizen Kane. Yu Suzuki is best know for the Virtua Fighter series and several classic action arcade game but he had a plan for a huge episodic visual RPG called Shenmue. This game was originally planned for the Sega Saturn but it was re-designed for the Dreamcast and it's Sega Saturn roots were not known until the release of Shenmue 2 and the Sega Saturn roots were unveiled as a part of a retrospective video.

Shenmue was to be a grand new way of selling videogames and enjoying them. There is a grand detective story set in a detailed 3d world with unparalleled simulation and interaction and every quarter a new chapter was to be released and the game would continue for sixteen episodes. However the development of Shenmue lagged and the cost skyrocketed. Shenmue part 1 was released on the Dreamcast as several of the planned episodes combined into one package spanning four discs. Shenmue part 2 was released in Japan and Europe on the Dreamcast but the US release was canceled at the last moment because Microsoft has decided to pay Sega to develop a version of Shenmue part 2 for the Xbox. I did not want to wait so I imported a copy of Shenmue 2 Dreamcast European edition at the soonest possible time. It is unknown how many chapters were included in Shenmue parts 1 and 2 and it is also not known if Shenmue part 3 is in development or is planned. This game broke the record for the biggest budget and it is in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most expensive videogame at 40-60 million.

The story of Shenmue is of Ryo Hazuki's quest to find his father's murderer and to regain a secret Chinese mirror that were stolen during the killing. The game is set in a small Japanese town in 1986 but part 2 continues in Hong Kong.

The vast majority of the game is a free roaming exploring of the town looking for clues and interacting with the towns people. This is down in an over the shoulder style but you can switch to a first person perspective to look around and to look at an item in detail. Most of the game is like an old Lucasarts adventure game set in this incredible vast and detailed Japanese town. There are interactive story sequences where you have to respond to an cinemas sequence and duck or punch at a particular time. There is also detailed mini-games like darts and a full functioning version of Space Harrier and Hang On . Virtua Fighter like sequences are there when Ryo gets into a big fight but if you ask me it does not happen enough. Ryo also gets a job as a forklift driver in the warehouse district and driving forklifts is a major part of the last part of story of part one. Ryo is somewhat of an easily distracted hero and he will stop to buy small plastic toys, play videogames and take care of an orphaned kitten as a side to his quest to solve his father's murder.

The detail is incredible and the locations and town is rendered in painstaking detail. The worlds of Shenmue fell like a real place that you can believe in as much as a good period piece. They are depended on time of virtual day and are populated with a huge cast. Sega spared no expense on the teams of artists and animators that build the locations of Shenmue. There is really nothing quite like it and I did not expect to see something like it for decades to come.

However Shenmue is not with out it's faults. In the US version of part 1 the dialog is recorded in hours of hours of semi-passable voice talent and Ryo can come off as some what autistic in his devotion to his quest. He would not change topics and will ask just about everyone about his quest regardless to it being appropriate at the time. I would have preferred if the game was in it's original Japanese dialog with subtitles but at least the European version is subtitled. The real time can be a bit of a drag all so when you have to kill time in the game for a specific time and the forklift driving can get boring just like a real job.

I hope that one day Sega finishes the Shenmue story with a part 3. It is an engrossing magnificent work of digital art and it engulfs the player in a world of Sega's own creation. I could not end Dreamcast week without talking about Shenmue.