Shenmue I & II is a masterpiece that is not for everyone. That’s a shame, because a more solid port with a few tweaks here and there could have made it a package to recommend to all.
Это просто ЛЕГЕНДА. Шедевр, недооценённый в полной мере. Возможности этой игры, для своих лет, просто поражают и многим аспектам игры могут позавидовать даже современные поделки игростроя.
D3T спасибо за детство!
It's a classic for a reason; though gaming has "evolved" in various ways since its conception, this is a solid session on where gaming was and where it went. I would encourage you to see this as borderline gaming history education. Also a pretty engaging story with a surprising amount of things to do!
Shenmue is always Shenmue, a milestone in the video games history that deserves to be rediscovered, despite the original limits and those brought by the passage of time.
Playing Shenmue I & II is a treat for die-hard fans as well as an accessible way for newcomers to experience these renowned titles, though they won't be for everyone. Even though I enjoyed both games, I really struggled to look past the clunky dialogue or even fully invest in Ryu's story, and the controls sometimes made walking around a nightmare. They're seminal products of their time that deserve to be celebrated, and this port does a great job of delivering that authentic Shenmue experience.
Some aspects, like the tanky controls, definitely feel tired these days. But there’s still an undeniable charm to this low-key adventure that focuses on investigation rather than too many fights. There’s still nothing else quite like it, and this package makes it easier than ever to miss out no longer. [Issue#154, p.90]
Whilst there are clear deficiencies in places, this is just due to the fact Shemue is an aged classic. But a classic it remains and whilst other games may have surpassed it from a open-world game point of view, there's never really been anything like Shenmue for nearly 20 years.
Shenmue 1 and 2 is a game that was very unexpected for it’s time .. with fully rendered 3d environments , every npc having a schedule and daily routine .. .. people wake up go to work or to the bar... every npc having been fully voiced .. changing weather , day and night Cycles.. the combat of virtua fighter .. this was something no body ever experienced at the time .. we are coming out of a era of side scrollers and 2d ... unfortunately not many people were aware of this game and not many people even knew of this type of genre of game, people did not know what to cal it .. it is not often you see a game bring a new feature to Change gaming in today’s day and age .. and Shenmue along with elder scrolls titles helped push this wave of open world games we seee today .. that alone deserves respect .. even today not many games have fully interactive environments Some npc in today’s games you can’t even talk to .. or they will just say one line ... a lot of thought and effort went in to Shenmue 1 and 2 .. though the ending of both games fall pretty flat and leave on a cliffhanger even today as I am playing Shenmue for the millionth time .. I still find new things I never experienced... new cutscenes I never have seen after alll these years people still encountering new things .. how is that possible for a 20 year old game ! Think about it ... that is incredible ...
Now let’s talk about this copy .. this copy though it did have some really poor audio Bugs , cutscene bugs it has since been patched and runs pretty flawlessly .. I enjoyed my time with it be it going to arcade , training , darts , gambling , or just interacting with people looking for new things to find .. I feel there is more than meets the eye to this game .. it’s an experience I feel that many today will not appreciate , and it is sad that many people who were alive when this game came out did not get a chance to try it ... pick up this game .. play it as if you are in 1998/2000s ... try to see what people who played this game saw for the time ... graphics hold up ok . Game play can be a bit clunky walking around ... combat well combat is based off of virtua fighter ... i always thought tekken was better though.. it is a decent game which is under appreciated and will continue to be under appreciated because today’s day and age this type of game really can’t exist ... we moved on and gone to bigger and better things .
I have a real love/hate relationship with these games after playing them for the first time recently.
Shenmue 1 is enjoyable as it's fun to explore a Japanese neighborhood, slowly learning the layout of the town, meeting the locals and finding clues to proceed with my investigation. The big con is that some sections just go on... and on... and on... it's also crazy how sometimes I had to wait 40 real minutes so i could then go to sleep and wait and another real 30 minutes so I could proceed with the story. The story is also... kind of underwhelming. I could summarize it in a few sentences very easily and of course the voice acting is hilariously bad at time.
Shenmue 2 has much better pacing, the ability to wait as a means of advancing the time quickly and a much improved story. However... the QTE's.... oh god... the damn QTE's... I've never found this mechanic to be so annoying in any other game. It made me just want to quit at points. The game is also packed with filler. At one point you need to go to the top of a building but you can't take an elevator or quickly move up the stairs... you have to fight on every single floor or take part in some annoying stealth section or deal with more QTE's... getting to the top of one building ends up taking hours as a result. The final section of the game is also very slow and kind of dull. It's not the climax I was hoping for.
Overall my biggest complaint... these games don't respect your time... you could easily edit them down... shortening each from a 20 hour experience to a 15 hour game... or maybe even 10. I hope shenmue 3 can build on the story, the characters, the world and the combat... and avoid mundane and repetitive tasks, filler and annoying QTE's.
I would really like this game but QTE:s have ruined all games they have been. In this game it is probably made worst than any other game. I hope they would use a game tester in development. They repeatedly fail until memorize them and they prevent to enjoy when watching cutscenes because has to concentrate to look if there goes a pop up somewhere.
Over the years Shenmue has garnered a cult following but, whilst I appreciate what these games were trying to do, I never really enjoyed it at the time and this re-release shows that time hasn't been kind to either game. The gameplay is often monotonous with a lot of aimless wondering and dull side missions. The controls, which were poor even for the time, feel even more awkward by modern standards and graphical its stood up as badly as most early 3d games.
We'll seen be seeing a third entry in the series pretty soon so Shenmue clearly has a decent fan base, I'm just not one of them.
SummaryA tale of revenge.
In 1986, teenage jujitsu artist Ryo Hazuki returns to the dojo of his father, Iwao Hazuki, only to witness his murder by a Chinese man, Lan Di. Lan Di steals a mysterious artifact known as the Dragon Mirror. Ryo vows to avenge his father's death and sets out tracing Lan Di's path.
The first game in the series, Sh...