Shenmue II

"The best game on Dreamcast"

General Review of the PAL Version of Shenmue II:

Graphics: (10) Shenmue II has the best graphics seen ever on Dreamcast and overall the best seen on any system thus far. The sheer amount of detail and scope of the environments in this game is incredible. The characters are all the most detailed models and are animated beautifully. Some pop-up of people and slowdown still exist in Shenmue II like the original but it won't affect the gameplay negatively. There are some games that do certain things better graphically(Metal Gear Solid 2's Weather system), but Shenmue II's art style, character models, and detail overcomes all challengers to the best graphics throne in gaming.

Sound: (10) Sega of Europe, like Sega of America was going to, decided for various reasons, primarily the monetary ones I imagine, not to dub Shenmue II in favor of subtitling the Japanese track. While the dub of the original was not bad, it was definitely not up to the high standards of the Japanese cast. Every character in Shenmue II is voice acted, there are no corners cut in this regard. Similarly, the musical score of Shenmue II is just as good as Shenmue I's, adding new themes and giving the old Shenmue themes a Chinese sound.

Gameplay: (9) Like the original, not everyone's going to like the adventure/exploration game style of Shenmue II especially in the early going. However, there is much more action and QTE's than in Shenmue I this time around, and there are many more things for you to do in the game world, such as several variations on street fighting, gambling, playing the arcade(again), arm wrestling, even a little something involving ducks. The waiting to go to X location is still in the game's style, but now you can skip to the correct time if you wish, allowing for the story to move along faster. The fighting system of Shenmue II is much more fast-paced than Shenmue I, and harder as well. All these factors add up to a much greater game than Shenmue I, which is saying a lot.

Story: (9) The cliched, ''you killed my father, prepare to die!'' storyline is still in place, but the character development of the game is superb, and the ending hints at a much deeper plot than simply vengeance. We'll see as the series progresses whether this is the case or not.

Extras: (9) There are extras on the disks for your PC such as wallpaper and trailers, and within the game Disk 4 allows you to see a summary film of scenes from Shenmue I to familiarize yourself with the storyline is you haven't played the original. It also allows you to play any mini-games you discover in the game.
Not as extensive as the Shenmue Passport from Shenmue I but most games don't even have extras like this.

Disk-by-Disk Breakdown:

Disk 1: (8) Much like the original Shenmue, Disk I of Shenmue II familiarizes the player with the game's engine and environment through forced exploration tasks. Not much in the way of QTEs or action on this disk, but the size of Disk I's environment easily triples that of Shenmue's, and there are the options of gambling, working, and such if you don't want to advance the story.

Disk 2: (9) Still primarily exploration, but it introduces the character of Ren, has a decent number of free battles and QTEs and the same options that are on Disk I to do are still available here.

Disk 3: (10) The scene shifts to Kowloon, which is the biggest environment in all of Shenmue II. Kowloon is 5 times bigger than Aberdeen and Wan Chai, and adds the option of street fighting as a new thing to do to pass time. It will take the longest to beat this portion of the game. This disk is the most action packed of the four, with an insane number of free battles and QTEs, and offers a few new twists with MGS type evasion gameplay at points. The disk goes out with a bang in an explosive climax featuring your primary adversary of the Disk, and the appearance of Lan Di. This disk also has Afterburner.

Disk 4: (8) Pure eye-candy. The most beautiful/jaw dropping of the Shenmue II environments. Which is a very good thing because this is the shortest(2.5 hrs) and weakest by far of the disks, with very little interactivity. It is also very slow paced which may inspire hatred in an impatient gamer. Reveals the most about the story and has the song of Shenhua in it, redeeming its' lack of interactivity to some degree.

General Thoughts: All in all, Shenmue II is a great improvement over the original in every respect, is the best game for Dreamcast, and the game of the year in my mind. I would recommend getting it for Dreamcast as it is very easily to import the PAL version with English subtitles, and I'm not sure what kind of improvements that X-Box can offer Shenmue II. While the X-Box could perhaps make Shenmue II the graphical showpiece for the system as it is for the Dreamcast, it might become a relatively straight port of the Dreamcast version with dubbing being the only new ''enhancement'' made to the game. You'll also have to wait a year for the X-Box version of Shenmue II. Your call.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/02/01, Updated 12/02/01