Shenmue

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The story takes place in Yokosuka, Japan, somewhere in 1986. A teenage man named Ryo witnesses his father's Iwao murder inside their family dojo, by an evil man called Lan Di. Never forgetting what happened, Ryo sets out on a quest to wander around the city, looking for clues and ask people questions about his father’s murder. In this game, you just can't run around and get into a chase of your father's murderers, but instead, Ryo's daily life contains a balance of routine and ritual as opposed to pushing forward and progressing the story. You Actually finding your father’s killer requires from you to do some detective work and explore the city. Ryo is carrying a notepad to write down clues (that will help him recall where to search next), he can defend himself with some martial arts moves and he must both gather knowledge and hone his skills in battle if he is to achieve his goal. Once Ryo gains important information, it will be automatically added to his notebook and can be used as reference at any time. Time passes by, as in the real world, and you can only meet certain people at certain times. Daylight changes from afternoon to dusk and finally to night and there are also weather changes, much like in a real world. The city is crowded with people walking around, entering stores and have their own personal agendas of what to do all day. Apart from finding clues, Ryo must learn how to fight more efficiently. He is a martial artist as his father was a great martial arts master, but he needs to constantly practice and face the highly skilled Lan Di. Ryo can learn more techniques from the people he meets rather than using a pre-defined fighting-moves list. Mastering his fighting style can be done by practicing in different areas of the game like an empty car park or even his family dojo! The actual fights are the best and they are actually simplified versions of the Virtua Fighter scenes, without the frustrating learning curve. The whole package is pretty amazing and surely Shenmue is a deliberately paced adventure game with some moments of incredible fighting action, a wonderful storyline, superb graphics and sound and among the most expensive productions in gaming history!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
Shenmue was an eye-candy back in 1998 and the game is a real showcase of the Dreamcast's graphics capabilities. Besides its glory, there is an important flaw since the frame-rate drops when the screen is occupied by many characters. But rather that that, the graphics are gorgeous with fully detailed characters and environments (towns, harbors and several interiors) to explore! What is also amazing is Shenmue’s dynamic weather system, which was impressive and revolutionary for its time! Each day is different in this game and the weather may change from overcast to rain or even to heavy snowing and absolutely clear skies! It truly is amazing! Apart from its great graphics, the game's music is occasionally majestic but gets easily repetitive, while the voice acting is good.