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| Games,
Richard Young,
15 January 2001 |
Rating: F5
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It has been said that there are few decent RPG’s for Sega’s Dreamcast, with a few exceptions in the form of one or two Japanese releases. Not only does AM2’s Shenmue (pronounced Shen-moo) represent a rare break from this Eastern exclusivity, but also turns out to be on of the most ambitiously groundbreaking video games ever. The story revolves around a headstrong young martial artist, Ryo Hazuki and his quest to find and bring to justice (or beat up) the man who killed his father, renowned Sensei, Iwao Hazuki. After playing the game for a short while, it becomes evident that there is more to it than that. A LOT more. You are plunged into a realistic and highly detailed virtual world where you eat, sleep, chat to the neighbours, catch buses, go to work, amble around shops, and of course, eventually find the baddies and slap them around a bit.
The level of detail is truly mind boggling - it is easy to see where the alleged five years of production time went. Every drawer in every piece of furniture in the Hazuki household can be opened and peered into, most objects can be picked up and examined in close detail, and life in the small town of Dobuita bustles along at its own pace. Each day in the world of Shenmue lasts about 20 or so minutes, which may seem short, but it lets you do most of the things you need to do in order to further your line of enquiry as to the whereabouts of the bad guys. Don’t fancy talking to Yashima-san just because somebody said they might know something? It is getting darkĀ
.Never mind – do it tomorrow! You see, unlike most RPGs or adventure based games, Shenmue offers you almost infinite freedom to go where you want, do what you want – not all of it relative to the quest in hand. For instance, there are various toy dispensers dotted around the place – you know, the ones with the little plastic balls that contain cheap knick-knacks, and if you so desire, you can spend all day wasting your money trying to collect them all (of which there are reportedly around 150!). Fancy a quick can of soda? Pop some Yen into another machine, and if you are lucky you might get a winning can. Log on to the Shenmue website using the special “Passport” disc and trade the can for another collectible!
In the small town of Dobuita there is even a video games arcade, where you can play classic retro games like Hang On and Space Harrier. The more important and relevant activities involve finding clues as to exactly what happened the day of the murder, and finding the odd park or open space in which to practise your martial arts, for when you do come across some unpleasant characters, you will need to know what buttons to bash.
With shockingly realistic graphics, cool music, and enough playability to see you well into 2001, Shenmue truly is a next-gen game. Deep, detailed, involving, and above all – great fun. I could bang on about it further, but I think I will end by just saying: “Buy it – Now!!”
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