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Shenume Chapter 1: Yokosuka
Created by Yu Suzuki for Sega AM2
Main Protagonist: Ryo Hazuki, Japanese teenager and son of martial arts a master.
Main Antagonist: Lan Di is a Chinese gangster and kung fu master.
Secondary Antagonists: Lan Di’s henchmen and the Mad Angels the motorcycle gang.
Story Synopsis:
Ryo Hazuki comes home to find his father is fighting a Chinese gangster in their family’s dojo. He rushes to save him but Lan Di smacks him to the ground. Lan Di does some fancy kung fu and uses the death touch technique on Ryo’s father, Hazuki Sensei. The gangsters are apparently looking for a mirror that is a talisman. The gangster’s get away and you start your search to find the perps. Along the way you meet a lot of cool people. Some mysterious old Chinese people doing Tai Chi in the park. Eventually you figure out that in order to find Lan Di, you have to talk to a bunch of bikers called the Mad Angels.
Objectives:
Solve the mystery behind your father’s murder. Find out what the mirror talismans are for. Explore the open world and collect clues. Talk to different people. Beat up bad guys. All your basic RPG type of objectives.
Gameplay and Review:
Shenmue is one of my all-time favorite games. This game is the reason why I modified my Dreamcast at 14 to be able to play Japanese import games. I ordered the Japanese release long before the English version. I printed out an entire walkthrough translation of the game from Japanese to English and even started learning Japanese to be able to play it. I beat the Japanese version and the English version.
I don't know what it was about the game that fascinated me so much. I guess the story was really appealing to me. My love for martial arts and Japan were represented amazingly in this game. I’ve always wanted to know what life is like in 1986 Japan. Every detail creates the ambience of life as a Japanese teenager in the 80’s.
Shenmue is in a persistent state virtual world. The level of complexity is mind blowing to me. The weather changes, the time of day changes. There are even vending machines in the game where you can buy drinks and toys. You can do mini game jobs to save up money, like driving a fork-lift at the docks. There are arcade mini games form old Sega classics. Every little detail in this game is superb at capturing the vibe and feel of the era and place. You can open sliding Japanese doors, open closets, and drawers. This realness is what gives the game its appeal. Simple everyday moments give the game its level of fun. It is truly open world and you can explore everything.
The fighting in the game is very unique with the Quick Time events where you have to react quickly in order to pull of the combo techniques. The cool thing about this fighting system is that it allows for more animations to be played rather than sprites transitioning. When a sprite transitions from one animation to another, you lose the smoothness of movement that is shown in a movie sequence. The graphics are really amazing so it was a chance to show off the game art and also some of the martial arts choreography for Ryo. You can learn new fighting techniques from scrolls which I thought wasn’t very unique but still fun. One of my favorite parts in the game is when these two drunk guys try to jump you in an alley and you just whoop the crap out of them. Throwing them into crates and boxes. It’s so good. The martial arts that Ryo uses is classic Bujutsu or Japanese warrior arts. All the Japanese styles such as Karate, Judo, and Jujitsu are under the umbrella of Bujutsu.
The game and its sequel Shenmue 2 were considered commercial failures because they spent way more money making the games than they made back from them. That’s a real shame because it’s one of the best games ever made and definitely ambitious for its time. It was a pioneer in open world cities paving the way for GTA in the future. I have heard they are making a Shenmue 3 but I’m not sure.
Rating (out of 5): |
