ECTS: ShenMue Hands-On

Considering Sega's high hopes for the game, it was rather surprising to see a virtually complete PAL version of ShenMue tucked away on the Gem Distribution stand.

Gem acts as Sega's main distributor in the UK and has confirmed a December 2000 release for Yu Suzuki's epic adventure-cum-roleplaying game. ECTS, however, marked the first chance for game players to get to grips with the graphically stunning free-roaming adventure. First impressions are of an amazing game that truly lets the player wander freely around a huge city environment.

With the PAL translation virtually complete, the murder-mystery plot becomes clearer, with the game's leather-wearing hero strutting around, searching for clues to his father's murder, which is seen in the intro. From here, the same level of graphical detail switches seamlessly into the game's first-person view, with a wealth of fully interactive characters and locations waiting.

Controls are kept to a bare minimum, with the digital controller moving the character and the analog stick letting him look around. The relevant buttons for the many actions are highlighted at the bottom of the screen, and during the course of the game players will use phones to contact people, take on mysterious villains in fight sequences, and interrogate key characters.

A diary forms the backbone of the game, with the hero making notes of key advances during his search. ShenMue is also played in real time, with day turning to night, and people going about their daily business in the meantime. Absolutely everyone you meet can be spoken to, and this is where Shen Mue's truly open gameplay comes to the fore. Indeed, such is the scale of the game that it is tempting just to explore the stunning locations as opposed to avenging your dad's death!.

Sadly, the awesome scale of the quest meant that we couldn't get as long on the game as we would have liked, but ShenMue's constantly changing environment and original concept will ensure that Dreamcast owners will have something very special to look forward to this holiday season. If Sega wants to show off the original games that it keeps telling us the Dreamcast is capable of, then this is the perfect example.