Ryo's story continues as his quest for vengeance becomes something much more than he could have ever imagined.

User Rating: 8 | Shenmue II (Limited Edition) DC
Pros:
Open world feeling
Plenty of character interaction

Cons:
Not much change or improvements
Free battles still suffers from button mashing

"Shenmue II" for the Sega Dreamcast is the squeal to "Shenmue" which revolves around a young man named Ryo Hazuki who takes his search for his father's killer, Lan Di, to Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, Ryo encounters new friends and enemies as a simple quest for revenge begins to evolve into a bigger mystery surrounding the Dragon and Phoenix Mirrors.

Shenmue II picks up right where the first Shenmue game left off, with Ryo headed for Hong Kong to continue his search for Lan Di. As the story goes, Ryo is only concerned about avenging his father's death, even with his new friends aiding him, they plead with him to give up this quest that would certainly lead to Ryo's own demise, but Ryo remains unhindered, focused on the task at hand. The story begins to go deeper down the rabbit hole for lack of a better phrase, with more background of the Dragon and Phoenix Mirror being unearthed and even hints of the connection between Lan Di and Ryo's father.

Shenmue II, just as with the first game, prides itself on "FREE", or "Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment". What this means is that the daily grind of life is simulated in Shenmue II, with the townspeople going about their daily life, stores opening and closing at certain times, the cycle of morning, afternoon, evening, and night, even the weather changes from day to day.

The HUD gets a renovation, as now the clock is located on the top right of the screen as the ABXY buttons sits in the bottom right because now they have more of a responsibly with the gameplay. Depending on what Ryo is doing, different icons appear over the buttons in the bottom right. Ryo still has his notebook, which keeps track of his current quest and can be accessed through the X button, or he's able open doors with this button. The Y button access the in-game menu, Ryo can look through his collection, save, change settings, et cetera. The Y button also allows Ryo to specifically ask the townspeople about job opportunities if he's near someone. The A button let's Ryo talk to the townspeople about either his current quest or mundane chitchat, and the B button acts as the cancel button.

The gameplay remains relatively unchanged from the first Shenmue game; the VMU displays the name "Shenmue II" in English only. Nothing really special done with the VMU, just as last time. There are still four components of the gameplay: Free Quest, Free Battle, View Mode, and QTE. Just as in the first game, most of the gameplay will take place during the Free Quest mode; during this mode, Ryo can talk to the townspeople as they go about their daily lives.

The objective in Free Quest mode is to uncover as much information about what Ryo is currently searching for, whether it's a person or a location. A big change this time around is that Ryo doesn't have to ask specific people for information (unless it's critical to the story) the people will be more than happy to lend whatever information they might have, and most will even offer to guide Ryo to the right location.

This is a blessing as the locations in Hong Kong is substantially bigger than the little town in the first game; it's very easy to get lost, so it's a big plus that the AI is willing to guide the player to the right location. There are maps for the player to buy for each section of town Ryo might find himself on, and they're able to mark locations down with an "X", this comes in handy when marking down important locations.

When Ryo is forced to fight, the Free Battle mode is initiated; here, Ryo can use the moves from the moves scroll to attack his opponents and to defend himself. A change this time around is that the enemies now have their own stamina orbs and makes it easier to gauge when they're nearly defeated. View mode lets Ryo examine objects in order to look for clues to a particular problem or if he's looking for a certain item.

The Quick Time Event (QTE) occurs when Ryo must make a quick decision; during this, the player much input the correct command that appears on screen before the time runs out. There's a new addition to the QTE, called "Command QTE"; during a Command QTE, the action stops and the d-pad and ABXY buttons appear on screen and the commands to enter are shown quickly and must be entered just a quick.

One of the drawbacks of Shenmue II is that it feels and plays exactly like its predecessor; this normally wouldn't be something of a problem, but a sequel should at least try and improve in areas where its predecessor failed. The Free battles still feel "broken", becoming nothing but a button masher when faced with multiple opponents or even with a tough single opponent. If the issues with the Free Battle were fixed or even tweaked a bit, then Shenmue II would feel like more of a complete game. But on the plus side, Shenmue II didn't decline in quality either.

As in the first game, Shenmue II boasts a wide range of mini-games, ranging from arm wrestling, darts, airplane simulator, and gambling just to name a few. Speaking of gambling, money will be more of an issue than it was in the first game, as Ryo must find ways to make money while he's in China. There are different jobs Ryo can apply for and complete daily, or if he's in possession of valuable items, Ryo can take them to a pawnshop and receive cash for them.

Not to spoil the story, but the game ends on a cliffhanger, and there doesn't look to be a third Shenmue to be in the works anytime soon. That's not to say that either of the Shenmue games aren't worth playing; if you find yourself fortunate enough to play both Shenmue games and patient enough to enjoy the pacing and style, then consider yourself lucky to be a part of these gaming relics from the past.