The greatest game for the Dreamcast.
The graphics within this game where some of the best I have seen and the whole interaction with everything made this a revolutionary computer game.
Your game starts with Ryo, a young man out to avenge the death of his father. Ryo's father was a martial arts expert killed mercilessly at the hands of Lan Di. You travel around a number of towns trying to find out any information on Lan Di's whereabouts.
There is a lot of interaction in this game, and although now it is not as impressive back in 2000 it was an epic. Ryo can enter shops and buy food and drink for himself, he can go to the local arcade and play some retro games such as Space Harrier and Out Run as well as entering the local bars and playing Pool with some of his friends.
Add to that the fact that every character in the street can be approached and spoken to and later on Ryo gets a job as a Fork Lift driver this game seems more realistic than many games.
There are two different fight sequences within this game also. One of them is you must press the right button at the right time to avoid being hit, and then hit the opponent at the right time. To know when to press a certain button it will usually flash up on the screen and you have to quickly hit the right combinations or lose the fight and try again.
The second fighting sequence is much more akin to your normal Beat Em' Up games such as Virtua Fighter or Tekken. Your buttons do various attacks and you can use combos to easily eliminate your enemies.
Despite this games interaction and realism it isnt at all a great story. I think its sense of realism does let it down slightly, its almost like its too real - it would be a good film but doesnt really appeal as a game.
Add to that some of the irrelevant parts of the game such as buying toys and chocolate just makes it seem pointless. I also think the fact that Shenmue has little to do with this first game bar a few dream sequences really confuses people to what her purpose is.
Still, the game has to be tried if you have a Dreamcast because it is the best game out there for it.