Shenmue 2 is a game that just flat out can't be made today.
*Tiny Spoilers*
Shenmue 2 starts out right where the first game left off. Without giving too much away Ryu Hazuki the main protagonist left Japan to go in to Hong Kong where supposedly Lan Di hi's father's killer wen't. Ryu swore that he would revenge his father and kill Lan Di. Right after he get's off the ship he get's
treated by alot of wacky characters.
*Spoilers end here*
Right from the beginning credits i was hooked the music and the over all look of the game is really something special, some may say it doesn't hold up all that well anymore, but i would attend to disagree. Is that me being just me loving the look of the older video games. probably or maybe not who knows. I can only just say what i think makes a game look good i can't really speak for the rest of the people. I just think that the graphically game holds up ferly well considering it was originally a dreamcast game. Hong kong just looks good and every sing is a readable.
There is a'lot of stuff going on on the screen it just really makes this world life only real downside is the character desings don't change all that much, but this is a problem with alot of games back then and today.
Shenmue i a very much an experience like non other the story is a very much an addictive one. I really got invested in to these characters. Some may say that the English voice acting is horrible, i disagree it may sound funny in places, but it adds to the experience i just couldn't think of this game without this anime like voice acting.
shenmue's gameplay consist on 3 major things. Adventure/problem solving Fighting and quick time events. Adventure and problem solving is where this game shines the best. Fighting is actually in dept, but most of the time i would find myself just smashing the buttons to get it over with. Quick time events are surely hit and miss sometimes they add up, but for example later on the game they become a bit of a pain. For example...
**Spoilers**
The final boss fight is one of the most annoying things i can think of the actual fight is really not that difficult, but before you can finish him off you have to do a quick time event that only flashes in the screen like a second and every time you fail you have to start the fight all over again.
**Spoilers end here**
There are also jobs you have to do in order to gain money, these are actually a'lot fun and addictive surprisingly. For example a mini game where you have carry crates with another guy who tells you which way to press the arrow keys, it doesn't make much sense, but it is addictive. Controls are sort a interesting you use the D pad to move and joysticks to move the camera at first it might feel sort a clunky and it is, but you really get used to it as the game get's on.
**Spoilers about the games ending**
Game doesn't surprisingly end where i thought it would. After the ''Final boss''
Ryu leaves Hong Kong and you get to play for another ''3 HOURS!!!'' This is actually one of my favorite parts of the game. Even to there isn't that much problem solving ot anything that you do in shenmue you meet this character Shenhua and you become friends with her and you travel along way with her on this very pretty sort of forest area. The pay off is horrible though it leaves off on one of the biggest cliff hangers of any game. Though it sucks i really can't think of another way to end it other then on a cliffhanger.
**Spoilers End Here**
Shenmue 2 is a game that just flat out can't be made today. It is clunky in places. It is annoyingly cheap in places, but at the end of the day it all works out just the way it was intended to.The voice acting, graphics, music, characters. There is noway in today's game industry no one would put this amount of money in to making something truly special. We still have to hope that Yu Suzuki get's to tell his story in to the end in a game form. If only.... If only....