A Fine Piece of China
Written: Feb 05 '05 (Updated Feb 05 '05)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: solid battle system, good enviornments, good ambient sound + crowd sounds
Cons: horrible voice acting, decent graphics
The Bottom Line: The price it is now is not much. If your in the mood for a unique experience give this one a go
|
|
|
| vgdog's Full Review: Shenmue 2 for Xbox |
Shenmue debuted with the Dreamcast about 5 years ago. It was a different game. It was really the first of its kind. Collecting toys and playing darts at an arcade game wasn't your typical RPG/Adventure game. You could even buy chocolate and participate in numerous lotto entries. It was a rather long game to. A adventure fit for 3 Dreamcast disks. The game did pretty well so Sega decided to make a sequel. Shenmue 2!!
Sound(3/5)- Well.. the sound is a little disapointing. There are very good ambient noises when there are them. For example crunching on the red leaves with your feet, or just walking down the streets of Hong Kong hearing the crowds of people doing business,trading, or even trying to get people to play the popular Hong Kong game "Hit or Miss". That was very good. But the voice acting was horrible. It was so bad I actually found myself laughing sometimes. Well.. dont get me wrong some people are good but none are wonderful. Even your character Ryo sounds as stiff as a board. The voice acting really sets the sound off and you might even find yourself laughing.
Graphics(4/5)- The Dreamcast Shenmue had very good graphics for its time. I remember it was like nothing I've ever seen before. They do the same thing in this game. Except the Xbox is much more powerful than the Dreamcast and could've defineatly done it much better. The enviornments around you are good but some objects might look a little bland. For instance peoples arms are flabby and look big at times. The characters on the street have good character models but shows nothing special. The crowds look well done and so do the main objects in the game. The Xbox could've done much better graphics but chose not to.
Gameplay(5/5)- Here's where Shenmue really shines. The gameplay and story are amazing. You want to take revenge on your fathers killer who went to Hong Kong which you take a ship to. On the way you must learn a bunch of kung fu, some spiritual stuff and do various mini games on the way. Catching leaves seems to be fun, as well as cleaning the soot off walls. The mini games are also very good. The controls can get a little annoying. Having Ryo turn his shoulders back and forth can get many people angered. But once you get used to it its smooth sailing from there. You also have to pull off kung fu that people teach you. It could get tough so listen to what the people are saying. The batle system is good. There are a lot of moves that need to be mastered so find a nice quiet space and get chopping! The battle system like I said before is good and is very solid and deep. If someone tried to punch you just grab there arm and flip them over or give them a good chop to the arm with a simple mash of the button. There are also QTES which are little reflex type events or "Quick Time Events" that invlove pushing a few buttons to perform an action. They occur once in a while and add a unique spice to the game. I say way to go! The difficulty of the game is easy. The A.I. is pretty bad but in the long run can turn that with that around if you screw up. Just remember to train. One simple setback of this game is the constant running back and forth. It will get annoying but does pay off. You'll get somewhere and say "Wow finally!" and than have to go back and do something else to reach your goal. The mixture of pure action. There are some simple flaws but if you can ignore them (which you can) the game can really shine!
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
vgdog
|
|
Member: Greg
Location: New York
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 3 members
About Me:
Back from Boston Reviewing!
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.