Shenmue I & II (PC) Review

Shenmue I & II follows young Japanese Ryo Hazuki, who sets out to find the one who killed his father - and while the plot was a standard tale of revenge, the game itself was anything but. This is, without any exaggeration, the reason why many modern, open-world action-adventures are the way they are. Apart from the introduction of things like QTEs and other mechanics that gamers now take for granted, its main charm was its emphasis in realism. Ryo will start his quest in a place that, in terms of size, can't compete with the likes of an Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, or Grand Theft Auto.

Size, however, was never SEGA's intention. This tiny corner of Yokosuka has NPCs following their own routines, with shops having opening and closing times, a day/night cycle, a weather system, and so on. In many ways, Shenmue's magic isn't the whole avenge-your-papa and do-Kung-Fu-while-at-it element, but the way it acts as a life simulator... but that makes it a game for a selected few, as most will find this purposely mundane microcosm to be insanely boring. The worst thing, however, is how this mundane bit is handled in terms of actual gameplay.

Both "episodes" are your basic adventure games, where you talk with people and gather clues, which act as the breadcrumbs that lead to end. Your initial attempt to find your father's murderer, for example, will lead you from NPC to NPC... to NPC. The thing with NPCs in here, though, is that they have a life to live, thus they won't always be available to talk to. What can be done, then? Well, besides waiting, it's possible to wander around and talk with people, find a job, gamble, or use some of your allowance to play SEGA arcade hits, such as Hang-On and Space Harrier.

This focus in immersion definitely not devoid of fun, but it's also another reason why Shenmue won't appeal to everybody. The main problem, however, is that, engrossing or not, this just isn't fun anymore. Being able to search every drawer, gather money in various ways, experience some quick-time-action bits, and, generally, explore a living, breathing world, was revolutionary back in the days of Dreamcast, but not anymore. In other words, Shenmue and its, admittedly, far better second half, are not mundane just in terms of setting but as actual games...

One could argue that an adventure so old should not be judged by today's standards, but that doesn't make any sense, because you will be playing it now, not 'then.' For those interested in a faithful port, this is probably the best (and only) way to play Shenmue and its sequel on a modern system - and, as the cherry on top, both titles have been slightly updated, and, therefore, are better... right? Right?! Unfortunately, the answer is no. In the end, liking a game or not is a subjective thing, but how well it acts as a piece of software is not.

For starters, there are plenty of bugs - just a small minority of them game-breaking (and most have been fixed during the process of this review), but that doesn't mean that these can't be annoying; the voice acting is many times way out of sync, with the (hilariously bad) English dub sounding as if it's badly compressed or something; and as for the visual upgrade, it's a sloppy HD facelift, with some textures truly ending up better, while others being even blurrier, with the end result being a world filled with characters with "flawless" faces and hair, and washed out attire.

The biggest problem, though, is that the first title in the collection still has the atrocious controls of the original, which are a weird mix of tank-controls and the modern control scheme of third-person games. This turns the simple act of moving, or pointing and "clicking" in the very first room, into an annoying chore, and once you get out in the open... oh, dear Amaterasu! Ryo controls like one of the most problematic (and slow) vehicles in existence, breaking your nerves in the process, and even when doing the simplest of tasks.

A final note, which is probably more of a personal issue, is that this is one of those rare occurrences where yours truly has gotten a heavy case of "videogame nausea." It's hard to understand why that happened, but whether that's due to the wonky movement of the camera when in first-person mode or because of the frequent frame-rate plunges, this is definitely something that should be taken into consideration, even if you are not one that has that problem when playing a game, as it can really ruin the experience (and your purchase) if so.