History of Shenmue series:
In case you been wondering what I'm talking about the game that involves finding sailors, collecting toy figures, going convenience stores, working at harbours for forklift job, learning martial arts techniques, dealing with thugs, finding clues, one special girl in dreams, playing Lucky Hit gambing, discovering the truth behind mysterious mirrors, so it is Shenmue as being one of my all-time favourite video game series that defines gaming genres. It was created by Yu Suzuki, a same creator was known for his SEGA's arcade classics such as Space Harrier, After Burner, Outrun, Hang-On, and Virtua Fighter.
I've been a long time fan of the series when I first remember the first game came out for the SEGA Dreamcast in early 2000's. I just came over to my cousin house, who has the copy of the game, to play our first open-world experience to discover the mysterious storylines, memorable characters, cinematic presentations, interactive gameplay filled with battle system, QTE events and open-world exploration, and realistic looking graphics that really made the game so much special for Dreamcast titles. The game was well received that the game is been credited for pioneering several game technologies as original open-world city game before the idea was popularized by games such as SEGA's Yakuza series, while QTE Events was also popularized for later games such as Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain. It is considered to be most expensive video game ever developed, but also being listed as the greatest game of all time. I was so happy that I really enjoyed my experience of the first game that bought a smile on my face and then I had a chance to play Shenmue 2 on Dreamcast which was released two years later after the first original game and then got later ported to Xbox Original. It is also well received by critics and fans as I really liked the sequel for bigger open-world exploration, epic QTE actions, newer characters, and great storylines, but it's kinda shame that the sequel got end up with commercial failures due to game's poor sales which led the developers team into development hell when working on another sequel. It took too long for the fans of the series are kept begging SEGA for the another sequel to be happen until Team Yu has finally revealed the Shenmue 3 in year 2015 as making a huge return of the beloved franchises. After the kickstarter crowdfunding success which has raised over $6 million as sixth highest-funded campaign in Kickstarter history, the upcoming game was going to be released in year summer 2019. After the Shenmue 3 announcement, SEGA has finally brings the HD Collection of two of the masterpiece titles for modern PCs and consoles such as PS4, XBONE and PC in this year. I finally got the copy of these legendary HD collection for my PS4 and had a chance to beat the two of the game in 10 days, so let's move on to my video game review.
Shenmue 1 and 2 HD Collection PS4 Review:
Shenmue 1 and 2 HD Collection is a video game compilations of classic Dreamcast titles, and it is a open-world adventure games for PS4, XBONE, and PC was published by SEGA. The first title was originally developed by SEGA AM2 for SEGA Dreamcast in year 1999-2000, while the sequel was released in year 2001 for SEGA Dreamcast and then got later ported to Xbox Original in year 2002-03. These games has finally ported later for PCs and consoles in this year, which was been done by d3t Ltd for HD remasters.
I was so glad that SEGA has finally brings the two of the legendary titles to modern day PCs and consoles, so these HD ports include new graphics and control options, improved user interfaces, and has options to choose Japanese and English voices. So far, It's still plays like the original classics and I had a chance to play the whole two games in every 4 hours a day. I've notice the differences between the original version and HD ports was the game been displayed on 16:9 widescreen, so you have the options to choose between the original graphics from the Dreamcast version, while HD version has hi-res mode and bloom effects which improves the use of textures and colours to make it look suitable for HDTV. Having the updated controls and user-interface which adds the suitable playabilty for both modern PCs and consoles players. It worked really fine for whole two games which I am happy that I didn't experienced the problems of the single-player gameplay besides there are some minor bugs on cutscenes and audios which can be found on the first game regarding the Day 1 patch updates, but I hopefully it can be fixed later for another patch update. So far, it plays well and I really enjoyed the HD collection of these two games as my second time playing since the original Dreamcast version.
So without go further do, lets start the review.
Presentation
In the events of first Shenmue that takes place in Yokosuka, Japan, it starts off with 18 year old teen martial artist named Ryo Hazuki came running back to his family's home until he finally discovers his father Iwao Hazuki battles to fight with mysterious man named Lan Di, who is the leader of Chi You Men and threatens Iwao for Dragon mirror. After Lan Di has knocking down Ryo and Iwao, he also confronting Iwao for murdering man named Sunming Zhao and instantly kills Iwao with his finishing blow. The day after the event of Iwao's death lying on Ryo's arm, he swore to avenge his father death as his quest to investigating the mysterious mirrors, while finding a same man that killed Iwao in whereabouts. The second game focuses on the continuation of the story, as focuses on Ryo Hazuki has finally arrived to Hong Kong to find the person named Lishao Tao to find out the whereabouts of Yuanda Zhu, a martial arts expert who sent Ryo's father a letter warning him of Lan Di's intentions.
The story in the game has just caught my attention that how interesting the storyline of both game is to know why the cold-blooded killer demanding for the mirror and kills Iwao instantly which adds the mysterious of story plot as Ryo has to start investigating with people in the street knows about the incident and what they witnessed which gives a clue to find out where the killer whereabouts in Japan. Its a really depressing to see Ryo had promised to seek revenge which won't be easier for him unless he can get support and advice from someone who knew his father. It is good to know what the mirror is all about, which brings more in-depth mystery to make the story elements sounds more interesting.
Despite the well written story that made the game quite special, I find Ryo Hazuki is one of the most memorable video game characters of SEGA's franchises regarding his cool personality, being talented fighter, and his appearances that made him so great in the game. Most of the supporting characters are also quite amazing in the game, so in the first game it has Master Chen, Fukuhara, Nazomi, Goro and Tom that gives a helpful advice to Ryo, while Guizhang are also a helpful partner that helps Ryo to fight with gangs in Harbour. In second game it has female biker named Joy and little street kid named Wong, while street gang leader Ren is another supportive partner helps Ryo to investigate Chi You Men's gangs while seaching for Zhu's whereabouts. Ryo can always get advice from the female teacher of Man Mo Temple named Xiuying Hong that teaches him with Chinese Kung Fu. There's one of the special girl dresses up in orange named Shenhua that appeared in Ryo's dreams in the first game and you can able get to know about her in second game once you had able to progress through the story.
The game also featured the villains in both games such as Lan Di as the lead villain of the game, while the first game has Mad Angel's gangs and that crazy golem guy named Chai, while the second game has weird woman named Yuan and the big fat guy named Don Yiu which I was really surprised how awesome the cast of the villains that featured in the game.
The game's presentation is full of amazing to see how atmospheric both of the games was which filled with beauty and magical of China and Japan cultures. The first game that takes place in Japan has great street houses filled with neighbours, convenient store that has items to buy, the streets has vending machines to drink and toy capsules machine to collect figures, antique shops where you can buy moves scrolls, the bus stops that you can use it for travelling, arcade places that you can able to play your favourite SEGA's arcade classics, and the harbour that you can able to work there as forklift job. In second game that takes place in both Hong Kong and China, it has larger areas where you can visit to the tea shops, antiques shops, Kung Fu stores, Guest Houses for sleepover, gambling area where you can able to win and earn money, and temples to learn Chinese Martial Arts. The game's atmospheres has the use of date, time and weather system in the game which allows the weather to be changed differently such as rain, snow and sunlight, while the date and time can also effect with day and night time for opening and closing stores, and bedtime which made the whole game quite realistic at the times in early 2000's and I also liked the use of the cinematic design for both cutscene and in-game conversation dialogues that fits well for the game's presentation, but it does have minor problem in first game with cutscene bug where it got stucked on wrong places, but it can be fixed by quitting the game first, load the same save data again, and then repeat the same process to prevent the same cutscene bug that got stucked last time, so I'm pretty sure it can be fixed later for another update patches which is no problem.
Overall, it has outstanding story, memorable characters, atmospheric presentation and in-game's systems.
Gameplay
In both game, you take control of Ryo Hazuki has his goal to complete his quest by following the task which can be written on his notebook for important clues, so you are told to investigate with local people to find out the incident that was linked to Chi You Men's gangs related. Sometime it's takes awhile to get used too depending on which people can able to give you a information for newer clues or some other may not able to know what you're asking a question, so once you get the information from people then the newer clues can be added to your notebook so you can able to go specific places that the clues been written on the notebook such as sneaking into Warehouse to find important person and visiting gang's homes to interrogating gang member for information that been linked to Chi You Men's whereabouts. The clues are also involved with puzzle solving such as finding important items that can be found at different rooms, so you can able to find newer items by interacting the objects such as drawers, closets, boxes, cabinets and shelves to retain the items that you are searching for such as key to open doors, collecting cassette types to gain information, and opening secret paths with special items.
Besides the investigation gameplay segments, the game also involved with fighting gangs which can be played on different sequences such as QTE events where the command buttons can be appeared on the screen as the player has to quickly press the correct command button to avoid accidental during the fight sequence, but also has epic escaping, chasing and balancing sequence where you have to survive through without botching up the QTE gameplay, so if the button been pressed incorrectly which leads into epic fail sequences in the game. The basic QTE is pretty straightforward which you can only press the single button, but in the second game which introduces advanced QTE which shows the directional button and 4-buttons on the screen, but you need to quickly press the correct button in right timing as what it been shown on the QTE display which makes it quite hard, but really adds the game's challenge, so be careful when playing the game with QTE sequences. The game also has 3D fighting system similar to SEGA's Virtua Fighter, so you will have basic punch, kick and throwing button to attack your opponents, while you can able to dodge them by pressing the sidestep button. You can also perform different fighting moves which you can able to check it out on the list of fighting moves on the menus which helps you to learn the moves. You can also add your new moves from the shops that sells fighting scroll or obtain it from the someone that teaches you the Martial Arts which improves Ryo's fighting style in the game.
These game has open-world gameplay where you can able to explore the whole city area as you can also spent time to do whatever you want such as going to convenient store to buy items which also involves winning prizes, playing SEGA's classics from arcade places, winning money prizes from lucky hit, arm wrestle and street fight club, earning money from job places such as forklift job in Japan and lifting boxes with team workers in Hong Kong, collecting figures from toy capsules machine which you can able to sell those to pawnshop store in Hong Kong, and there's many places to visit that made the game quite unique for Dreamcast titles.
So far, the whole game are actually worked well for HD ports as the developer team are trying to make these game staying original as possible. I had no problem with the gameplay especially with updated controls which makes the character's movements and camera system easier to control on my PS4 controller. Controlling the characters is worked fine for most of the part such as walking, running and interacting stuff, while I find QTE event are quite simple for most action sequences. The fighting mechanics is just like the SEGA's Virtua Fighter with unique fighting style and simple fighting controls are worked well for battle gameplay. I had fun exploring around the areas with brand new discoveries, meeting with people, going to places to visit and have fun on open-world levels. I do like the puzzle aspects and searching for clues in the games which really motivates me to progress through the game's story.
Overall, it has outstanding open-world exploration, excellent battle gameplay, epic QTE events and puzzle aspects.
Graphics
To me, it didn't change the whole game a lot, but still remains a same original look of the game. For HD ports, I'm glad that the game runs on 16:9 widescreen to make the game look wider and I did notice that both of games has improved the use of shaper hi-res textures, bloom effects and colours environment that made the game look suitable for HD standards, so I'm happy that the development team trying to make the game look cleaner and fresh for modern PCs and consoles.
Despite the improvements, I really loved the scenery environments of trees, flowers, waterfall, city building, sea water and houses which adds the past nostalgia of the game. The weather system is quite well done with realistic looking rain, snow and sunlight, and I finding the use of day and night time system which has great use of contrast on skybox from blue to black. The character's design seems to be ageing well for today standards regarding the use of facial animation and body language which adds the personality of the game.
As I said earlier, it doesn't mean the game is all been re-made because its just a straight up HD ports of both games, but having with great resolution size, acceptable colour schemes and sharper details on the game is to make it look suitable for HDTV as trying to make the game look neater with less pixelated, so you have the options to change the graphics between the classics and HD for your suitable preferences which was featured in options menu along with selectable screen size between 4:3 and 16:9.
Overall, it has stunning environments, great weather system, day and night contrast, and ageing character's design.
Music and Sounds
I got to admit that Shenmue has the greatest video game soundtrack ever made. Most of Japanese composer did a fabulous job for whole game which really fits well on game's presentation to express so many emotions in both games, so it has both Chinese and Japanese feelings of orchestrated soundtrack, while some of them has jazzy and catchy tunes in some different parts of scenes. The sound effects is quite atmospheric for most parts such as the sounds of waterfall, jingle sounds on convenience store, the sounds of vehicle in streets, and crowd noises that really fits well for whole open-world area. I also liked the chime sounds of QTE events which really helps me to navigate the right button on the screen.
You have the selectable options to choose between English and Japanese voices for in-game cutscenes and conversation dialogues, so I do find English voice acting considered cheesy in comparsion with Japanese voice which sounded more acceptable overall, but I had to give credit to Corey Marshall did a decent job for voicing Ryo Hazuki which sounds lot better than most of voice cast in English dub.
Then again, there are some minor audio bugs on first game as well which has few missing sound effect and bit muffled voices during cutscenes, but I'm pretty sure it can be fixed again with another patch update which is no problem.
Overall, it has fantastic soundtrack, atmospheric sound effects, and chessey English voice acting.
Special Features
In Shenmue 1, you are able to unlock 70 men battle and having ability to transfer save data over to second game allowing to retains the move scrolls, toy capsules and etc. While Shenmue 2 which lets you unlock your favourite SEGA's arcade classics, mini-games and etc. on Shenmue collection menu. On the game cases, you'll have reversible game cover which lets you switch over the cover of the game and it also including the double-sided poster of Shenmue 1 and 2 HD collection inside the game cases. Both of the games contains trophy achievements which also adds the player's experiences levels.
Overall, it has unlockables content, ability to transfer save data, reversible game cover and double-sided poster.
Advantages
Outstanding story
Memorable characters
Atmospheric presentation
Excellent gameplay
Aged graphics
Fantastic soundtrack
Disadvantages
Some minor bug on cutscenes and audio from first game
Final Verdict
Presentation 9/10 - outstanding story, memorable characters, atmospheric presentation and in-game's systems.
Gameplay 9/10 - outstanding open-world exploration, excellent battle gameplay, epic QTE events and puzzle aspects.
Graphics 8.5/10 - stunning environments, great weather system, day and night contrast, and ageing character's design.
Music and Sounds 9/10 - fantastic soundtrack, atmospheric sound effects, and chessey English voice acting.
Special Features 9/10 - unlockables content, ability to transfer save data, reversible game cover and double-sided poster.
Overall
9/10 - Shenmue 1 and 2 are still my all-time favourite Dreamcast games, but these HD collection are still deserves to be masterpiece for the fans of the series can able to get their hands on with these most ironic classic titles for PC, PS4 and XBONE, while it can be difficult for the newcomers of the franchise, but I'm pretty sure they might able to give these game a second chance since these game hasn't sold well on the Dreamcast release along with Xbox Original in year 2000's. I'm so happy that SEGA has finally give these game a re-releases to revive the series again and I'm hopefully to look forward to see a another Shenmue game for summer 2019. If you're into with slower-paced open-world adventures then go buy these legendary collection because it deserves more love and passions.
I wanted to thanks all of Shenmue fans community for supporting the wonderful franchise to keep the series alive and I also wanted to thanks SEGA for bringing these classics back to modern day gaming, and very special thanks to Yu Suzuki for bringing the franchise back in business.
Shenmue 1 and 2 HD Collection is still amazing video game compilations and it is a worth for your collection, so have a good luck finding sailors around.
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