Shenmue (1999) (VG)

User Rating:

9.4/10   

Director:

Yu Suzuki

Writer:

Yu Suzuki (writer)

Release Date:

6 November 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Adventure | Action | Mystery

Tagline:

The Saga Begins...

Plot:

Ryo, a respected Japanese student sees his father killed in front of his own eyes. He sets out to find the man in charge of his fathers death and the mystery of who and why? |

Plot Keywords:

Lottery | Telephone Booth | Map | Tuna | Bum

Cast

Hiroshi Fujioka	...	Iwao Hazuki (voice: Japanese version)
Massaya Matsuzake Ono	...	Ryo Hazuki (voice: Japanese version)
Corey Marshall	...	Ryo Hazuki (voice: English version)
Robert Jefferson	...	Iwao Hazuki (voice: English version)
Ruth Hollyman	...	Nozomi Harasaki / Kayoko Ito (voice: English version) (as Ruth Hollyhan)
Paul Lucas	...	Lan Di / Chai (voice: English version)
Terry Osada	...	Ine Hayata / Megumi Mishima (voice: English version)
Eric Kelso	...	Masaya Fukuhara / Gui Zhang Chen (voice: English version)
Dennis Falt	...	Chen Yao Wen / Keizo Oishi (voice: English version)
Ryan Drees	...	Tom Johnson (voice: English version)
Jerry Ledbetter	...	Mark Kimberly (voice: English version)
Alex Hayns	...	Smith Bradley (voice: English version)
Eric Jacobson	...	Charlie (voice: English version)
Rob Croker	...	Terry (voice: English version)
Ann Slater	...	Xia Xiu Yu (voice: English version)

Also Known As:

Shenmue (USA)
Shenmue Chapter I: Yokosuka (Japan: English title) (complete title)
Shenmuu (Japan)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:T

Company:

SEGA/AM2 Company

Trivia:

This Dreamcast video game cost over $20 million to develop and is the most expensive Video Game ever developed. The project took seven years to complete by Sega's game-development AM2 division. For this feat, it has a place in the Guiness Book of World Records.

Quotes:

Ryo Hazuki: [after teaming up to defeat 70 mad angels] Gui Zhang... thank you...
Gui Zhang: Nah! Hazuki, that's my line.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Troldspejlet: (#25.4)" (2001)

Just a game?

Shenmue is the closest a game has ever come to reality. The game's environment is fully interactable in a legal fashion (for example, you can't just barge into a house...you'll knock first). You can open ever drawer and closet in your house, buy and drink a soda, play in the arcades (with two full versions of old-school classics), raise a kitten, talk to every person, ride a motorcycle, and even take a part-time job with riding a forklift.

But that's not the main idea of Shenmue. Shenmue provides a progressing storyline that will keep you mystified and addicted to it's gameplay. In the process of gathering clues, you will go into fights that will play as a 3D fighting game, mostly like Virtua Fighter. The fights in the game are challenging and fun, with wonderfully animated moves that look like they belong in a kung-fu flick. There is also "QTE" (quick-time event) in which you must press a certain button in a certain amount of time. This may sound simple but is actually fun, and heart-pumping. These events are in the form of controlling a cinematic event within the game, and provides a better experience.

Shenmue is a game that may attract gamers and non-gamers alike. It's story, interactivity, logic, and fun makes a pure gaming experience. The game starts out a bit boring and slow, but soon afterwards, it begins to pick up pace and Shenmue then reveals it's shine.