Sitting in my ninth-grade science class, my teacher asked us all the significance of the day’s date: September 9, 1999. Someone behind me immediately spoke up to state that Sega’s Dreamcast system was being released on this historic day. A majority of the class including yours truly agreed that today was monumental day because of Sega’s latest & unknowingly final console (much to the disappointment of our teacher) being available in North America. We gamers both hardcore & fringe didn’t understand what was on the horizon thanks to the Dreamcast’s release. A year after the Sega Dreamcast hit store shelves in North America, western gamers were treated with something completely different than anything else on a system that also allowed players to communicate with fish featuring human faces: “Shenmue”. Originally appearing to be a 3D brawler set in Japan, “Shenmue” proved to be so much more. Its sequel released on both the Dreamcast and original Xbox expanded upon the world, story, and innovative gameplay options that would influence so many games in the generations to come. Now, a year before the believed conclusion of this saga finally arrives, Sega and developer d3t have come together to release a HD port of the classics to potentially introduce a group of gamers too young to understand what it takes to search for sailors.
Did I Complete “Shenmue I & II” HD Collection?
The “Shenmue” HD collection does what most remasters in this generation hope to accomplish: produce a better, more playable version of a classic game originally made for systems no longer in production. “I” & “II” definitely look better and don’t suffer from grandiose loading times (though there are loading screens), yet they still control like a tank even with “improved” controls. Both games come with a great, easily obtainable trophy/achievement list that will coerce the player to experience a lot of what the game has to offer including completing the stories. Of course I made it through both experiences with “Shenmue II” lasting about ten or so more hours than the original iteration mostly thanks to wandering round the earliest & last towns available in the game – putting the total play time around forty hours for full trophy/achievement completion.
Did “Shenmue I & II” HD Collection Live Up to the Hype?
For nearly twenty years, the “Shenmue” franchise has become heralded for being one of the most innovative games associated with gaming’s sixth generation. The story begins simply, yet horrifically as Ryo Hazuki discovers the dojo he trains at and lives beside is invaded by a menacing, almost stereotypical martial artist Lan Di who is in search of a mythical mirror that apparently is possessed by Ryo’s father. When Ryo’s dad refuses to give up the mirror, Lan Di slays him in cold blood – leading Ryo on a search for answers & revenge. Most games with an initial narrative like the one in “Shenmue” would feature the player entering an open world ready to kick butt & take names. While Ryo can kick butt and discover many names, the way he goes about succeeding in his quest turns what could’ve been a 3D brawler a la future Sega success story “Yakuza” into a point & click adventure where Ryo goes about hometown & beyond asking townspeople if they can provide any information about whatever is his main goal at the time; be it the location of a nearby butcher’s shop or, of course, where sailors work.
Ryo will be hoofing it around his environments much to the chagrin of the player as there is no overview map or fast travel system without returning to Ryo’s home base (the fast travel function can also be turned off in the options menu). With a day & night cycle, Ryo is a slave to time – one of the biggest faults of the first game as certain missions can’t advance at certain times of the day and Ryo won’t sleep his hours away until the next big moment when need be (a factor that is somewhat remedied in the second game with a “Wait” option during specific moments). Players who remember whom to speak to or where to go can actually skip sections of the game, but may miss out on some entertaining moments & cutscenes. The player can also enter first-person view with a touch of the left trigger to investigate items and even discover important clues & information.
“Shenmue 2’s” vaster world gives way to another helpful function not found in the first game: an ability to follow townspeople. Depending on whom Ryo talks to, the person will lead Ryo to his latest destination – making it a lot easier to get around these much larger towns compared to the original iteration. Neither “Shenmue” game plays into the modern style of fast-paced movement & action and may turn off some players. For example in regards to the game’s pacing: both games feature Ryo taking parts in various jobs that, like in real life, don’t last just one day if Ryo wants to get paid. “Shenmue 2” is a little more forgiving in not forcing the player to become a forklift driver for five days unlike in “Shenmue”, but there are forced moments of busy work that can get tedious. Shockingly, tedium is actually a great reason why the “Shenmue” franchise is so fantastic. Having to ask questions, learn about the lore of Ryo’s homeland & beyond, and take part in random cutscenes that can see Ryo trying to save a little girl from some bullies or Ryo being a little too slow in catching a soccer ball just makes the experience feel so much closer to reality than any video game during that era without it being a full blown real-life simulator.
Beyond the simplistic gameplay featuring Ryo not-so-simply moving around thanks to the tank-like controls that will definitely have players struggling to turn Ryo around when he attempts to stop on a figurative dime or even when he’s standing still & trying to go in a different direction. Combat, though minimal in comparison to popular beliefs, is another factor of “Shenmue” that wasn’t a strong point mostly thanks to not having any control over the camera and lacking a targeting system. In any given fight, the camera can go wild; swooping in & out and even toward the ground to make it almost impossible to figure out what direction Ryo needs to move. The “Shenmue” striking & combat system is taken from the “Virtua Fighter” series featuring moves that can be learned & upgraded through practice at various locales, but it’s nowhere near as tight or consistent as its source when it matters – something that is incredibly obvious when taking on multiple enemies. “Shenmue 2” also improves upon the combat system by adding enemy health bars – a lacking feature in the original. There are also moments in both games where the player will be thrown into quick time events – a gameplay function that was pretty much non-existent in games during that era – that can make for interesting moments where Ryo may be forced to take a different path or will even lose a fight that’ll end with him needing a day to recover. In “Shenmue 2” many QTEs are attached to winning certain fights or completing objectives that must be repeated until the player gets it right. Always remember, though: the d-pad is your best friend in these games.
Graphically, both games look amazingly good considering they came out on almost twenty years ago. Most of the textures have been smoothed & touched up while maintaining the integrity of every environment with a majority of the character models looking closer to something from the early days of a generation to come rather than something that was released right at the end of the 32-bit era. There are also options between wide-screen and 4:3 presentation, though all the cutscenes are in their native 4:3. The sounds & voices of “Shenmue”, though, did not fair well moving across the generations especially in regards to the first game. While Ryo mostly sounds okay, a majority of the characters sound hallow, tinny & even downright inaudible without subtitles – though the Japanese audio sounds a lot better than the English offering. From a writing perspective, “Shenmue” has always come across as a Japanese B-movie turned into a video game; so don’t be afraid to laugh at the ridiculousness of certain conversations.
There are some missing features from the original iterations for obvious reasons such as licensed merchandise & music, as well as the lacking online features including no passport option; but none of the unavailable stuff really affects the game in a negative light. Though people have rightfully complained about bugs, glitches & even save file corruptions, I thankfully haven’t suffered from anything serious or game breaking. The only annoying moment was the game going completely out of synch from an audio perspective during the early portions of “Shenmue 2”. This collection is a pure example of revolutionary concepts being presented for an entirely new generation in the best way possible without a complete remake or the romanticizing of gameplay functions developers have long since abandoned for good reasons.
Should You Play “Shenmue I & II” HD Collection?
This year has seen a slew of classic game remasters & remakes be released to varying degrees of success. The “Shenmue I & II” HD Collection does little to improve upon the original concept, playability, or graphics without tearing it down & rebuilding the game from the ground up. Though supposedly made to give both a new generation of gamers a chance to experience a classic and old schools players the chance to relive a time gone by, this collection is something only some of latter will be able to appreciate with newer gamers most likely being turned off by so many limitations attached to the gameplay & overall experience. This is worthy of being played by new & old school gamers, but it’s truly an acquired taste that even those who played “Shenmue” back in the day may not want to go through the repetition yet again.
