Game:

Shenmue (1999)

Duration: 0:00

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2

(SEGA-AM2 🇯🇵 1999)

This was a revolutionary game when it first came out, featuring stunning graphics (that still look amazing today in emulation!), an open world full of detail and a huge amount of characters you can interact with ! It really showcased just how powerful the Dreamcast was !

It has an interesting story, told through cinematic cut-scenes, about a young lad who wants to avenge his father's death. I remember being captivated by this game at the time !

However, there some major issues with this game ! First of all, you'll be playing detective 90% of the time, speaking to the various characters in the game, and only around 10% of the time you'll be fighting, either in real time combat or during 'quick time event' sequences where you have to press the right buttons and the right time. The pace is really slow and its incredibly frustrating how sometimes you have to wait for a certain time in the day to do something, and there's no way to advance time ! It also has clunky controls.

At the end of the day it's really down personal taste, and I can understand why it divided players so much and why it wasn't the commercial success Sega had hoped and expected. For my part I quite enjoyed the adventure, but graphics aren't everything and for sure there are better games on the system. Apparently, its sequel, also on the Dreamcast, improved on it in quite a few ways, so I look forward to testing it in the future !

My score : 9/10 (Classic)