Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8943 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sega
• Released on: 2000-12-01
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Platform: Sega Dreamcast
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .66 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
With an epic story line, luscious graphics and gameplay to match, Shenmue is everything than the Dreamcast can produce and more.

Ever since the launch of the Dreamcast, Sega have been looking for a decent RPG to bolster the range of titles available and to reply to the popularity of the final fantasy series on the PlayStation.

The main character of Shenmue is Ryo Hazuki, a hard-working college student who has been knocked sideways by the death of his father and swears vengeance as he sets off in search of the killers.

Although the story sounds familiar, Shenmue differs through its execution. Everything from the finely tuned opening sequence to the interactivity with the 500 or so characters is nothing short of superb.

But beware, this is no pick-and-play game. Shenmue comes on three packed discs, with a further disc for extra features and Internet options allowing the game to boast over 250 hours of gameplay. Couple this with the rumours that this is, in fact, part one of a trilogy and you've got an epic on your hands.

The game boasts distinctive time settings: different things happen during the day and night. Knock on someone's door during the day and they are likely to be out; visit the local shop in the evening you'll probably find it closed.

But it's not all talking to old people and children in an attempt to find the bad guys. Shenmue offers the chance to get into fights, race a motor bike and interact with everything and anything.

This game is a slow-burner, rising to an epic crescendo at the end. It's notCrazy Taxi or Resident Evil but something far greater, something almost compelling so that, although you know you're going to do a lot of walking around searching, you can't help but blindly carry on. --Stuart Miles

Manufacturer's Description
Shenmue, a genre-busting work from Sega, is transcendent for both its beauty and its innovative gameplay. In a convergence of role-playing, fighting, and adventure elements, you play as Ryo, a young man who's come home to witness his father being fatally beaten by thugs.

This event immediately sparks in him a quest for both revenge and an investigation into the mysterious jade amulet the thugs stole. You'll have to play detective to gather clues, such as possible motivations and whereabouts, from non-playing characters. Not all of the people you question will be happy about you nosing around, so be prepared to fight and keep fighting. You'll need money for the quest, and there's plenty of mini game-style ways to get it--from forklift driving to casino gambling.

The game features vibrant 3-D graphics, which are nearly photo-realistic in their astounding attention to even subtle detail. For example, the sky background changes slowly to denote the passing daylight.

Customer Reviews

A Genuine Masterpiece
I have to express my love for this game, if I dare call it that. Shenmue is a powerful, graphically rich, intelligent work of genius that can't be described fairly in words. I first saw it round a friends house and was so taken with it that I ran out and bought a Dreamcast, just for this one game!

The setting is Yokosuka - Japan, 1986. You play as Ryo Hazuki, a 17 year old Japanese Karate Student who's life is turned upside down one day when his father is murdered in front of him. He swears to avenge his father's murder and that is where you take control. You walk round a beautifully recreated Yokosuka and interact with people and items all around. You can do as you please in this free world including play real life 80's Sega games in the arcade or go into shops and buy things and talk to the shop owners. It has to be said how much money, effort and attention to detail has gone into this game. It really is a work of art and it is scary how many things you see in the game which make you think 'I've seen that before in real life'. Towards the end of the game, you even get a job as a forklift truck driver at the docks which is a very unusual thing to see in a game. Shenmue is also highly educational with regard to eastern culture.

For me personally, I feel a deep connection to Shenmue as it has genuinely changed my life. Due to the strong martial arts elements in the game, I took up Karate and I am now a teacher. I am also very into Japanese things and have a ton of eastern decorations in my room! I feel contented in my life and I owe so much of this to this game so you can imagine how much I like it.

I'm just going to finish off saying what a wonderful game this is and if you have a Sega Dreamcast you must own this game. If you don't have a Dreamcast, you must get one just to play this game lol! Your life is incomplete without it so get it now!!

The best ever game you'll ever play.
This game has got to be the best game I have ever played on and most likely will ever play on. I got a dreamcast for christmas 2001 and my mum got me this game with it at first I was disapointed as I wanted this car game and was even on about traiding it in for another, really I am so glad I did't. I can't really put into words how fantastic this game really is, it is absolutly supurb, the sound quality is great there are great fighting scenes and the story behind it is excellent. It is all about a teenage boy called Ryo who has to seek vengance for his fathers death and has to go through a whole load of twists and turns before he can find about the truth behind it all. The person responsible for his fathers death is a man called Landee who Ryo has to find and has to go through a whole load of crap before he can get to him. But beware Landee is the head of the chinease mafia who has unbelievlibly good fighting skills that Ryo has never seen before. Who ever takes on this game has got the ride of there life. I am still playing on it today 2006 and have completed shenmue 1 and 2 several times. I don't know when to give it up, who ever buys this game is going to be completely ovetwelmed and involved in it and they will be they will be hooked on it forever like me. I seriously recommend this game as it is what dreams are made of it is absolutely astonishing.

The best game ever!!!
This is a classic game which every Dreamcast owner must own....

Short, however, it is. It takes little under a week to complete, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. How many people would complain if a fim lasted under 3 hours. You're more likely to complain that it is too long.

Shenmue features excellent graphics and an immersive plot that creates tension in far greater quantity than any of the old-style RPG's.

The Playability is great, the voice acting unrivalled and the sound atmospheric throughout.

But still people complain. "The game is tedious" I hear them cry. Well thats a lot of rubbish. Infact it is far less tedious than any of the Final Fantasy Games because you can go where you like, as the game is completely free-roaming. You can buy the majority of products except the obvious ones like magazines and newspapers. I mean why would anyone really want to buy a magazine in a computer game? It really is mystifying.

Shenmue features one of the best fight systems in any game ever, eclipsing many beat-em-up's, and it features the excellent QTE system, where you have to press buttons as the come on the screen.

This is a game everyone should own, which warrants the purchase of a Dreamcast just to play it. Trust me.