The release has come and gone and after and eternity of waiting Shenmue has finally arrived in English. After a week I've seen just about everything, and can finally give you the definitive review. The thing that many people were concerned about was the voice acting, and I can safely say it is very good. Sometimes the NPCs acting sounds a little forced ("Sorry...I'm busy...now...") the major character's voices are brilliantly done and aren't full of the 'Americanisms' that plague many games. This means that unless the characters are supposed to, you won't hear cries of "Ah, man!" or "Gnarly, dude" from everone. The dialogue hasn't been dumbed down to get an E rating either, so you will hear the occasional "Shit" or "Bastard" in the game. Signs haven't had to be translated either, as there is now a great system of the place name appearing as a subtitle when you look at it. Apart from a couple of name changes from the Japanese version, those are the only major changes to the game, which should mean a game even more stunning than before. The final thing worth pointing out is the included Shenmue Passport, which although sometimes seems pointless (and often is), you will find yourself trying to read up on every character and place.
As before, this disc is a linear exploration section as the characters, places, and districts have to be introduced. There are a fair few action sequences though, and as you learn more about Lan Di and the plot thickens you will become hopelessly lost in the small Japanese town of Yokosuka. As before, the beautiful graphics and evocative soundtrack are absolutely incredible. This is the real interactive movie.
This disc contains much more action than disc 1, and is a lot more expansive as it introduces the New Yokosuka Harbour to explore, and Ryo begins to get involved with a group of smugglers. The plot obviously took a shot of concentrated caffiene between discs 1 and 2. There are more fights and action-sequences than disc 1 so the game becomes much more exciting to play as well.
Wow. Apart from some patches of slowdown here and there this disc improves on the other 2 in every way possible. Not only do you get a job (which is surprisingly interesting), you get into at least one (often 2) Free-Battle or QTE per day. There are a couple of one-off sequences too that are brilliant, Nozomi's rescue being the best. It is definitely worth playing to the end as the ending is very cinematic, and just when you think the game is nearly over it keeps throwing new stuff in your face, but I won't spoil that for you. If you found any of the game dull or monotonous this will make up for it 1,000 times.
