I give this game a 9.2.Enjoy the Review.
As the story goes, you take the role of Ryo Hazuki, a martial arts master when it comes to the family martial arts style of Hazuki. One day, while Ryo is coming home to his house, he discovers his father's housekeeper and trusted friend on the floor. He runs up sees how Ine-san (your housekeeper) is doing. She stutters from shock of actually being stricken, but tells Ryo that men wearing black suits and a man dressed in a silk komodo has entered the Hazuki residence' private dojo. While upon entering the dojo, a young boy flies out through the door. Ryo identifies the young trainer as Fuku-san (pronounced "Fook") and is telling Ryo to enter the dojo and help his father before he is killed before Fuku-san is knocked unconscious. Inside the dojo however, Ryo's father, Hazuki is telling the man in the silk komodo that he doesn't know where the mirror is. The man in the komodo is Chinese and also known as Lan-Di, a very mysterious martial arts master who is very deadly with his unique style of martial arts. Ryo runs in while the men in black suits stop him, but while Lan-Di's head is turned, Hazuki trys to go for a huge kick to the head but Lan-Di simply turns around and ducks very quickly. Hazuki then tries a combo of punches but Lan-Di either blocks or manuevers around the attacks all the while his hands are behind his back. Lan-Di seems to have enough and uppercuts Hazuki launching him from one side of the dojo to the other. Ryo then escapes from the men in black suits but is caught at the throat by Lan-Di. Hazuki struggles to get up and pleads with the Chinese master to stop before his only son is killed. Lan-Di then throws Ryo down with a huge thud and says to Hazuki, "Get up. I will allow you to die with honor like a true warrior..." And as soon as Lan-Di raises the palms of his hands and throws a huge punch to the chest of Hazuki, it's over as soon as it started.
From there on, it should be pretty obvious that Ryo isn't just going to stand around and do nothing but goes to tell Ine-san that he is going to find Lan-Di and the mirror that he and his father were talking about. Throughout the game, that particular day will be known as "the incident" so don't get confused. You are then allowed to actually play the game and discover Shenmue for yourself. One of the most amazing things about this game is that everyone talks to you with no text unless you choose there to be. The control may seem a bit meddlesome at first, but practice going side to side and front to back and it should come natural after about an hour or so. Here's a bit of advice though, do everything as soon as possible so that you will have time to do what you need so that while in the middle of something, he will not have to go home. Ryo's curfew is at 10:30 p.m. but you are actually allowed to stay out until 11:30 p.m. when Ryo is automatically brought back to his house for the night.
This brings us up to a whole new level of thinking, each minute in Shenmue is only a couple of seconds in the real world which is a huge factor in the game since some shops or stores are not open until a certain time. For example, the bars on Dobuita street will not open until 5:00 p.m. while the barber shop is open from 8:00 a.m. to 6 or 7:00 p.m. As in most RPGs though, you see the same world every day with the same people almost always in the same exact spot. But not here! In Shenmue people go along with their daily lives while they live in Sakuragaoka, they may work in Dobuita and if you are out early enough, you may see the entire event the same way. As for the "same day, every day", you may notice that the sky may not be as clear as it was yesterday, and while you're walking down the street it may start to rain, an if you stay long enough, that rain may turn into snow! Some days stay snowy the whole while though, I have been lucky enough to actually see a bad storm pass in a couple of Shenmue hours and could see go enough to see the sunset. The sunset brings us again to yet, another point which allows you to see that while you are walking that the day gradually decreases light until it is nighttime. At 7:00 p.m. every day, you notice that Ryo stops to see the street lights turn on in whatever street you are on be it Dobuita, Sakuragaoka, Yamanose, Yokosuka Harbor, etc. The street lights turn on for a few very good reasons in the game. For one, it allows you to see that it is almost time to go back home and two, takes shadows and uses them to their full potential. The shadows may stay the same in some games (whether it be on Playstation OR Dreamcast), but as in real life as Yu Suzuki stresses every time while mentioning this game, the shadows move to different angles depending on where you are from the light or sun.
As I have mentioned before, this game has an amazing battle system comprised of using every button on the Dreamcast controller. The one thing that surprises me is the ability to simply pick up bookmark-like cards to learn a new, even better move without even replacing the old and weaker move. I haven't counted, but there are well over 100 learnable moves ranging from punching combos, kicking combos, throwing maneuvers, and attacking while running. The enemy may get a lot of hits off you the first time, but not to worry, if you get killed (which is highly unlikely), the battle scene will simply start over giving you another chance to kick them around a bit. QTE is another big thing in Shenmue which is also known as Quick Timer Events which gives you an allotted amount of time to press the corresponding buttons. The time limit usually extends to about 3 seconds. If you mess up the first few times though, don't worry because no matter how many times you mess up, you have an infinite number of times to finish it. Just don't get discouraged when you mess up in the game because it will just make the game turn another corner which won't make the game any harder or easier for that matter. Just enjoy the game!
To tighten up your skills in QTE, head straight for the Dobuita arcade since there are two playable QTE games made for honing those skills in a QTE boxing game, and a QTE game which if you press the buttons quick enough, you will earn more points. Along with these games, a game of darts is also included and two more playable games are also there which include Yu Suzuki's oldest games on an earlier console, Space Harrier and Hang On (remember those?). The arcade is not only a good place to have fun and waste your money at the same time, but some important events take place inside the arcade so check back often.
Besides all of the amazing graphics and special effects which are hard to miss, the music in the game fits the mood almost perfectly every time. The music will change sometimes indicating that you are progressing along the game nicely. The battle music is some of the best I've ever heard, and in the Tomato Convenience Store located in Dobuita you are able to buy music from Shenmue and insert the A-track inside Tom's boom box that he is always dancing to.
Overall, this game is in a word, brilliant. This is a must have for the Dreamcast and anyone who has played it can tell you, it's awesome. If you feel that you can simply stick to Final Fantasy, one word crosses mine and everyone else's mind...poor you.