PDA

View Full Version : Shenmue II impressions



faceoff508
05-27-2002, 09:17 AM
We check out the next installment of the Shenmue series on the Xbox.

Microsoft had the Xbox version of Shenmue II playable in its booth on the showfloor of E3, so we were eager to spend some time with the long-awaited continuation of the ambitious martial arts adventure series that started its life on Sega's Dreamcast. Originally slated to hit the DC last year, that version of the game was canceled (much to the dismay of the DC faithful) when Microsoft announced it to be an Xbox exclusive. Since the announcement, very little has been said about the game, and it has never been shown publicly up till now. So having already spent a quite a bit of time with the Japanese DC version of the game, we were especially curious to see how the Xbox version of the game has been coming along.
The build on the show floor, which was 80 percent complete according to the signs on the kiosk, was broken up into parts that showed off the various aspects of the gameplay. While still incomplete, the game already featured full speech in English, much like the original Shenmue for the Dreamcast. The basic similarity between the DC and Xbox controllers means that anyone who's played the original game before will have no problems getting into Shenmue II. For those new to the series, picking up the control scheme isn't that much of a challenge. The game offers a fairly user-friendly experience and is easy to pick up.

Graphically Shenmue II is a bit of a patchwork quilt at the moment. The positive aspects of the graphics are the increase in polygon count for everything in the game, the stable frame rate, the high color bit depth, and use of many Xbox-specific graphical touches such as pixel shading and the like. The game looks very rich and colorful, and the main character Ryo looks better than before. The environemtns are especially beautiful due to the noticeable increase the detail seen both in the architecture and in the lighting.

The shaky aspects of the game's appearance are the stiff animation and the generally dated-looking character models. While Ryo looks good, he doesn't seem particularly lifelike. Other characters fare worse--they aren't as articulated as Ryo, aren't very well animated, and generally tend to look out of place in the environments. While some of this was excusable on the Dreamcast version of Shenmue II because of the limitations of the hardware, the look of the game falls a bit short of what you might expect from the Xbox.

Fortunately Shenmue II isn't due for a while, which means the developers should have plenty of time to make some adjustments. Shenmue II is currently slated to ship later this year. Look for more on the game in the coming months.

--Gamespot

http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2002/e32002/xbox/shenmue2/shenmue2_screen001.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2002/e32002/xbox/shenmue2/shenmue2_screen002.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2002/e32002/xbox/shenmue2/shenmue2_screen004.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2002/e32002/xbox/shenmue2/shenmue2_screen005.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2002/e32002/xbox/shenmue2/shenmue2_screen006.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2002/e32002/xbox/shenmue2/shenmue2_screen007.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2002/e32002/xbox/shenmue2/shenmue2_screen008.jpg

Alien
05-27-2002, 09:44 AM
It seems like a very fun game, but those shots seemed awefully dark.

CoMATOSE
05-27-2002, 11:56 AM
it is a mere conversion after all... but i have shenmue1 so i wanna know what happens next and hopefully theres not so much walking around

Snoopy7548
05-27-2002, 11:59 AM
why is it that absolutely NO pictures from gamespot work for me? even when i go to the site, its red x's everywhere. i dont have a firewall or anything and that site is not blocked. does anyone else have this problem? i really need to get this fixed, cause im missing out on soooo many pictures that people post.:mad: :mad: :(

CoMATOSE
05-27-2002, 12:05 PM
Originally posted by Snoopy7548
why is it that absolutely NO pictures from gamespot work for me? even when i go to the site, its red x's everywhere. i dont have a firewall or anything and that site is not blocked. does anyone else have this problem? i really need to get this fixed, cause im missing out on soooo many pictures that people post.:mad: :mad: :(


woah ur kidding...wot a drag, its obviously somin on ur comp beyond that i dunno........man that really sucks:confused:

Snoopy7548
05-27-2002, 12:08 PM
yea, and pictures from any other site work. gamespot is the only one that doesnt work

Snoopy7548
05-27-2002, 12:43 PM
thanks man, but it didnt work. now the pictures on the main page and everything are working, but the game pictures still arent. even when i go to the preview site for that game, all the pictures are working, except for the pics for that game

Hugh_Jass
05-27-2002, 01:29 PM
Shenmue graphics were great on the Dreamcast, but today on the XBOX they just seem average (or below).