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Recordkeeping: Shenmue II COMPLETE
I was expecting Shenmue II to feel like a different game from Shenmue I.
I did not expect Shenmue II to feel like three different, distinct chapters in itself, all shaped like a Shenmue.
There is the Hong Kong chapter. This is a slower-paced tale of information-gathering and exploration in the big city. Ryo may finally be among fellow martial artists, but the road to pursuing Lan Di is long and there are many pitfalls and traps along the way. This is the slower, more adventure-game Shenmue style. Lots of asking directions and following routes to a goal, like the first game but more spread out.
There is the Kowloon chapter, which is finally the dramatic kung-fu-movie action/adventure film people have always wanted Shenmue to be. This is the most action-driven section of the game, but also somewhat the most tedious to a degree. The Shenmue focus on life-simulation rubs very hard up against the faster pace of things, you keep slowing down, speeding up, then slowing way down again. The pacing is erratic, but that is also Shenmue for you.
Then there's the final chapter, which I will say nothing about except that I now understand why fans have been screaming for a third game for over a decade. I too am screaming now, and I only have to wait a year.
There is nothing else like Shenmue, and Shenmue II isn't even like itself the whole way through.
What can I say? You're not going to play one game and not the other. It's a good thing both are sold together now.
I did not expect Shenmue II to feel like three different, distinct chapters in itself, all shaped like a Shenmue.
There is the Hong Kong chapter. This is a slower-paced tale of information-gathering and exploration in the big city. Ryo may finally be among fellow martial artists, but the road to pursuing Lan Di is long and there are many pitfalls and traps along the way. This is the slower, more adventure-game Shenmue style. Lots of asking directions and following routes to a goal, like the first game but more spread out.
There is the Kowloon chapter, which is finally the dramatic kung-fu-movie action/adventure film people have always wanted Shenmue to be. This is the most action-driven section of the game, but also somewhat the most tedious to a degree. The Shenmue focus on life-simulation rubs very hard up against the faster pace of things, you keep slowing down, speeding up, then slowing way down again. The pacing is erratic, but that is also Shenmue for you.
Then there's the final chapter, which I will say nothing about except that I now understand why fans have been screaming for a third game for over a decade. I too am screaming now, and I only have to wait a year.
There is nothing else like Shenmue, and Shenmue II isn't even like itself the whole way through.
What can I say? You're not going to play one game and not the other. It's a good thing both are sold together now.