by:	April 10, 2004

Nearly two years ago, this second chapter of an epic saga was set to be released on the Dreamcast, which was taking its last breaths at the time. It was supposed to span 16 chapters, and was put into the Guinness Book of World Records as most expensive videogame ever made Unluckily, the game was cancelled for an American release, and this gamer had to wait until the Xbox launch to buy the game.

Shenmue II is out for the Xbox now, and it follows a similar trend with Sega's Xbox releases: Jet Set Radio Future, Gun Valkyrie, Sega GT 2002, Toe Jam & Earl III, and House of the Dead III. Notice a trend? All of them are intended for hardcore Sega fans, and the same could be said for Shenmue II. Shenmue II's publishing duties were taken up by Microsoft itself, though, to ensure that the game is well received. The developer of the game, AM2 of Sega, is quite notable as well: they created such hits as Crazy Taxi, Hang-on, Space Harrier, and a little critically acclaimed fighting series that goes by the name of Virtua Fighter. Perhaps you have heard of it? Heck, Shenmue II's fighting aspects are based on Virtua Fighter!

The game comes with a lot of bang for its $50 price tag. In anticipation that there may be newcomers to the series, Microsoft packaged "Shenmue: The Movie" with the game. The movie is actually a whole bunch of cut scenes from the previous Shenmue game on the Dreamcast, and was even shown in theatres in Japan as "Shenmue USA" (because they used English voice acting with Japanese subtitles). The movie lasts about an hour and a half, and while it is crudely done and the graphics may offend some of you who are used to DOA3-quality visuals, it gets the point across pretty well.

Story
The movie will basically tell you the story if you buy the game, but here is a little passage to give you an idea of the set-up on this Kung-Fu movie-esque game. Shenmue II is an epic adventure with all the elements of a great movie: drama, mystery, suspense and action. It offers a unique game-playing experience that seamlessly blends elements of action, adventure, fighting and role-playing games. In Shenmue II, players assume the role of Ryo Hazuki, a young man dedicated to the task of tracking his father's murderer and unlocking the mysteries of the Phoenix Mirror. Shenmue II continues where Shenmue I left off, bringing Ryo to Hong Kong with many unanswered questions as he follows the trail of Lan Di, the man who killed his father.