Shenmue

The Good
This game is full of firsts. Let me count the ways:

1. It's the first dubbed game I have ever played where I didn't feel compelled to assemble an elite cadre of ninja to hunt down and punish the voice actors for their crimes. It's bad, but oddly fitting. Ryo's speech is stiff and stilted, but so's he. His mom's voice is grating yet forgettable, and so's she. In fact throughout the whole game Ryo is either ignoring his mother, or trying to wheedle cash out of her. If the CAPalert guy did video games, he'd have a heyday with this one.

2. This is the first game I have ever played where I can honestly say I was engaged and enthralled driving a forklift around all day. Granted, it's the first one that's ever tried, but that's beside the point.

3. It's also the first one in which I got my throat sliced by a small gang of japanese schoolgirls. Why this doesn't happen in more games, perhaps I'll never understand.
   
   The Bad
   Though I loved the idea of upgrading Ryo's moves on a daily basis, I found the system confusing. I never found out whether your moves improve through practice or through that menu you get every night. I assume it's a combination of the two.
   
   The Bottom Line
   Most important, of course, is the reality of this game. I rented it, and had to play it for three days straight to beat it in time to return it. Upon quitting, I found myself constantly comparing reality to the game engine. At times, I found Shenmue to be superior. If that doesn't justify purchasing it, I don't know what does.

The Good
The level of detail is unsurpassed by any other Dreamcast game I have ever seen, period. This is the closest thing to walking down an actual street in a claustrophobic small Japanese town besides actually getting a plane ticket and just doing it. Also, the playable Sega classics in the arcade will have you yearning for the days of the single quarter game.

The Bad
Um... where's the game? Fight sequences are extremely rare until the later part of the game, which tries to make up for the lull by having you beat the drud out of about 50-60 guys. Until then you're treated to Ryo's burning hunger for vengeance taking the form of him wandering around town looking largely apathetic to the events around him. The plot advancement is pretty tepid, featuring you asking every single person you come across the same question again and again, some of which the player has observed in the intro. It's a pretty boring verbal scavenger hunt. "Have you seen a... car?" "Why yes, it was a... black car." And thus you start asking everybody if they've seen a... black car. Ryo's personality is bad enough, but the budget voice talent will have even the most die-hard dub fan turning on the original voice track with subtitles. Also, considering this is about a sixth of the intended product... not cool.

The Bottom Line
It's a fascinating attempt, and certainly one that took a whole lot of sweat and love from the developers. I just couldn't imagine forking over full price for it.

The Good
It's an involving story (the first of some 20 something parts I'm told) with spectacular graphics and an amazingly detailed world to explore. You can interact with almost everybody and everything. It's a fighting, adventure, and arcade game all rolled into one.

The Bad
The voice acting is so bad it's often funny. You may even find some Ryoisms working their way into your everyday language. It would be nice if there was a way to pass the time without walking around or spending your money. Often you have to wait for a specific time before you can perform a task and the waiting can get annoying after awhile.

The Bottom Line
It honestly defies description. There is not other game like it. It's a shame the DC had to die before we could get more installments. The second chapter is due out soon. I just hope they develop the rest of the story for another machine so I can find out what happens.