Shenmue II (2) Remaster – An Improved Take On The Series. Our Review Karate Chops Its Way Here!
Shenmue II was originally created on the SEGA Dreamcast back in 2001 and was the direct sequel to Shenmue. It compromised of open-world elements and quick time events. Unfortunately though Shenmue II failed to sell very well meaning a long hiatus for any future games which for us is quite surprising as we thought this game was very well written, enjoyable and a masterpiece of its time.
Being a remastered game of the older versions for the Dreamcast and Xbox the overall graphics as expected was not that big of an overall improvement, however the game is now playable on the typical 1080p HD setting which is a new feature as the much older versions where of course not able to run at such a quality, we also noticed that the game seemed to play much more fluid too which was a rather nice and quick noticeable improvement.
Whilst we where very young when we first played Shenmue II back on the original XBox we remember fondly enjoying this classic game, so it was nice to replay it and relive those great memories in which we created whilst first playing the game.
The game features a really well written storyline of revenge and friendship with great characters which we easily found ourselves feeling connected to, it for us was a huge improvement over the original, Shenmue I.
Shenmue II was and always will be an incredible game and one in which will live on in our hearts and memories for many more years to come.
Shenmue II is a game that thoroughly deserved the remaster it finally got, being a unique game for its time it was thoroughly enjoyable. The HD remaster managed to remind us of those months we first spent playing the game as young children growing up and thankfully the upgrade managed to keep everything that was important to the game, whilst also giving us slight improvements too.
PROS:
+ Improved general gameplay which made things feel much more fluid.
+ Wonderfully written storyline which we find very engaging and hungry for more.
+ Characters are vey well written to the point in which we instantly feel very much connected to.
+ Tons of side activities that can be played including Duck racing and take it from us its Quackers!
+ Game was very unique for its time and felt like a martial arts movie, which we enjoyed a lot.
+ Thankfully it managed to do away with the whole having to wait for specific in-game times to pass in order to progress the story, this for us was a huge improvement!
+ The game now features the ability to collect trophies and achievements. Which though its not for everyone, it does add more value to the game.
CONS:
+ The controls can often be fiddly and we managed to find ourselves ploughing into walls more times than we care to admit.
+ The quick time events though can be fun, we feel like we do not get enough time to pull each button off, however this is probably just us lacking quick reflexes.
Release Date: August 21st 2018
Platforms: PS4, PC, XBox One
Genre: Adventure
Story Length: 27 Hours
Platinum Trophy Length: 35 Hours
Platform Reviewed On: PS4 Pro
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The owner of Selphie1999Gaming.com.
Has been playing video games for her entire life so far. Grew up with the Sega Megadrive. Her favourite games include both Resident Evil 2 (OG) and Final Fantasy VIII.
She now writes articles about video games.
Has been playing video games for her entire life so far. Grew up with the Sega Megadrive. Her favourite games include both Resident Evil 2 (OG) and Final Fantasy VIII.
She now writes articles about video games.
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