Video Game Review: Shenmue II + Expectations for Shenmue III

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With my purchase of the remastered Shenmue 1 and 2 for the PS4, it was only fair that I once again dive into the world of Shenmue II and relive some old nostalgia. It may be worth reading my review of the first Shenmue game before reading this review, as I make many parallels between both games. Shenmue II is an obvious improvement over the first game in almost every way, but these improvements only felt marginal. It was not just a continuation of the story in Shenmue II, but also a continuation of the graphics and the gameplay as well.

The story continues in Shenmue II as Ryo Hazuki is making progress in his quest to search for his father's murderer. The story felt more engaging in a variety of graphical and auditory ways. Although the graphics are still a relic of the Sega Dreamcast/early Xbox era of video gaming, there were more risks taken with the game's cinematography with the inclusion of sweeping camera shots on the Hong Kong skyline and other character interactions. The color palettes felt richer in Shenmue II, with some of the color of the Hong Kong streets (especially in the Wan Chai area) being in contrast to the drab color palette of Japan in Shenmue I. The constructing of Shenmue II’s soundtrack is beautiful, and it compares to big-budget video games released nowadays. I also noticed a bit more personality in the voice acting, though it is still quite bad. The voice acting runs in correlation with the rigid character animations and the inconsistent mouth movements, which looks like a dubbed Chinese film in English.

I would also like to mention that there has been an improvement in the fighting system in the sense that the movement felt a little more fluid and I was able to dodge my enemy's attacks now. However, I have had some camera placement issues in the fighting where the camera backed into the wall and distorted my view of the enemy. There is still side content to explore including playing arcade games and fighting different fighters around the areas.

With the more engaging story, the game felt less tedious overall than the first game, but the game was still tedious. You can skip cut-scenes and have the option to skip ahead to the start of time-sensitive events (which will quicken the pace of the game), but the game still had a number of investigating and following sequences which still felt like a chore to perform. There was a lot of information to learn from many of the characters, which was interesting at first, but quickly grew tiring. The controls are still just as frustrating as the first game, especially when trying to walk up stairwells.

Shenmue II shoehorned in more quick time events (QTEs) than the first game, which was the absolute worst thing about Shenmue II by far. There was usage of QTEs in the most mundane sequences, such as walking on planks over heightened areas and character interactions. I actually tolerated the use of QTEs during chase sequences and fighting events, but the frequency of these QTEs and the frequency that I failed these QTEs are what drove me to frustration.

Compared to Shenmue I, the second Shenmue is a definite improvement. Yet, I would still not recommend this game to current gamers in this generation because there were issues that still lingered from the first game, including laborious gameplay, unstable controls, and the incredibly annoying over-use of QTEs.

What do I expect from Shenmue 3? 

Honestly, I am not expecting much. I believe the budget for Shenmue 3 is constrained a bit, so it is a matter of cutting the right corners in order to create a satisfactory video game. Shenmue's story is their strength, so having great storytelling is crucial to a positive reception for Shenmue 3. In terms of the gameplay, if the gameplay is modeled similar to Yakuza (another Sega product, and a wonderfully fun series to play), then that would be another plus to a good game. One thing I do not want to see in Shenmue 3 is QTEs, as it is an annoying ordeal to go through, and takes me out of the interest of the story altogether. Anyways, those are my hopes for Shenmue 3.