Review: Shenmue HD Collection brings a cult classic to a new generation

DISCLAIMER: A review copy was provided by the publisher.

Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

Developer: Sega, d3t

Publisher: Sega

MSRP: $29.99

For nearly 20 years, I’ve been hearing about this Sega game called Shenmue. A narrative-driven Japanese mystery game about a man seeking answers and revenge on the men who killed his father. What makes it so great? Why does this series have such a small yet vocal following? I now understand.

With Shenmue 3 coming in 2019 after many years of fans begging and a successful Kickstarter campaign, Sega has opted to release a collection of both Shenmue games in HD for the first time outside of their original consoles. That means PlayStation fans can experience the series for the first time and a whole new generation of gamers as well.

These games have a very specific reputation, mostly of being fairly niche due to the fact they’re pretty major slow burns. They were Yakuza before Yakuza, Shenmue flaunts a fully interactable world with lots of characters, mini-games, and a very fleshed out story told in a pretty untraditional way for gaming.

Shenmue isn’t a series that has aged particularly well in an era of fast traveling whenever, wherever, has games that allow you to play a game at your own pace rather than the one it chooses for you, and so on. Mechanically, it’s a bit rough and hasn’t particularly aged like a fine wine. There is a charm that comes with its age with goofy choppy dialogue, bad voice over, and more so even some of the lower-quality elements can be enjoyable in a way. If you can get over the faults that have set in and accept it’s a game of its time, you’re in for a treat.

To put it simply, Shenmue is rich with detail both narratively and within its world. It takes its sweet time to tell its story and while that may be a definite turn-off to some people, the strength of the story is worth sticking around for. As you unravel this mystery and go on this engaging journey with Ryu, you become immersed in the world around you and experience something that hasn’t really been done since when these games originally released.

There’s something really gripping about not really having any waypoints or objectives, its easy to get lost in this world and it puts you in the shoes of this young man trying to solve this mystery. You have to do all this problem solving on your own with little to no handholding and it makes the adventure all the more satisfying.

In a way, Shenmue is a coming of age story. Ryo is only 18 and he’s embarking on this really ambitious quest to avenge his father. It’s heavily embedded in both Japanese and Chinese culture and it serves as a really wonderful wrapping around this intriguing story that is hard to pull away from.

If Shenmue was a series of films, novels, or a TV show, it’s hard to say they wouldn’t be among the most classic mystery tales. They’d definitely lose part of what makes them so special but the gripping story pulling you through various locations throughout Asia where a thousand questions pop up every time you get an answer to just one of your other questions is nothing short of astonishing.

Shenmue has this unique appeal thanks to its unconventional gameplay of opening up its world to you and just pushing you out into it. You’re given a notebook where Ryu will jot down pieces of important information for you to refer back to and sometimes he’ll say things to nudge you in the right direction but outside of that, it’s up to you. Ask random NPCs, shopkeepers, and street vendors for insight on people of interest, locations, look up vital information in phone books, etc.

It feels like there’s a sense of realism to solving this mystery and you can turn off that part of your brain where you have to think “Well, this is a video game so real logic can’t always be applied here.” It’s incredibly fascinating.

As mentioned previously, the pacing of the game is unusual. You’re made to wait in-game hours and even days before you can progress the story and there’s no way to fast forward time (in the first game at least). To pass the time, you have to go play mini-games, train your kung-fu moves, and do some of the few side missions available.

It can get a bit dull after a while and it’s certainly much easier to just put the controller down and walk away while you let the in-game clock roll but if you want to go play video games at the arcade or collect Sega character figurines, it can be a fun way to waste some time. While it’s unlikely that you will, try not to get too carried away by the side activities as you can fail both Shenmue games by letting the seasons pass (which takes quite a while but it can still happen nonetheless).

Sega has been really excellent at basically remaking the early Yakuza games as of late with a new engine, giving them more than just some updated controls and polished graphics. Shenmue isn’t really the same way, these are ports more than from the ground-up remakes or remasters. They’ve had some touch-ups since these games were on the Dreamcast and original Xbox but they still bring over a lot of baggage.

The sound isn’t particularly wonderful, it definitely sounds like it’s from the 90s and can be unpleasant on the ears. Ryo’s movement is incredibly stiff thanks to tank controls, you adjust to it rather quickly but it makes key levels like a stealth section really frustrating due to controls which don’t feel really fit for moments that require precise and careful movement.

Similar complaints carry over to the combat of the game which can be incredibly agonizing when having to battle large groups of thugs. It isn’t incredibly smooth and can lead to Ryo getting the crap beat out of him, it feels like the combat system wasn’t super refined for the modern age and is a relic of a bygone era in gaming.

QTEs also don’t always feel like they’re totally responsive, I have a really quick reaction time to QTEs but it felt like if I pressed them too soon in Shenmue, it didn’t always register. Usually, the game is generous and gives you another chance to try the QTE again but it can break your immersion rather quickly if you think you did it right but the game tells you to try again.

The Verdict:

If it weren’t for some technical aspects and mechanics held back by their age, Shenmue would be easy to recommend to just about anyone. So long as Shenmue 3 really adapts itself for the modern gamer while still remaining Shenmue at its core, it could be something incredibly special. After hearing about this series for so long (both through praise and criticism), I can safely say I am a believer in Shenmue and can’t wait to play 3 next year.