Like Shenmue, What's Shenmue? takes place in Dobuita street in the city of Yokosuka in Kanagawa Prefecture on the island of Honshu. In the demonstration, Ryo Hazuki has to locate Hidekazu Yukawa, who was the Senior Managing Director of Sega at the time.
The demo includes all of the gameplay mechanics found in the Shenmue games, such as asking people for information, chasing suspects, and quick-time events that appear as button prompts that have to be hit at the correct time.
Ryo has to ask people from the game proper if they had seen Mr. Yukawa including Tom the hotdog vendor and Nozomi Harasaki, the granddaughter of the woman who runs the flower shop. Because Shenmue I and II were developed concurrently, Ryo also can talk to people who would not appear until Shenmue II such as Izumi Takano, the teenage Tomato store clerk who blocks an area that is only accessible in the full game.
The storyline is simple, yet it reflects an actual scene in Shenmue which will be obvious to anyone who played the full game. Even though it contains a common trope, the ending is satisfyingly wacky and works well as it does make you want to play the full game.
What's Shenmue? was only released in Japan, so it is only available in Japanese. However, fans from the Shenmue Dojo forums released a Japanese-to-English translation patch. The fan patch is well done so it is a satisfying way to experience the demo.
Final Verdict:
4 out of 5
| Shenmue review |
