Introduction
Back when Sega released the original Shenmue for the now defunt Dreamcast, people had mixed feelings about it. The gameplay was a bit slow paced for some gamers, but those who played it experienced a great story. The sequel was released on the Japanese and Europeon Dreamcast, but never saw an American release. Now, about a year later, its been released in America on the Xbox. Was it worth the wait?

There is a DVD that comes with it that explains all of the events of the first game. To understand Shenmue 2's storyline, you should watch the DVD first. Its very well done by giving you clips of the first game.

You start off just arriving in Hong Kong, where the entire game takes place. There are many different areas in the city, with thousands of different people in each of these areas. Each person has their own voice, which really personalizes the game. The story plays a big roll in the game, so you need to talk to as many people as possible to advance the story.


Gameplay
One of the things I don't like about Shenmue 2 are the graphics. There were some of the best graphics on the Dreamcast, but they look mediocre when compared to other Xbox games. The faces for the characters are well done, but the textures for the bodies are too bland. The framerate is a solid 60 FPS, but the draw distance isn't too good.



Story
There are alot of mini games that you will discover throughout the game. Several arcades are to be found in Hong Kong. At these arcades, you can play classic Sega games like Outrun and Space Harrier. Some other mini games are darts, and arm wrestling. You can win money if you win against the people you challenge.

Graphics
The musical score is fantastic, and suits the game well. There is alot of Chinese music, which makes more sense then the music in the original Shenmue, which had too much of a rock sound. What brings the sound score down though is the voice acting. They sound like they are just reading off a paper, and they show no emotion. This is sad, since good voice acting would of made the experience so much better.

Sound
After you beat this game once, there really isn't any incentive to play it over again. The only challenge would be to finish the game quicker each time you play it. Other then that, you might not play it again. Overall, Shenmue 2 is a great buy. Its a long game that will last you about 30-40 hours. Be forewarned though: If you play games for violence and blood, this is not the game for you. The violence is close to nil (there are some fights, but not many). If you are open minded about all kinds of games, this is the game for you.