Editor’s note: This review was written by JJ Rhodus, a student at Full Sail University. JJ has wanted to get into the videogame industry since he was a teenager, but he could not afford the college tuition after he graduated. To pay for college, JJ joined the Army and completed two tours in Iraq. During that time, he’s been perfecting his ideas and strengthening his mind. JJ will change the world of videogames one day, but for now, he is a mere student.

Despite being the fourth best-selling game made for the Sega Dreamcast and taking an unprecedented $70 million to make, Shenmue would have had to sell two games for every Dreamcast owner to make a profit — because let’s face it, how many people really owned a Dreamcast? If Shenmue would have been made for the PlayStation instead, maybe the producer Yu Suzuki would be more credited for his work and future titles would have been born. Shenmue was a revolution in real-life gameplay and plot development in videogames for its time that still holds strong when compared to the games of today.

What splits Shenmue apart from other games isn’t necessarily the intriguing storyline the player follows throughout the game, but rather in the way it unfolds. Shenmue’s visionary and producer, Yu Suzuki, stated he coined the genre title FREE (Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment) for the game, which describes the interactivity and freedom he wanted to give the player. This means that every minor detail you want your character to do — from opening a cabinet, talking to another character or fighting a bad guy — must be done specifically by the player, and each action will then be done in real time, including the dialogue for every character you come in contact with.

Everyone from main characters to strangers on the streets have their own individual voice actors, which really gives Shenmue much more depth and realness than the traditional text transcriptions still used in most games today. The graphics used in the game were superb for its time — even for the Dreamcast standards.

The story starts when a young man, Ryo, returns home to the family dojo to find his father being attacked by a sinister-looking man in a silk Kung-Fu uniform by the name of Lan Di, who was looking for an item called the Dragon Mirror. Ryo steps in and fights Lan Di but is easily defeated and cast aside to watch the man kill his father in front of his eyes. Lan Di finds the Dragon Mirror and spares Ryo’s life, leaving him battered and bruised. Ryo wakes four days later and vows to avenge his father’s death at any cost, instantly quitting school to spend all of his time and energy on the matter.

From this point, it is up to the player as to what exactly happens. As Ryo, you must search for clues from your friends, family and strangers on the street as well as physical clues, such as documents, special items or anything else that would be helpful. This means the player must search in every available cabinet and talk to most every citizen in the miles of playable space in the game. This allows for many side quests during gameplay as well as lots of research and logical thinking on the part of the player. There are also plenty of scrolls and masters of the martial arts that will teach Ryo new fighting techniques that he must practice in order to master these moves. There are even arcades in which Ryo can spend the money he collects on classic arcade games or play pool and darts. All of this is done on a day-to-day basis in which Ryo must sleep and eat as in real life; even the weather changes as time progresses.

Throughout all of this, the basic story still stays intact. Ryo’s first clue is a car the neighbors saw the night of the murder. With the description of the rare car as his only lead, Ryo goes out to try to find his father’s killer. Finding clues here and there from the locals, a breakthrough occurs when Ryo receives a letter telling him to find a Master Chen who works at the harbor. Ryo finds Master Chen and his son Guizhang, and they tell him of a gang called the Mad Angels, which is connected to Lan Di. The Mad Angels did most of its business through a business on the harbor, so Ryo gets a job at the harbor to get closer to his investigation.

During his time working at the harbor, Ryo finds more prominent clues but at the cost of taking on the Mad Angels in the process. Seeing Ryo as a threat, the Mad Angels kidnap Ryo’s love interest in the story, Nozomi, and keep her hostage deep in its harbor business. Ryo goes to Master Chen in desperation and ends up teaming up with Guizhang, and the two of them then take on the Mad Angels, about 70 people, head on in an attempt to rescue Nozomi and kill Lan Di. Upon defeating the Mad Angels leader and saving Nozomi, he tells them Lan Di has left to Tokyo. The game ends with Ryo boarding a boat on his way to Japan to find Lan Di and avenge his father.

Shenmue was a very fun and interactive game to me. There are hundreds of cutscenes throughout the game from when I talk to each player or when I unlock more of the story through my actions. The way it is done makes the game seem so real that it is much like I was living the life of Ryo, which is the goal of most any game. The combat in Shenmue was remarkable as well with smooth attacks and defenses with the ability to battle most anywhere a fight or sparring match is needed. Shenmue is one of those games in which I have the option to do whatever I please and take hours of time away from the story if I wanted. I recommend anyone with a Dreamcast to search for and get Shenmue.