51. Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA X
PSN Vita52. Um Jammer Lammy
PSN PS353. Space Channel 5: Part 2
PSN PS354. 3D Fantasy Zone: Opa-Opa Bros.
3DS eShop55. Fire Emblem: Ankoku Ryuu To Hikari No Tsurugi
Famicom56. Castlevania
NES57. Halo 3
XBox 36058. Grabbed By The Ghoulies
XBox59. Genpei Touma Den: Kan No Ni
PC Engine60. Mugen Senshi Valis: The Legend of a Fantasm Soldier
PC Engine CD61. Shenmue
Dreamcast *NEW*
62. Kuri Kuri Mix
PS2 *NEW*
Shenmue
Game S of my super-long alphabet marathon is finally beaten.
Shenmue is a game with a pretty divisive reputation. There are those who adore the game for it's in-depth environments, charming characters, deliberate pacing and intricate details. There are those who hate it for it's odd slow pacing, lack of things to do, bad voice acting and awkward controls. It seems with Shenmue, you either love it, or you hate it. For you Brits, this is apparently the ultimate marmite game.
Well, hello. My name is Graham and I ...only kinda like Shenmue. I definitely lean more towards the 'love it' than the 'hate it' camp, but I can see the game has some serious problems which I can't easily overlook.
Shenmue is a game where you try to track down the man who killed your father to exact revenge. This make it sound full of action and suspense. This also couldn't be much further from the truth. Shenmue is ctually a game where you talk to people about sailors and Chinese people for 3/4 of the game and race forklifts for the other quarter. It's ostensiably a martial arts themed game, but you barely get into any fights until at least half way through the game. In reality, Shenmue is mainly a game about talking to the locals.
None of this bothers me in and of itself. I found the story of Shenmue fairly interesting, and characters such as Nozomi and Gui Zhang and Mark had some potential to have some very interesting plot development, never mind Ryo himself. I like exploring the town and talking to the locals. I like nosing around in cupboards and buying capsules toys and playing arcade games. But there were some notable flaws which ruined the flow.
For example, early on, the game is full of events where you have to wait a day to progress. At these points, money is scarce, but free time is at it's highest. At the point in the game where money becomes prevalent (the part where you get a job), the time and need to spend the money has basically vanished, as you spend literally all day at the harbour. The early environments feel very small though - Shenmue can feel like a living breathing world, but it always feels a bit limited in scope, especially compared to where this kind of open world went later - but also in comparison to the likes of Majora's Mask, which attempted similar stuff before. It's a shame you could only ever talk to people about whatever your next mission was, because having more dialogue outside of 'I know where you can find a Chinese person!' would really flesh out the world and it's inhabitants
The plot is interesting, but told very very slowly. This itself isn't so bad, but the game offers very little else to fill the time - there aren't many sidequests to do, mainly a few arcade games and purchasing endless capsule toys and soda cans - again, without much money available this early. The extra characters have quite limited plot development - Nozomi has a story about moving away and confessing her love to Ryo, but it literally goes nowhere - at no point does Ryo even seem like he likes her, never mind having feelings for her. Gui Zhang is an interesting character who (spoilers ahead) seems like he has a lot of potential to develop, after he offers to accompany Ryo to Hong Kong at the end of the game, only for that to be taken away almost immediately. Mark's backstory opens up quickly, but is left entirely unresolved - it feels 'real' but it also feels incomplete.
Likewise, the exploration and openness of the game feels like a bit of a missed opportunity too - besides a few attack moves in your house, looking into cupboards and the likes feels under-utilised - it's almost never mandatory to progress, and there's not even a lot of bonus stuff to find by exploring this way. Shenmue is impressive in all that it achieves, but also a bit of a disappointment in all that it fails to do.
The biggest issue is pacing - 3/4 of the game is spent in Dobuita, whilst the first 2 areas in the game are literally useless - one contains a cat and the other is basically just a place for capsule machines to sit that you have to pass through on the way to Dobuita. The plot progresses super slowly in this part, with not much happening for basically the whole of disc one, and half of disc 2. On the other hand, the last section in the harbour flies by, with constant fights, QTE sequences, story developments and more. Ryo makes some really out of character choices in this section though, which I think was meant to show his passion for revenge driving him to questionable acts, but unfortunately the game really didn't convey that at all if that's what it was aiming for.
If it sounds like I'm beating on Shenmue pretty hard, know that it comes from a place of love. I found the game compelling, the characters likeable (only made moreso by the terribly cheesy and bad voice acting - although Gui Zhang wasn't as bad as the rest) and the world interesting to look around. I enjoyed the fighting system, liked the mini games, enjoyed talking to people. Shenmue was an experience I rather enjoyed, but I really hope that when I get to Shenmue 2, it shows a lot of new refinements and more content. Here's hoping Shenmue 3 is good too - I really want to see this story reach it's conclusion now. I'm invested.
The game is a real looker for Dreamcast, although I have to say, games on later systems in it's generation really blast it out of the water. It had a short time to enjoy being the prettiest game around, but it still holds up pretty well for a game of it's era. The music is enjoyable although it's often a bit quiet and in the background - I suppose to keep the world feeling natural, but I'd like a bit more music to enjoy sometimes.
Shenmue is far from perfect, but it has a lot of heart. I can't overlook it's many flaws, but I also can't write off it's charms. It's a great game for Dreamcast and I look forward to giving the sequel a go sometime soon. Hopefully the series will see an end one day, whether that is in Shenmue 3, or further down the line in even further entries in the series. We'll wait and see, I guess!
Kuri Kuri Mix
Kuri Kuri Mix is a game by From Software - a developer I'm sure you're all familiar with by now, if you've ever read any of Exhuminator's posts. They're known for some pretty hardcore, balls-hard, dark fantasy type games - games like King's Field, Dark Souls and Shadow Tower. Kuri Kuri Mix certainly doesn't fit the mould - it's crazy bright, colourful and silly. But you know what? It is still pretty tough.
Kuri Kuri Mix (known as The Adventures of Cookies and Cream in the US) is a co-op 3D platformer for PS2. Each of the 2 rabbit heroes, Chestnut and Cream (obviously Cookies and Cream in America) must complete a course on one half of the screen, in sync with their partner on the other. However, these screens are not entirely independent - often, obstacles on one side can only be cleared using assitance from the rabbit on the other. For example, you may need to pull an obstacle aside, hit a switch to make something react, jump on platforms in sync with each other or so many other mechanics.
The game can be played in multiple ways - both rabbits can be controlled using one controller, with each analogue stick controlling one rabbit, and the shoulder buttons being the jump and grab buttons for each one. This is how you'd play the game single player (and damn, good luck with that - some of this game would be almost impossible trying to handle both rabbits with one pad), or is a way to achieve co-op with 1 controller, with each player taking half the pad. There's also 2 control options to use 2 pads, which is obviously a lot simpler, if less chaotic. Playing with 2 players obviously makes things easier, but expect lots of frustration and the possibility of losing some friends as you both shout directions at each other furiously whilst solving some tough puzzles and completing some tricky platforming in tandem in tight time limits. Also, you lose half a minute of time if you die. Have fun!
Some challenges are especially tricky in 2 player - especially any time you command a vehicle. A tank early on has each player control one tread - so to turn left the left player must move their track backwards whilst the right player moves theirs forward. It gets worse too - there's a rowing section where you control an oar each - player 1 must circle anticlockwise to paddle forward and clockwise to go backwards, whilst player 2 has the opposite - clockwise to go forward and anticlockwise to go backwards. Moving forwards requires precise co-ordination of strokes, and turning is even worse as you try to co-ordiante who has to paddle which way and how fast. It's chaos. There's also a flying section where player one can control the left and right movement, but player 2 controls the height of the ship and shooting the weapons. It involves a lot of co-ordination, teamwork and a substantial amount of patience for putting up with each other if one of you cocks it all up. Which you both will. Frequently.
The level designs are fun and interesting, and the game constantly throws new ideas at you. Sometimes they can be furstrating or obtuse - it took me and my buddy ages to figure out a keyboard playing section where you jump on the correct notes in time after only hearing the pattern - not seeing it, and one world in particular (Magical World) we found to be nightmarish. Whilst the ideas are always inventive, they can sometimes feel very frustrating to figure out - it's a love it/hate it mash up of innovative fun concepts and too much obtuse mechanics that take a lot of trial and error to suss out.
Each world (there are
contains 4 levels and a boss. The bosses are all interesting, but the difficulty is wildly varied. The water boss in particular was incredibly difficult to fight as the controls were terrible, whereas some later bosses were much easier to fight. Some were very hard to figure out how to hurt, but easy to beat after you finally solved it. Like a lot of the game, they're a mixed bag.
One major issue the game has is that the platforming itself is pretty bad. Whilst it's workable, and the co-op puzzles keep the game fun and interesting enough to get past it, the actual jumping is poor. Each rabbit has a double jump, but judging your perspective is super tough due to the awkwardly angled camera, and obstacles often blocking your view of your shadow - the only thing that makes it possible to tell where you will land some of the time.
Graphically, Kuri Kuri mix is colourful and fun, but unimpressive overall. The crazy art style is charming though, and I adore the premise of the game (the moon ran away, so you're going to find it). The music is adequate and bouncy, but pretty forgettable - besides the level beat theme, I can't recall any of it, and I only beat it a few days back.
Kuri Kuri Mix is a super duper cheap game for PS2. It's incredibly tough to play all the way through in single player, and it requires some damn good teamwork in co-op. It might make you fall out with your best friends out of frustration. The game is really creative though, and totally unique. If you can find a buddy to play through the game with, I'd say this game is a must try, although not everyone will love it. You know what though? I'm a fan!
