Shenmue II is not a bad game at all. The cut scenes and in game actions flow well (though sometimes the in game things feel a tad blocky) and the music, probably because it was mostly borrowed from the original, is great as always. It is both better and worse than the first game, too. This time there is far more character development and interactions feel more realistic (the money isn't just for show this time). Unfortunately, it is much more linear, sometimes forcing you into a certain task or not allowing you to leave an area because you didn't talk to enough people. The voice actors both increased and decreased in quality too, and anyone who dismisses it as universally bad is obviously biased. The best of the lot is probably Wuying Ren's actor, who sounds great in both versions. I personally preferred the English voice for Dou Niu over the Japanese one. Dean Harrington's performance gave the Yellowhead leader a much more menacing quality, he genuinely sounded like someone who could and would crack your skull in two if he felt like it, while the Japanese one was not so much, and almost sounded constipated when he calls out to Lan Di (who has just taken off on a helicopter to watch the fight between him and Ryo from a safe distance). As bad as people say he is, Corey Marshall (voice of Ryo Hazuki) is acceptable at worst and sometimes downright good (for example, when watching the Greg More scene, I couldn't help but feel Corey did better than his Japanese counterpart. In the English version, you really feel how annoyed he is at Ren, who had just forced him into a fight with the pro wrestler, and his desire to end things when he growls "I'll show no mercy"). The actors for Baihu and Shenhua are probably the weakest, but they are still alright. The game also feels more like, as a previous reviewer said, an Eastern martial arts movie. The scenes when you fight Baihu in a steel cage (and where he claims "he'll remember that name" when Ryo says his name after winning) and the rooftop fight felt nothing short of Epic. Definitely worth purchase.
8/10
8/10