Stuck this on for a blast last night - not expecting much after Edge berated it so badly this month - I should have known not to rely on their opinions
For anyone who got off more on the fighting elements of Shenmue than any other part of it you need to check out this game - Like I said I stuck it on for a quick "let's see what it's like" and lost about 3 hours with Mu5 just taking turns to fight and wander about progressing the story and it's great fun.
Graphically it's OK - nothing special. The language is worse than Killer7 (much worse) but it's pretty funny with it. Only played as one character and he seemed to have a decent range of moves which we managed to start fleshing out towards the end of the session (there are RPG stylings here - earning exp points after fights and levelling up stats : technique, attack and stamina).
The fighting engine is great - it's no VF but I had the buttons setup VF style (with R shoulder for throw/pick up) and there's some great fun to be had smashing bottles over heads, decimating people with iron girders, throwing them into walls etc) - There are two engines - one which handles "brawls" where you fight with any recruited members you have with you against the enemy - I'm hoping this will reach the giddy heights of Shenmue1's 70 man battle at some point - the numbers were certainly climbing by the end of our game last night. The other is a 1 v 1 fight engine much more akin to VF/Tekken style although you can choose to "free-run" about the level if you wish (useful when you're very low on energy and trying to use hit&run tactics to knock the enemies health down) - during these fights both your gang members and those of your enemy will circle around as you fight and, should one of you die the next will step up to fight - this applies to both sides. There's a nice variety of moves (mainly your typical YBBB, YYYB, YBYB etc type combos) and you can learn more over the course of the game.
Some of the design glitches Edge mentioned I can see getting annyoing (once you're in a fight, if you lose, you can only retry or quit as in quit the game but can't seem to just give up the fight and walk although one time I did see a "beg for your life" option but we failed to try it), also, inexplicably, you can't access your inventory whilst engaged in a 1v1 fight (to replenish health for example) - it seems you need to "equip" a health item to a hotkey before battle - not something you can usually plan for.
Still, this game had some great touches and has got me pretty hyped for Namco's Urban Reign and I'll definately be putting more time into it. It's the best game of this style I've played in a long time - certainly puts Spikeout in its place. In fact, I found myself wondering how good this would've been online with people able to hook up into gangs (you can 'recruit' additional gang members - up to 2 at a time) and go about looking for trouble
So if, like me, you're still praying for the day 3D streets of rage is announced or kinda enjoyed Spikeout despite it's insanely constricted play mechanics, give this a twirl - it's definately not a 4/10 I'd say more a 7.

For anyone who got off more on the fighting elements of Shenmue than any other part of it you need to check out this game - Like I said I stuck it on for a quick "let's see what it's like" and lost about 3 hours with Mu5 just taking turns to fight and wander about progressing the story and it's great fun.
Graphically it's OK - nothing special. The language is worse than Killer7 (much worse) but it's pretty funny with it. Only played as one character and he seemed to have a decent range of moves which we managed to start fleshing out towards the end of the session (there are RPG stylings here - earning exp points after fights and levelling up stats : technique, attack and stamina).
The fighting engine is great - it's no VF but I had the buttons setup VF style (with R shoulder for throw/pick up) and there's some great fun to be had smashing bottles over heads, decimating people with iron girders, throwing them into walls etc) - There are two engines - one which handles "brawls" where you fight with any recruited members you have with you against the enemy - I'm hoping this will reach the giddy heights of Shenmue1's 70 man battle at some point - the numbers were certainly climbing by the end of our game last night. The other is a 1 v 1 fight engine much more akin to VF/Tekken style although you can choose to "free-run" about the level if you wish (useful when you're very low on energy and trying to use hit&run tactics to knock the enemies health down) - during these fights both your gang members and those of your enemy will circle around as you fight and, should one of you die the next will step up to fight - this applies to both sides. There's a nice variety of moves (mainly your typical YBBB, YYYB, YBYB etc type combos) and you can learn more over the course of the game.
Some of the design glitches Edge mentioned I can see getting annyoing (once you're in a fight, if you lose, you can only retry or quit as in quit the game but can't seem to just give up the fight and walk although one time I did see a "beg for your life" option but we failed to try it), also, inexplicably, you can't access your inventory whilst engaged in a 1v1 fight (to replenish health for example) - it seems you need to "equip" a health item to a hotkey before battle - not something you can usually plan for.
Still, this game had some great touches and has got me pretty hyped for Namco's Urban Reign and I'll definately be putting more time into it. It's the best game of this style I've played in a long time - certainly puts Spikeout in its place. In fact, I found myself wondering how good this would've been online with people able to hook up into gangs (you can 'recruit' additional gang members - up to 2 at a time) and go about looking for trouble

So if, like me, you're still praying for the day 3D streets of rage is announced or kinda enjoyed Spikeout despite it's insanely constricted play mechanics, give this a twirl - it's definately not a 4/10 I'd say more a 7.
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