Many Dreamcast owners are still feeling cheated by Sega's decision to can the US version of Shenmue II at the last minute. Thereafter it was announced that Shenmue II would be enhanced and released on the Xbox for a US audience, but I'm sure many other fans of the series would have preferred Sega start on Shenmue III than waste a year's worth of time porting the game to the Xbox. Even after thoroughly enjoying the Xbox version, I still find myself thinking the same way.

At the very end of Shenmue I, after finally tracking down some solid leads on the whereabouts of Lan Di, his father's killer, Ryo Hazuki boards a ship to Hong Kong. Once arriving, his objective is to seek out an individual named Yhanda Zhu and find out a bit more regarding the mystery of the Phoenix and Dragon Mirrors. Both of which seem to be connected to the murder. You take control of Ryo from the moment he steps off of the ship, and as anyone who arrives in a new land for the first time, Ryo needs some time to adjust to the hustle and bustle of the big city. In a way I do miss the more familiar feeling of the small Japanese community of Shenmue I, but after becoming accustomed to the layout, the city in which Ryo starts his journey becomes less overwhelming. The Shenmue Digest movie included on the game is a must watch 15 minute movie, which very nicely pieces together key points of the first game and ends exactly at the point where Shenmue II begins. Though it does not replace playing the game, those who missed out on part 1 won't feel so left out, and can still feel like they know what's going on.

Shenmue II's story is really what makes the game so enjoyable, and the plot is about as epic as they come. The pretty visuals and general open feeling of the game definitely adds a lot, though I personally found myself just wanting to push the story along as quickly as possible. Like the Dreamcast original, Shenmue II is fully voiced with not a speck of text dialog not matched to a speaking part. The game is voiced entirely in English, and the original Japanese dialog is nowhere to be found. Subtitles, also in English, can also optionally be turned on or off in order to better follow what is being said, and voices can be skipped altogether when they become annoying. As before, the voice acting ranges from "great", to "what were they thinking!". Ryo and some of the main characters are voiced really well, but some minor characters and townspeople sound awful. Having to voice dozens of lines for hundreds of characters, most of which you may not ever even speak to, makes it understandable. The relationships that Ryo develops are interesting, but it would be nice to see Ryo stray from his quest to become more friendly with some of the main characters (females especially), but he maintains his "get information ASAP" attitude throughout 98% of the game. The orchestrated, movie-like musical score is utterly fantastic, and the style of it changes often when visiting even the smallest of new areas.

The Xbox version of Shenmue II is essentially a more polished looking version of the already great looking Dreamcast game. The framerate is smoother, but can still bog down horribly in a few select areas. The additional mip-mapping on the textures rids the game of most of the texture flicker, and gives everything a much more clean appearance. And other than those enhancements and a few redone textures, the game is graphically not much of an upgrade. The absolutely tremendous environment and number of characters and objects on screen at once is still very impressive. Characters will seem blocky and simple if compared to newer Xbox games, but the disparity is forgotten once the game gets going.

The meat of Shenmue II involves Ryo asking questions and finding clues, which will lead to more questions, and more clues. To make any progress, Ryo needs to speak to anyone and everyone he can in hopes of finding some solid information. You will spend a lot of time asking these questions, and nearly just as much time receiving the same answers until some connection is made and you realize what to do next. Finding your way to the next location of importance was a major chore in the original Shenmue, but Shenmue II fixes that by having certain people in the city offer to guide Ryo to his location. The context sensitive menu system is also a whole lot better, and the button actions appropriately change depending on the situation.

To mix it up, AM2 included even more Dragon's Lair style QTE events, and this time, they are more tightly integrated into the game. It serves the purpose of making what could be a static story scene, into a more interactive experience. The Xbox version appears to have a few more QTE's, though it is difficult to tell. Free fighting is also back, and plays a larger role in the sequel. Most of the fighting engine was taken from the Virtua Fighter series, which is of course a great thing. The fighting sequences may put you against a band of thugs or a single opponent in a VF-style match. Regardless, it pays to learn how to fight well as certain parts of the game rely on it. While the engine is good, the camera frequently has no idea what to do when fighting many opponents. Most of the time it will swing around into an inappropriate position, and then it's time to mash buttons in order to break from the pack and settle the camera down. Both QTEs and free fighting do a lot to break up the monotony of just asking questions and tracking down clues, and they actually feel like an important part of the game, unlike in the original.

Ryo is required to fork over some money for a variety of reasons, so there are a few times where he needs to get a job of some sort. The opportunity to make money is thankfully much better in the sequel. Gambling, moving crates, arm wrestling, collecting/selling toy capsules and fighting, all are mostly better than just operating a forklift for hours on end in Shenmue I. The excess money can be spent playing around and having some fun. The full versions of classic Sega arcade games, such as AfterBurner or Outrun can be played for a price, or Ryo can play darts or other games of skill. Gambling parlors are fun for a while, and there are soft-drink and toy capsule machines scattered everywhere. I don't doubt that some gamers will spend more time playing the mini-games in Shenmue II, than the game itself.

Shenmue II is not a terribly difficult game, but it requires a certain amount of hours to play through. Some segments later on are nearly 100% cut scene, which cannot be skipped or sped up in any way. When it's all done, Shenmue II leaves you hanging even more so than part I, and right up until that point, you'll feel like the game is just finally starting to pick up pace. Overall, the game while much larger than the original, should take just a little bit longer to play through. Assuming of course, the little extras don't suck up too much free time.

At heart, Shenmue II is really just a jazzed up next-generation, graphical adventure. There is plenty to see and do, and Ryo's quest is captivating, interesting, and even occasionally educational. While the Xbox version is more polished than the Dreamcast original, as mentioned earlier, I definitely would have preferred to play this game a year ago on inferior hardware if it meant Shenmue III would be released in the more immediate future. Dreamcast gamers who played the Japanese import game still could benefit from the English localization, but may be disappointed to find the game essentially the same. Regardless of whether you experienced the first Shenmue, Xbox owners who are craving a good, epic adventure game should absolutely grab a copy of Shenmue II. It has a few annoying flaws, but overall, it's my pick as the best Xbox adventure game of the year.