I had a chance to play the What's Shen Mue demo and I wanted to share my thoughts.

Graphics- Everyone has seen pics of Shen Mue of the net and let me tell you the pics don't do the game justice. The detail on some of the people in the town is excellent for a game of this type. Granted, some of the town folk are not as detailed as the other characters walking around the town (sadly).

Pop-up- The city itself does not have any pop up at all! The compromise is that the people in the city seem to fade in at certain moments. From what was explained to me is that the Dreamcast is keeping all of the textures in ram at one time so this is what they decided to go with. (Yu Suzuki did not show a new PLAYABLE VERSION at T.G.S, so he may have improved things a bit in this area.) The amazing thing to me was that the folks in the town actually walk around you when you get in their way!! They don't just stop in front of you or walk straight through.. it was like real life!

Playing the game- I really had to get used to the control of the game. Here is how the control is laid out:

• Move character: Digital Pad
• Move camera: Analog Pad
• Run: L trigger button
• Quick Turn: B button

The camera itself is not a problem in any way in this game. The camera stays at just the right distance from your character at all times! I was fiddling around in one of the streets (getting used to the control) and I was sure the camera would get screwy but it just zoomed in close to the back of the player, this actually helped me out. The camera work in this game is great, no doubts about it. It does not get stuck behind walls or focus on a off balanced angle. Great job Suzuki-san.

The Quicktime events can take place randomly!! You have to be on your guard at all times. I was walking up a street and some kid's ball cameflying at me! The fighting quicktime events are top notch... this goes beyond Dragon's Lair. During the fights the characters actually talk smack to each other, it would be IMPOSSIBLE to duplicate these fighting scenes without using the Quicktime method. I'd buy this game just forthe way Yu Suzuki has put this baby together...UNBELIEVABLE!

I don't understand any japanese so finding out where to go was a problem. It's obvious memorization and keeping notes will be needed to get places. Without it you will be searching for hours. It's like a R.P.G as far as talking to characters and being at the right place at the right time.

Eventually day turned to night on the game and two of the towns people actually waved to each other and went to their homes!! Lights came on, even the Coke machine lit up. In certain areas of the town you can hear enviromental sounds like birds, but in busy sections you can hear people talking, bikes going by.. etc. One other graphic effect I noticed was the way the shadows look..The shadow actually bends over some of the stuff like a real shadow does! I've never seen that in a game before so I was impressed.

Music- Yuzo Koshiro, the composer for Streets of Rage, has done the honors for Shen Mue. The music fits the game like a glove. I like the music. I will get the game soundtrack. Some of it is orchestrated. I don't know if it's chip music or coming from the G.D rom, but it's great.

One serious gripe- I had one major problem with the demo... The loading time. It's about 12 seconds when you go in and out of places. I know it's just a demo, but I was just letting everyone know about it.

My thoughts- Sure, I had to get used to the control and I did not finish all the waythrough the demo. (I got stuck not knowing japanese, so I handed the control pad back to the game's owner) I still want Shen Mue. It has flaws like the loading and the fade in on the characters, but I'm not holding these flaws against the game.. this is a preview after all. You can never review an unfinished game. :)

Saw some VCR footage- I also saw some video of Crazy Taxi. It looks so close to arcade perfect that it's amazing!! I did notice that the game does not have that glossy look like the arcade... it looks just like House 2 and Powerstone look on Dreamcast. I guess the arcade monitor gives the Naomi games that glossy look. Besides the gloss beingm. i.a, I did not see any major differences from the footage, which was around 7 minutes. Well that's my preview of what will be one of Sega's new blockbuster games. The one, The only....SHEN MUE!!!!!! I must own this game.

Special thanks to:

Den