Originally starting life as Project Berkley – creator Yu Suzuki named it after the University of the same name because he liked it – Shenmue was one of the very first “go anywhere, do anything” kind of games that Sega termed Fully Reactive Eyes Entertainment.

An ambitious project that quickly became the most expensive video game of all time – possibly introducing the current trend for enormous budget games, but that’s another story – Shenmue tells the story of a Japanese teenager named Ryo Hazuki, who grows up in 1980s Japan.

Returning to his home and dojo one December day, he sees his father killed by a man wearing green Chinese robes. The man attacks Ryo, then leaves with a green mirror made of mysterious green stone. Waking up several days later, Ryo resolves to discover what happened that day and avenge his father’s death.

Shenmue is an awesome experience because it creates an involving and engrossing world through detail. You can pick up pens, notepads, turn lights on and off, collect toys, drink cans of pop (and win a prize!), train to improve your martial arts skills and so much more I can’t remember. Sections of Dobuita (the nearby town to Ryo’s home) were modelled on Dobuita St in Japan, and when you complete the game it’s possible to play through the game using that day’s real weather from the area. That’s how cool it is.

Part of the joy of playing Shenmue is that it’s unintentionally quite a funny game. The voice acting isn’t of the highest standard and although the script is wide – every time you have to fulfil a new objective you get new dialogue, which happens quite a lot in a game this size – you’ll hear certain phrases over and over again. In fact, one of my favourite ways to amuse myself is to use Shenmue dialogue in real life. Here are a few of my tips:

  • When asking a friend about a previous event, ask “what do you remember about that day?” If this fails to bring a response, prompt them with “that day the snow turned to rain.” This always helps.
  • If someone asks what you’re looking for, tell them you are looking for sailors, or a man named Charlie. He has a tattoo on his arm.
  • Whenever drinking, always finish with “oo-ahh… good” and look at the can, bottle or cup. This will never get old, even if you do it every time you have a drink over the course of six years or so.

Shenmue is vast and unfortunately unfinished. Shenmue II is available on the Xbox but I don’t think it’s quite as good as the first one as it doesn’t have the same feeling of being able to explore a small area; it’s rather larger, and the environment is less appealing to me as it’s set in built-up Hong Kong, rather than rural Japan. Still, it’s worth getting if you find it – 2 for £20 from Gamestation as well, you’ll be pleased to know.

What do you love about Shenmue?