A-
		Title	Shenmue
		Publisher	SEGA	Graphics	A+
		Developer	AM2	Sound	A-
		Released	December 1, 2000	Gameplay	A-
		Platform	Dreamcast	Longevity	A
	ESRB Information
	Animated Violence, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
	Highlights
	One of the best games on the platform, If you own a Dreamcast buy this game! It does get a little slow in places, but overall a great game.
	Full Review

Now that I have completed Shenmue, I have had difficulty coming up with a concrete review for the game. On the one hand, the game is beautifuly rendered and has an incredibly deep level of detail to its environments. But looking back it was too much walking around and not nearly enought kick ass fighting.

But lets start with the graphics. Like I said this game is gorgeous!  It is easily the best looking Dreamcast game I have played to date. While most of the textures do look washed out and pixelated when you get up close and try to look at posters or signs. Overall the rendering quality is comperable to something on the Xbox. The thing that really blew me away with Shenmue was the detail of the environments. I spent almost 45 minutes walking through Ryo's (the main character) house, opening drawers and cabinets. Even if there is nothing usable in the drawers, you can still zoom in and get a look at what's inside. On occasion you will be able to pick up things and hold them in Ryo's hand to get an even closer look. There are even entire rooms and buildings that you have no reason to visit, but have been modelled and populated with NPC's and items, just to complete the feeling of immersion.

The game also features a daytime cycle. Ryo gets up at either 8:30 or 7:30 (depending on where you are in the games story) and heads out the front door just as the sun has finished rising. Businesses are only open during certain hours and people go about their business as you would expect. In the later hours in the day, the sun sets and the street lights come on. People begin to head home as businesses close up for the day. If you head over to the street where the bars are located, you will find stumbling drunks roaming the streets in the late hours of the night.

It's a good thing Shenmue is so good looking, because you will be seeing quite a bit of it through the course of the game. Most of which consists of walking around asking "Do you know where so-and-so is?" Once you find the thing you have been asking about, the game rewards you with a martial arts battle or quick time event. Then throws something new for you to go look for. This mundane repition of go find X, fight X, go find Y and so on, got boring really fast. To the games credit though, most of the advice you get from the NPC's is very helpful and you never spend more than an hour looking for just one thing. So the game progresses at a good pace. So while I was annoyed by the endless searching, I kept playing because the pacing of the game was very well done.

My only other gripe about the game is because you do so much detective work, there is very little fighting. I am willing to estimate that there are more quick time events then there are full on battles. Which is a shame, because the fighting in Shenmue is one of my favorite parts of the game. There are plenty of moves and combinations that you can learn and use in battle. I would have enjoyed a bit more fighting then there was.

The last gripe I have with Shenmue is the ending. I want to avoid spoilers, so I can not go into much detail. Basically, things are left unexplained and you will have to play Shenmue 2 to get the rest of the story. To make matters worse, I have heard that Shenmue 2 has a similarly styled ending which leads into the never produced Shenmue 3. Although I cannot say that for certain as I have only played the first 20 minutes of Shenmue 2.

So, while Shenmue is likely the best looking game on the Dreamcast and is unparalelled in it's level of immersion on the system, the detective novel gameplay and anti-climactic ending will leave you hungry for more. So if you want to see what your Dreamcast can really do and don't mind being hung out to dry with an open ended "ending", put some Shenmue in your Dreamcast.

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				C+
		Title	Dynamite Cop
		Publisher	SEGA	Graphics	C-
		Developer	AMI	Sound	C
		Released	November 3, 1999	Gameplay	B
		Platform	Dreamcast	Longevity	D
	ESRB Information
	No descriptors given
	Highlights
	Fun to play through once with friends. But only about an hour long campaign and not very many reasons to come back for another rond.
	Full Review

If you have ever played a beat-em-up game before, then Dynamite Cop will feel familiar to you. It follows the same structure of any game from its genre. You punch and kick your way through the mini-stages which are connected by short cinematic clips and quick time events.

One of the highlights of Dynamite Cop is the ability to pick up and throw anything that is not nailed down. Picking up chairs, tables and even pepper shakers can help you defeat the waves of enemies coming at you. There are also plenty of guns to help you lay down the law, including handguns, shotguns and rocket launchers.

Dynamite Cop is fun to play, especially with a friend, largely because you both will be laughing your heads off at the enemies in the game. Some of the enemies you will encounter are people dressed as ninja turtles, crab men, and mutated neo-pirates. The non-sensical cutscenes also add plenty of laughs to the experience. I was not sure if the game was funny intentionally or just by accident, until I noticed that the clothes on the Dynamite Cops disappear as you take damage. The playable female character goes from full body armor, to a bullet proof vest. Eventually down to her undies. The same is true for the two male characters as well.

Fortunately, by the time the novelty of the game wares off, its over. Playing with a friend, you can probably finish the game in about 45 minutes, or even less if you really put some effort into it. Dynamite Cop is a fun experience for the first time around with friends. Unfortunately, after the first play through, It is unlikely that you will feel compelled to play it again...unless you can convince a new friend to play through it with you.

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				C+
		Title	Snake Rattle N' Roll
		Publisher	Nintendo	Graphics	A
		Developer	RARE	Sound	A-
		Released	1990	Gameplay	C-
		Platform	Nintendo Entertainment System	Longevity	C
	ESRB Information
	No ratings information was available for this game on the ESRB web site.
	Highlights
	Lots of color and fun to play, but becomes insanely difficult very quickly.
	Full Review

Developed by Rare Ltd and released for the NES in 1990, Snake Rattle N Roll pushed the NES to it's limits with the game's colorful graphics and sound. With both a single player mode and two player co-operative mode, at first glance it would appear that Snake Rattle N Roll is an amazing piece of NES software. Unfortunately, the game suffers from some major issues that affect gameplay, which is likely the reason the game did not sell very well and why you have probably never heard of it.

Regardless of the number of players, the gameplay is the same. You control your snake through the level, while eating colored pellets which increase the size of your snake. You can also eat power-ups that make your character invulnerable for a short time, increase the length of your tongue, or make your movement more agile. Ultimately, you need to eat as many pellets as you can and step on the scale located at the end of each level. If you are heavy enough, a bell will ring which opens the door to the next level.

Snake Rattle N Roll really shines in the graphics and sound department. With an isometric 3D-ish playfield and fantastic music, the presentation represents what developers were able to pull off near the end of the NES lifespan. Considering the number of colors, tons of sprites and music, it is amazing that the game only chugs a tiny bit in very rare cases.

Unfortunately though, I cannot give a glowing recommendation for this game, which is a shame since it is a very beautiful game to look at. The main reason I can't bring myself to tell you to rush out and buy this game is the controls. The NES controller was not made to move diagonally, which is a problem in an isometric game. Rare tries to adjust for that by mapping the four cardinal directions on the gamepad, to diagonal ones. For example; pushing up on the gamepad moves your character to the NorthEast rather than up. On the early stages this is not such a big deal. But as the game progresses you are required to perform increasingly complex jumping puzzles.

Couple the poor controls with an insane difficulty curve and it becomes clear why Snake Rattle N Roll did not sell very well. It is worth picking it up for the eye candy and the co-operative play. But don't expect to get anywhere near the last level on your first few plays.

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