Shenmue Dojo

Can anyone suggest one?

I’ve heard of Sleeing Dogs and plan on buying it soon for my Xbox one. Are their any other martial arts beat em up adventures? I really enjoyed The Warriors for PS2. I want to play something heavy on martial arts and adventure.

I almost forgot to mention Jet Li’s Rise To Honor game also for PS2. Loved that game.

Any recommendations?

Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble its a psp game

It is like Yakuza because it has the same kind of combat and is like Shenmue because of the japanese atmosphere

In the normal context of these questions it wouldn't be an obvious comparison, but going by what you're specifically looking for, you might consider trying Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks for PS2 or Xbox.

Well the only three I can think of that are similar to Shenmue are Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time, Twilight Princess and Okami. Even then, they still cannot compare as Shenmue is truly unique like no other.

Honestly the games that I think are most like shenmue are Majoras Mask and Harvest Moon 64. Both are NPC focused, secret scenes can be discovered if things are done at certain times and seasons, reasonable open worlds without nonsense and both try to create a “realistic” world to some degree. I know Zelda is Fantasy but still. I chose Harvest Moon 64 because I think it’s the most melancholy and has the best atmosphere, but most of those games might be similar. I can’t attest to the quality of other Harvest Moon games though.

Sleeping Dogs is probably the closest you'll find. If you're looking for a good 3D, third person beat 'em up, try God Hand for the PS2 (I believe it also had a digital re-release). It severely lacks in the adventure department, but the gameplay is excellent and notoriously difficult.

Two others that I loosely compare to the Shenmue series would be L.A. Noire and Omikron: The Nomand Soul. Don't bother with L.A. Noire if you don't like detective games. It has other elements to it, but first and foremost it's about finding clues and interviewing/interrogating people. The Nomad Soul was released just a few months before Shenmue, and although I think it's a good game, there's no denying that it hasn't aged well. On top of that, it has a decent number of David Cage's stupid quirks.

Mr357 wrote:On top of that, it has a decent number of David Cage's stupid quirks.

Which ones?

I know the game well (it's one of my all time favorites in fact, despite its flaws), but can't see much connection with the criticisms levelled at Cage's later games.

Deadly premonition is amazing, shitty gameplay, but great story, narrative, and some of the best characters in videogames recent history. It also has emphazis on an open world, time, and the characters that inhabitate it. Sadly the action scenes are mostly pretty damn bad, and the horror atmosphere is quite a jump from the campy and quirky suburban life that the game has going on most of the time. But if you liked tween peaks, the game is just a must IMO.

There was a translation patch for a game called mizzurna falls, that has various elements of Shenmue.

Your best bet is going for some 3d adventure games though.

Like others are saying, they're really their own beast. I suppose the 2D equivalent for Yakuza is the Kunio Kun series (River City Ransom games being a subseries of its own within it), which seem like one of the main inspirations for Yakuza.

I'd also say Way of the Samurai series as well, which are at least similar to the samurai styled Yakuza games but are also their own things. But they have their own day/night system, side quests, multiple endings, fun combat systems, wacky characters, set in various parts of Ancient Japan between each game.

Japanese adventure games in general are a good bet if you enjoy methodical, slow paced gaming:

Glass Rose (PS2) - notebook system, Shenmue voice cast, point and click interface, developed by Capcom, Cavia (NieR devs) and Cing (Hotel Dusk devs).

Shadow of Memories/Shadow of Destiny - time system that plays a very important role in the plot, launch era PS2 game so has that old CG look to it, multiple endings, third person camera, dense areas to explore, unique NPCs to talk to to advance the plot. Developed by Konami during their peak as a developer.

Let's Get Sweaty wrote:

Mr357 wrote:On top of that, it has a decent number of David Cage's stupid quirks.

Which ones?

I know the game well (it's one of my all time favorites in fact, despite its flaws), but can't see much connection with the criticisms levelled at Cage's later games.

Namely the constant fourth wall breaks (heck, the first one happens in the first two minutes of the game), relentlessly difficult to read font, plethora of made up terminology which mostly covers things we already have names for (I get that they were trying to create another world, but in my opinion they took it to and unnecessary extreme), and of course the awkward clothed sex scene. The font is my only real complaint. It would have been nice if there was an in-game item that mitigated that, or if they had simply used a more readable font in the first place. Is it right of me to blame David Cage for all of the little things I don't like about the game? Probably not.

The fourth wall breaking is the whole point of the story, so I can see how you'd be off to a bad start if that grinds your gears.

The font is a little hard to read at times, but I bought into the game's atmosphere and world-making, so kooky lettering and terminology were all part of the charm for me.

The sex scene? Yeah, that was awkward. Though if I wanted to, I could more easily defend the absence of nude character models than the absence of actual character required to sleep with the girlfriend of a secretly deceased cop while disguised as said cop...

I'd say the biggest quirk of Cage is having shitty gameplay and inconsecuential choices (also terrible writing, but this one kinda scapes out of it for being just bonkers from the beginning).

The FPS mechanics are straight out a floaty mess, with no real conscious design put behind, there is some platforming that is beyond wonky, the fighting system is just boring. And on the other aspect of underdelivering it's the "mind hack" stuff, that all it does is change some stats (which you pretty much know who is better by just looking at it) and give some unique item, none of that is very compelling. Also you can mindhack two puzzles, but it's not really worth it. It was a cool game despite it.