I'm sure this has been seen and I'm just failing at my forum searches, but just in case...
Remember that infamous Gamespot review? The original author (who also wrote a mini-guide I've seen people reference) wrote about it a few years ago, and stands by his original 6.8:
http://frankprovo.livejournal.com/568275.html
It's an interesting read. He did post more recently about Shenmue III (http://frankprovo.livejournal.com/609377.html), and was a little more positive about Shenmue II in that post.
For those who aren't familiar with it, the original review (http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/shenmue-review/1900-2540599/) scored it a 6.8. After much rage, it was bumped up to a 7.8 against the reviewer's wishes. At the time, it was fairly notorious, with most sites giving Shenmue rave reviews (IGN scored it a 10/10, for example).
Anyway, wasn't sure how many had seen his "response" in 2010. It's always interesting to hear from the other side.