Difficulty 3/10

The game play can be difficult at first, controlling Ryo around the house can be a chore because you have to use the D-Pad for movement but you`ll get used to it. The fighting elements in the game have been taken from the Virtua fighter series, And you will soon find that there is lots of depth to the fighting system.

Story 10/10

Shenmue is simply beautiful, you are Ryo Hazuki a martial arts expert in training. You are sent on a journey of revenge to find your Father`s killer and figure out why he killed your father.

Graphics 9/10

The graphics in Shenmue took the Dreamcast to the limit. Every object and person is highly detailed, even the weather was very realistic from rain to snow. As Shenmue is in real time, day changes to night and each person goes through their daily routine in Shenmue for example you may only see some people at night but not in the daytime for instance you will find drunkards roaming the streets at night time and shops have their own opening and closing times, everything is so realistic and the visuals are very impressive. The game also keeps a steady frame rate considering the amount taking place on screen at any one time.

Addictiveness 10/10
 
The beauty of Shenmue are the endless possibilities and it really feels like a living breathing world. You can buy food from shops, buy drinks from vending machines and even collect toy capsules from the Virtua Fighter series, Sonic series and a lot of other Sega franchises. You even have your own Sega Saturn in your house that you can play original Saturn games on! Oh, there's even an Arcade in Shenmue where you can play some great you Suzuki classics like Space harrier and Super Hang On and you can even have a game of darts among other things.
There are also quick time events which is a sequence in which a series of buttons flash on screen and you have to press the appropriate button to make an event happen, for instance you may be walking down the street and a football is kicked at your characters head, this will then trigger a quick time event to begin, and you have to press the appropriate button that flashes on screen to parry the football. That was just an example of a simple quick time event but some of them are really impressive particularly, if your swarmed by a gang of thugs or chasing after someone making a runner with your money.

Sound 8/10

The music in the game is equally impressive, There is a piece of music that fits the situation in the game beautifully. Some pieces may not be that great, but lots are very memorable like the main theme to Shenmue. In the game you can even buy cassettes from the village shop's to play on your stereo so you can listen to them anytime you like. All the characters in the game talk as well, which is quite impressive considering there's over 300 different characters to interact with and each have their own individual voice and character. The dialogue however becomes a little repetitive and a little basic at times.  

Depth 10/10

The game spans over 3 discs because of the size of the game so the game does last a long time, however if you decide just to play through solely for the story, the game could take just a matter of days to play through but its difficult to play through solely for the story purely because of the amount of distractions making the game last far longer. There is so much interaction in this game which is why Shenmue set new standards and created a new genre of its own. You can go anywhere you want, you can even use a phone box to find out what the weather will be like! You have to start employment in the game which I found enjoyable and have to catch a bus to get you to work. I have not seen something similar in any other game of its time. You can talk to anybody you wish which is essential because you have to ask people questions to find out the whereabouts of your fathers killer by piecing together clues that you’ve gathered, and key points in conversations with people are kept in your log book.
Even when you do finish the game there is still lots to do like collecting all the toy capsules, fighting moves, Sega Saturn games and cassette tapes. But the chances are you’re most likely going to want to play through Shenmue again purely because its such a memorable experience and the chances are Shenmue will become one of the best games you’ve ever played.
Personally I love Shenmue despite the linearity of the story purely because the game is so impressive. No other game to this day has come close to the vision of Shenmue and Shenmue still remains the only game of its genre and it still remains only rivalled by its sequel.
Shenmue still remains the most expensive video game ever created, amazingly though it was never created to be a profitable game but rather to increase interest in the Dreamcast at the time but unfortunately Shenmue failed to find any mass market interest because by the time of completion there couldn’t possibly be any promotion or advertising, and Shenmue went unnoticed, one of the biggest travesty’s in the video game industry in my opinion. Anyway I certainly suggest Shenmue to every one purely because its such a memorable experience

Might want to refresh your game history. Shenmue is not still the most expensive game to create. Over a dozen games have been made since then that are far more expensive. Some were even over double the amount it took to create Shenmue. GTA 4, GTA 5, Star Citizen, CoD 2- Modern Warefare, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Final Fantasy VII, just to name a few. Taking inflation into account, Shenmue took a little under $99million. GTA 5 was over $260million.

Regardless, Shenmue might be my favorite series. I am very stoked that after over a decade, Shenmue III is finally a confirmed reality.

You caught my attention at "best RPG." I admit that your review was excellent, with excellent structure and ample details. However I don't really feel that the game was THE best RPG ever. You should have compared it to other RPGs to state what makes it so great. Are the sidequests more time-consuming than, says, FF VII?