Microsoft had the Xbox version of Shenmue II playable in its booth on the showfloor of E3, so we were eager to spend some time with the long-awaited continuation of the ambitious martial arts adventure series that started its life on Sega's Dreamcast. Originally slated to hit the DC last year, that version of the game was canceled (much to the dismay of the DC faithful) when Microsoft announced it to be an Xbox exclusive. Since the announcement, very little has been said about the game, and it has never been shown publicly up till now. So having already spent a quite a bit of time with the Japanese DC version of the game, we were especially curious to see how the Xbox version of the game has been coming along.

The build on the show floor, which was 80 percent complete according to the signs on the kiosk, was broken up into parts that showed off the various aspects of the gameplay. While still incomplete, the game already featured full speech in English, much like the original Shenmue for the Dreamcast. The basic similarity between the DC and Xbox controllers means that anyone who's played the original game before will have no problems getting into Shenmue II. For those new to the series, picking up the control scheme isn't that much of a challenge. The game offers a fairly user-friendly experience and is easy to pick up.