10 Video Games With An Insane Level Of Detail (That No One Noticed)
1. The Shenmue Games Have The Most Interactive Open-World Ever
Aside from being extraordinarily expensive and the one ray of light for the Dreamcast that never dimmed, the two Shenmue games have garnered a reputation for being brilliant and insanely detailed experiences that push the boundaries of open-world gaming. Little do you know just how much emphasis the developers placed on the 'insane' part.
With open-world titles in general, there's the main storyline, a bunch of side-missions and mini-games - and some nice little easter eggs for those who want to hunt every last drop of content down. Shenmue went an extra mile (or three) by making their recreation of Yokosuka so detailed you can literally open every drawer in the game, flick every light switch and explore almost every building possible.
As the game is set in the 1980's, developers studied meteorological records of the actual suburb of Yokosuka in order to ensure the in-game weather patterns adhered to what happened in real life. As for all the NPCs and residents of the virtual Yokosuka, they were all designed to lead their own independent lives whilst keeping to a schedule. With crazy details like these, what was most impressive was that everything was possible despite the Dreamcast's comparative lack of power and grunt.
Shenmue 3 recently came to fruition through a kickstarter after E3 2015, and everyone can look forward to some more drawer-opening and light switch-flicking in HD in the near future. Bring it on.