Shenmue 3 - Review @ Wccftech

Wccftech has reviewed Shenmue 3:

Shenmue III Review - Nostalgia-Drunken Master

It's hard to believe I'm actually reviewing Shenmue III here at the tail end of 2019. Shenmue and its first sequel were hugely influential games, establishing the framework countless other open worlds have been built upon, but unfortunately, they were also ahead of their time. The first two Shenmue games just didn't connect with early-2000s audiences, at least not to the degree needed to cover their bloated budgets. Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki spent years struggling to revive the series, but it was all in vain until the advent of Kickstarter, where Shenmue III managed to amass a whopping $6.3 million from fans (still the most successful Kickstarter campaign ever for a single video game).

Of course, as we've seen before, a lot of Kickstarter cash doesn't always translate into a great game. Does Shenmue still have something unique to offer players in 2019? Or does the master no longer have what it takes to compete? Time to put this old warhorse to the test…

[…]

Is Shenmue III dated? Absolutely, but the game proves that, like most genres, open-world adventures still have a thing or two to learn from the past. Shenmue III isn't always as player-friendly as it could be, but its lively, uniquely-handcrafted world is truly absorbing. Here's hoping this isn't the end of Ryo and Yu Suzuki's epic journey.

Pros

• Very pretty in its own way
• Plot builds to a satisfying climax
• Missions are varied and engaging
• Densely-packed level design
• Plenty to keep you busy
• Genuinely relaxing

Cons

• Ungraceful combat
• Quick time events still not great
• Will we ever see the end of this story?

Score: 8/10

More information.

Have to agree when will the story end? Guess we'll have to wait another 15 years.

How do you review Shenmue with pros and cons and not put "the absolute worst dialogue and voice acting you will ever encounter" at the top of the con list?

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
Have to agree when will the story end? Guess we'll have to wait another 15 years.

There is nothing wrong with neverending story.

There is everything wrong with so called legends of videogames design incapable to make proper controls. I mean, it's basics!
I don't remember any famous neurosurgeon dying from cold.

8/10? More like 1/10 and that 1 goes only for successful scamming PC audience like me into backing it on Kickstarter otherwise it'd be 0. It's not easy to scam people just like that.

Well I played past games on the Dreamcast and XBox, So they have always been console first games, but I agree porting proper M&KB controls should be mandatory.

It's not rocket science but most JRPGs developer's fail. Though some have improved. Anyway it's time-based button clicking that I hate, or simply known as QTE's

Not sure what's worse, the game itself, or the fact that some media are giving it a 8/10 score. Honestly, lately I credit a vast majority of "professional" critics as much as any random internet poster, and that's extremely low. It's genuinely disgusting how petty and toady critics can get.

Wow other than this review, the general consensus is a piss poor game that was crowdfunded at over 6 mil. I didn't back it, know nothing of the series, and have no interest in JRPGs. But this is still hard to stomach even from the sidelines.

Seems Epic doesn't just throw money at developers, but also at "reviewers"

Originally Posted by azsinistar
Seems Epic doesn't just throw money at developers, but also at "reviewers"

Er… it's also a PS4 game.

Densely-packed level design

I never played any of the Shenmue games but that line caught my eye. These days many game developers think they need to make a huge open world. This means you either get empty worlds or worlds filled with repeat quest and/or lot of copy paste mechanics etc. I am thinking the new Assassin creed games and even to some extent Skyrim, DAI etc. Don't get me wrong, these are all fun games which I enjoyed but I felt they always over stayed their welcome due to developers making them huge.

I just wish they make these world small and densely pack the game world with stuff. This is one of the things i enjoyed about older games like Gothic or even Morrowind.

Originally Posted by lostforever
I never played any of the Shenmue games but that line caught my eye. These days many game developers think they need to make a huge open world. This means you either get empty worlds or worlds filled with repeat quest and/or lot of copy paste mechanics etc. I am thinking the new Assassin creed games and even to some extent Skyrim, DAI etc. Don't get me wrong, these are all fun games which I enjoyed but I felt they always over stayed their welcome due to developers making them huge.

I just wish they make these world small and densely pack the game world with stuff. This is one of the things i enjoyed about older games like Gothic or even Morrowind.

Detail is indeed a good thing, but Shenmue isn't particularly detailed, despite this review. It's full of drawers of pointless junk, objects you can't interact with, people you can't talk to. I've played a dozen open world games with denser, more interesting worldspaces.