Shenmue III Review | Destructoid

Have you seen any sailors?

[DigitalRaptor]

7/10 is not shabby for a game like Shenmue that is purely for the fans, somehow obliged to innovate even though many games are highly rated even though they don't innovate.

[gangsta_red]

There's a difference between innovating and using archaic gameplay design.

I think that would be obvious. Updating a game to today's open world standards. No one expected this game to innovate but good attempt at a false narrative.

[Gazondaily]

This looked pretty meh when they first showed off the gameplay and the signs were there of nostalgia blinding people regarding how the game would fare in the modern age. Even at the time of the initial game's release, it really got carried by its visual flair.

This mild reception for Shenmue 3 really makes 2 out of 'the big 3' announcements at that famous E3 showing this gen fall very short of the tears and joy they generated.

It's down to the Final Fantasy 7 remake and whilst it looks great, the now episodic nature of it takes away the impact of it.

[Angyobangyo]

Shenmue 3 was never going to be a mainstream title. There is nothing to be hyped about unless you are a fan of the series. Those tears of joy were from fans of the series which isn’t a big crowd hence why it was also crowd funded.

[neutralgamer1992]

Yes absolutely I think people saw thar reaction and took it the wrong way. The reviews I have seen pretty much say it's a fan service type game

[Gazondaily]

I agree it wasnt going to be mainstream but it did have considerable hype behind it.

The kickstarter nature of it really only surfaced after the announcement and I dont think its fitting for a series which was notorious for having the most expensive budget at the time. Going from that to a kickstarter budget title set this down a path of, well I dont want to say mediocrity because that's overly harsh, but shy of the greatness a lot of people expected of it, however this was going to be achieved.

If hardcore fans of Shenmue are pleased with the game then I guess a point can be made that this is what matters, irrespective of how it is received by others.

[Tapani]

I can confirm Shenmue 3 is every bit as good as the earlier games. In fact, I think it is actually slightly even better! It's a game that requires patience, but there's fundamentally nothing wrong with it. It is a 100% Shenmue experience, and that is what people wanted, and still want after the third installment.

[neutralgamer1992]

What were the 3? I know shenmue 3/FF7

[Gazondaily]

The Last Guardian was the third.

[neutralgamer1992]

Last guardian coming out was good enough and it got mostly positive reviews 82/100 after 110 reviews is anything but good

[Gazondaily]

Generally yes it reviewed well but not worth the 10 or so year hiatus and hype. Imo the game was terrible but that's just me.

As far as the wider community concerned, it was definitively viewed positively for the most part but not worthy of the tremendous hype it garnered.

[neutralgamer1992]

That's true but it almost got canned too so for it to be 82/100 after such a long development is good

[Gazondaily]

Yeah that's a fair point. It didn't end up by the way of the likes of Crackdown at least..

[gangsta_red]

"It's down to the Final Fantasy 7 remake.."

The thing about this is FF 7 is a remake that has been updated for modern times.

Last Guardian and this Shenmue seems to not have taken any of the time to do this which is why at least Shenmue is getting low reviews.

I don't mind a game keeping play styles and mechanics from the past to keep some sort of nostalgia, the issue I have is when those mechanics and play styles weren't fun even back then which I have said about Shenmue before.

[IamTylerDurden1]

First of all, Sony had more than one epic E3 this gen.

God of War, HZD, and Spider-Man were massive E3 announcements that turned out great.

Second, The Last Guardian was excellent. It scored an 82 Meta even with the highly criticized technical issues.

Shenmue III was never going to be a critical darling. The media has been attacking this game for years as if they expected a brand new AAA game with a 50 million dollar budget. In actuality, a 71 Meta is surprisingly good for this game. The budget and team size were nowhere near AAA standards, and the game was always going to be "more Shenmue" rather than some innovative AAA. And that is what true fans wanted. Diehards are exuberant over this game. This isn't Mighty No 9, backers are very happy.

FFVII does look great. The episodic nature doesn't have the same negative impact now that we know more about the game. This isn't the Hitman format, they are shipping a full $60 game. The episodic nature is more akin to sequels than the way Tell Tale handles it.

It's honestly more akin to the Mass Effect trilogy. These will essentially be sequels, but all part of the same broad story arc. Anyone complaining about the episodic nature still, is either uninformed or straight trolling.

[DigitalRaptor]

Despite people harping on about Shenmue III needing a AAA budget "LiKe tHe oLd gAmEs", it turns out that even with certain shortcomings compared to Shenmue II, it is still a game that is as ambitious as the originals and fulfils what most fans could have wanted out of it. It didn't need the AAA budget to be a pure, 100% uncompromising Shenmue game that is the 80s China martial arts adventure game it was always going to be.

[DigitalRaptor]

The website you used to write for was on the misinformation bandwagon from day one when it comes to Shenmue III, so if this is still your angle... I'm not surprised. If the people who were crying about getting a Shenmue sequel are happy, then I guess all-in-all, that is what matters. If Shenmue fans hyped it up over a decade and they are happy with it, what does it matter that you think it doesn't? Most of the reviews point out that it's an uncompromisingly faithful sequel that is for the fans more than it is for newcomers or those expecting the bells and whistles of modern open-world games. At the same time, reviewers are allowed to been honest in pointing out its flaws compared to these modern games.

You've seen who the usual suspects are that have been in the Shenmue articles on N4G since the Kickstarter announcement, who the ones are that desperately wanted a disaster out of it. Who are calling out direct feed screenshots as "bullshots" because they didn't think it was ever going to look that good, and it turned out looking better, much better. Lukewarm reception of a game that always maintained a niche following and is deliberately anachronistic is no disaster my dude. Shenmue III did what it needing to and punched way above its weight compared to what most people seemed to expect out of it.

The Last Guardian is an amazing game too so I'm not sure - at all - why you're attempting to put a damper on that one too. FF7 Remake releasing in parts doesn't dampen the excitement that game is going to bring. Not sure what you're getting at here other than trying to shit on a historic E3 conference.

[GaboonViper]

Wasn't Septic the one who said crow would be served about "The almighty power of cloud power in CD3" and then dissappeard for months after the true CD3 released and it was utter shite???, regardless I love Shenmue 3 and as always couldn't care care less about review scores.

[DigitalRaptor]

@ GaboonViper

I believe you're right - these guys can't keep pretending to be neutral forever.