Shenmue III Review- PS4

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I have loved the living hell out of Shenmue since day one. This is because I have PLAYED the living hell out of Shenmue since day one. This is the game franchise that made me like action RPGs. Before Shenmue, text speech was all there was, and the accompanying graphics, well, were 8-bit chibi.

Shenmue introduced a style where many or most of the virtual folks you met along your way had at least SOMETHING to say. And they said it. With real voices. It brought a realism to the genre, a quantum leap. Money was spent as well as time. And gold was spun.

Shenmue 3 has to be held in comparison with Shenmue 1 and 2, as well as a ghostly sense of what 3 SHOULD be with modern technology and techniques. Being the fan that I am, I think it falls short. Just a bit. Don’t hate me.

There is NO reason why EVERY time I go back to a fortune teller, or sales person, or ANYONE like that, that they should begin anew explaining who they are and what they do, and what may result. NONE. There is memory available, for godz sake. RIDICULOUS. Hearing a color fortune-teller re-explain what he is and what he does EVERY TIME you go to get your fortune read… well, that’s just a bunch of HORSESHIT, son. This is Playstation 4, not Dreamcast. This is 2019, shit, almost 2020 when this game came out, not 1999. There’s a 20 year span there. Come on, Mr. Suzuki… I’m talking to YU!

THAT being said, the story and graphics hold strong. “Lucky Hit” is there. The Sega games at the arcade are NOT (DAMMIT!!). And... and but-the gameplay itself is clean and flows well.

The working and fighting control schemes are spot-on. The game certainly doesn’t SUCK. BUT… it really does either require a die-hard classic player of the old franchise who has to have it and play it (a guy like me), or a newbie that is super-intrigued about the story and overall scheme and mechanics of this classic, beautiful franchise.

As well, the music is wonderful. Full stop.

Because of all of this, the fact that this franchise spans DECADES and this game is part of the SERIES, I will issue two scores.

As a part of the franchise? TOO SHORT. But it DOES have good continuity in the story, so 8/10.

As a standalone game… well… TOO SHORT. Can’t be helped, 6/10.

OVERALL SCORE: 7/10.





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