Shenmue III Reviews
Shenmue III is the Benjamin Button of video games, except it won’t get any younger as the time goes by. Offers some interesting quirks, but overall it was release 20 years too late.
I’m glad that Shenmue 3 exists, and I hope the series continues so fans get the conclusion they deserve. It’s just a shame that it has rooted itself in the past.
Shenmue III is the monkey-paw wish of videogames — it is exactly what fans have wanted, to the point where it feels like it belongs in a different era.
Which players had to carry out as dutiful employees for several in-game days.
'A middle of the road game, out of fashion, and twenty years late. Nevertheless, Shenmue 3 will please players that enjoyed its prequels.'
Shenmue III deserved something better. The developers should have found a way to meld what makes Shenmue distinctly Shenmue with bringing the game mechanics into 2019. I’m all for remasters of old games and keeping those same clunky mechanics with those old games, including the punishing difficulty. However, I want my sequels to old games to adapt and grow with the times.
In a lot of ways, this review could probably go on for a lot longer highlighting how dated and lifeless this game is, but the fact of the matter is it is meant to appeal to fans. It’s hard to comment on how they’ll feel, but this is objectively a bad game and while it has elements of being so bad it’s good, such as the emotionless voice acting, making it hard to see the value in.
Shenmue III is like a ship lost in time, which looks archaic not only against the background of modern game mechanics and the far-stepped Yakuza series, but also the first two games of the series. Creation Yu Suzuki viscous, slow, with a huge number of restrictions and the halo of nostalgia, which will be understandable only to fans. For everyone else – this is an average story about martial arts and love, which you can try on cold winter evenings after drinking and setting off fireworks, even if after that you will have only one finger. For Shenmue III, this will be more than enough.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Despite these annoyances, despite the fact that it’s a game designed with decades-old sensibilities, I enjoyed my time with it. It doesn’t have the conclusion we’ve been waiting two decades for and it barely drives the story forward at all, but the climactic battle is as satisfying as that 70-man tussle in the first game’s harbour.
Exploring small towns is still fun and rewarding until you have to engage in battle and dialogue. Then it falls apart
A literal dream come true for fans and while most others will struggle to understand the appeal it's impossible not to admire Yu Suzuki's vision and tenacity in not only making the game but making it his way.
Shenmue III is alright, it’s the next step in the story and it stumbles along the way with some odd pacing amongst poor visual issues.
Shenmue 3 is a game created for fans that have been expecting a new title for almost 20 years. Although certain elements were modernized, such as smoother controls and graphics, the progression of the story and the overall structure returned to being as slow as it was in Shenmue I. In fact, the two parts that exist in the game are very similar in structure - it seems that you play it twice. The combat system, which now has RPG elements, doesn't look very good either. It is not a horrible game - far from it, but after waiting all this time we would like to see a natural evolution in its mechanics or story, and not the same thing again.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
New Shenmue is almost same as previous games. But nostalgic reminiscing has some flaws.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Shenmue III could be a much better game if it wasn't for technical issues or gameplay's lack of depth in some part of the game, but in the end, i can say Shenmue III is still an enjoyable experience for fans of series wainting many years to dive again into a "Shenmue" game. Bring lower your expectation and enjoy a beautiful story and fun activities.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Shenmue III is a game for the fans … and only for the fans. It feels like what would have happened if the Shenmue series had continued on the Dreamcast. This is delightful if you were hoping for a continuation of the franchise, but unfortunately, the appeal stops there for most casual players. If you're a fan of playing old, quirky games, you'll find something to like here, but if you can't tell Shenmue from Shamu, you probably won't understand the hype. It's nice to revisit a long-dead franchise, but if Shenmue IV gets made, one can only hope that it's slightly more ambitious.
But sentimental value only goes so far. Shenmue III should have been the final game in this trilogy, all loose ends tied up and (re)vengeance served. Instead, Suzuki-sama hopes to continue Ryo's story and with little improvement made over the past two decades and I fear that a fourth game will stick to this same stagnant formula. Disappointed as I am with this news, my real hope is that he can pull off a fourth and final game sooner than later. Because as much as I love this series, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to feeling let down with this revival and worry about ever seeing the end of this tale.
To put it politely, Shenmue III has the potential to charm existing fans of the Shenmue saga, if only in how much it painstakingly recreates the stilted beauty of its two predecessors. However, if judged on its merits alone and/or by a non-Shenmue fan, this game just feels like a whole bunch of wasted Kickstarter money. If there's one thing that Shenmue III proves, it's that bringing new fans into the fold was never Ys Net's goal.
Fans of the series are going to find everything they love here – a game that refuses to be anything else apart from itself, even if that is rooted in the past.