Shenmue 3 is a action-adventure title for PS4 and PC, which was developed by Ys Net and published by Deep Silver. It is a follow-up sequel to 2005's title Shenmue 2 which was originally released for SEGA Dreamcast and Xbox Original, and was later for re-released port in 2018 for PS4, XBONE and PC.
It's been for 2 decade since I've played the first two of Shenmue titles because it is one of my favourite game that defining not just only the SEGA Dreamcast's own library, but also defining the legacy of Yu Suzuki, a creator behind his own series was very known for its his own successful SEGA's arcade classics that started in the mid-80's to early 90's such as the likes of Space Harrier, After Burner, Outrun, Hang On and of course Virtua Fighter.
The series was started out as the Virtua Fighter RPG which was intended to develop for SEGA's own 32-bit hardware such as SEGA Saturn, but the idea was completely dropped that led SEGA AM2 had shifted to Sega's upcoming console, as well as being renamed the title as Shenmue with completely different new connection that has nothing to do with SEGA's own 3D fighting game series.
It's one of the first title that the creator wanted to create an unique genre mixed with open-world style adventure, interactive quick time events, and brawler battling system, as well as introducing the newer elements such as numerous interactive objects, a day-and-night system, variable weather effects, non-player characters with daily schedules, and various minigames.
These two games had becoming critically praised at the release in both 2000 and 2001 which was credited for pioneering game systems including quick time events and open worlds, and had gained the cult following as being the greatest game of all-time. Despite with the positively, the series went into with development hell due to poor sales figures had led the creator aren't able to make another sequel till it was finally made an comeback when Yu Suzuki appeared at E3 2015 Sony's Press Conference had confirmed the third entry of the series for PC and PS4 through Kickstarter campaign. It finally met the main goal of $2 Million as well as managing to raise $6.3 million of additional stretch goal from over 69,000 backers, becoming the highest-funded video game in Kickstarter history at the time.
Shenmue 3 finally got a release in holiday 2019 which I was originally intended to get a copy for PS4, but I wasn't able to get it till a year later after the game's release.
After being able to beat the whole game, did it live up to my expectations after the 20 years of long wait? the answer is that the game is considered as the decent entry in the series but not quite legendary as the previous two titles which I will discuss further more details on my review including some positives and negatives parts of the game.
So without go further do, let's start the review.
Presentation
The game sets after the event of Shenmue 2 which takes place in China. The story continues off with Ryo Hazuki has a quest to find his father's killer in the mountains of Guilin, as well as searching for Shenhua's missing father Yuan who worked as a stonemason in Shenhua's hometown of Bailu Village which was captured by group of thugs went looking for the phoenix mirror which Ryo has brought from his father's dojo.
I got to say the story in the game is still pretty good that involves an young man seeking his revenge on cold blooded killer named Lan Di, a leader of the Chinese mafia known as Chi You Men, who murdered his father Iwao Hazuki and retrieved Dragon Mirror that has already happened in the event of the first game which is the reason why the opening intro of the first game had caught my attention to keep continuing the ongoing quest throughout the sequels.
In this game, you had Ryo and his friend Shenhua, who already discovered a large mural of the magical mirrors in Stone Quarry from second game, went out to search for her missing father that was being captured by groups of thugs, which is likely believed that they are also working with the Chi You Men, went after for Phoenix Mirror that Ryo had carries.
As the story continues, it also learns that Ryo had discovered the history behind the mirrors that been linked to the local Verdant Bridge, constructed to honor the visit of a Chinese envoy which is really interesting to know everything about what was the mirror created for and why any of gangs went after it? that kept the story quite mysterious.
Ryo Hazuki is still a kick ass fighter that did a tons of forklifting job, gambling at game of lucky hit, playing favourite arcades classics, collecting toy capsules, and went out finding for sailors is what made me liked him a lot, so now you are spending time to chop out some woods, practicing horse stance, and chasing after chickens which is kinda cool.
Aside with his outside job, I really liked his ambitious motivation when it comes with practicing kung fu and chances to battle with the bigger gang that is harder to defeat is what builds up his confidence and I also liked his relationship with Shenhua with friendly personality is what makes the characters also important as part of the game during the conversation between two. It's good to talk about the topics like their family history, the locations in Home Village, and some advices that really adds up the overall friendship.
I'm also surprised to see an returning character Ren which you might know him from the second game who is also bit of jerk sometimes, but it's good to see him teaming up with Ryo once again during the quest.
Aside with great heroic characters, the game fair shares with some okays new villain such as Longqi Ge and Yanlang are the only redeeming two villains in the game except the small supportive gangs, but it wasn't good as the returning villain such as Lan Di which shares with his shadowy martial arts style which made him quite deadly and then you have Chai up to trouble again which I'm quite surprised to see his return since he first appeared from the first original game.
The presentation in this game is surprisingly gorgeous in both locations such as Bailu Village which took place in Guilin. It has beautifully scenery of outside view which filled with blossom trees, green fields, blue rivers, hills and mountains, cloudy sunrise, dojo temple, village shops, bridges, and bell tower which is very calming place to discover what the village is really like in Guilin. Then you have Niaowu which is slightly big looking places filled with hotel, food market, valuable pawn shops, fishing port, small warehouse, fight club, arcades and gambling, outside restaurants and of course the big huge temple which is quite amazing to explore around the town.
I also liked the dynamic use of environmental system in the game which the series are also credited for utilizing the real-time day and night system where it slowly turns daylight into night sky depending on the time system during open-world gameplay.
Overall, it has good storyline, impressive cast of characters, gorgeous locations view, and great real-time environmental system.
Gameplay
You take control of Ryo in open-world environment in which your main goal is to complete the each of these tasks that's been written on the notepad, so you will start investigating with NPCs to find out the info that was linked to stuff like Shenhua's missing father or group of thugs whereabouts. Sometime it's takes awhile to get used too depending on which people can able to give you a information for newer clues or some other may not able to know what you're asking a question, so once you get the information from people then the newer clues can be added to your notebook so you can able to go specific places that the clues been written on the notebook such as taking down gang leader in Bailu Village which requires practicing powerful kung fu attacks as well as gathering a info from them during the interrogation.
The clues are also involved with puzzle solving such as finding important items that can be found at different rooms, so you can able to find key items by interacting the objects such as drawers, closets, boxes, cabinets and shelves.
The game also involved with fighting gangs which can be played on different sequences such as QTE events where the command buttons can be appeared on the screen as the player has to quickly press the correct command button to avoid accidental during the fight sequence as well as chase sequence, so if the button been pressed incorrectly which leads into epic fail sequences in the game so you had to start back from the beginning.
Then you will have battle segment where you fight off against them similar to 3D fighting game, so you have basic punches and kicks to attack them, while the game added the block button which helps you deflecting against the enemy's attack.
Aside fighting with the enemies, it's one of the first game that has level up skills system where you can practice at the training dojo to master your kung fu skills depending on how many technique scrolls you obtained from the martial arts shops, so mastering these moves can level up your overall fighting style which allows you to beat the enemy lot easier for later battles and you can also master your endurances by performing horse stance and rooster step which upgrades your health capacity for long lasting health points.
Speaking of health, your health points normally drops down slowly when running around the towns or practicing at dojo so you will need to buy a item that can increase your health points such as fruit and veg from food stand, drinks from vending machine, and medicine from store clinic.
The gameplay is fairly okay for some parts which I believe the development team are trying to add something new element that the previous games did not have, so I find controlling the player and camera system in open-world area is done quite smoothly that I can able to walk and look around in some places in towns as well as being able to interacting with the items and objects on first-person view is much easier to navigate things which is good, but there are some problem with the battle combat and QTE sequences that is little step back compared with the previous two games. The fighting system is kinda bit clunky to perform the various of moves which it will take sometime to get used with the fighting controls and it's kinda bummer that it didn't include the ability to throw enemies on the ground, running around, and using sidestep like from the previous two games, but it wasn't that bad as you may think because I really liked how the game has the ability to add and upgrade your fighting moves and health points is quite a nice addition thanks to training places and I also liked having to customise your move scrolls which is also quite useful before you are fully prepared for later battle.
I got to say the QTE command input is poorly executed compared with the previous two games because it's felt very difficult to react the button sequence, so it felt like they adjusted the speed of the QTE sequence quite faster than the lighting which makes our react speed slower than the QTE itself. It made the player quite frustrating if they aren't able to master the QTE system which is the reason not to make the game so difficult to play.
Besides the fighting system and QTE sequences, the rest such as social jobs and gambling mini-games are actually pretty decent for most part such as chopping woods and forklift work is the best way to earning the wages which you can save these money for purchasing stuff from various of shops and I got to say the game of lucky hit is fun ways of gambling which helps you earning enough tokens so you can spend tokens on valuable prizes which you can sell it to pawn shops for earning enough higher savings.
The game does have a decent list of objectives especially with the main quest is pretty straightforward filled with great investigation and puzzles are mostly the main highlight of the game had it right so far and this game also introduces the smaller side quest which is another nice feature to the game itself that keeps the fans satisfied with the newer addition.
Overall, clunky fighting system and poor QTE sequences, but shared with decent open-world design, smooth player's controls, and various of objectives.
Graphics
The graphics is remarkably impressive for the whole presentation side. The weather effects is looking amazing with the use of detailed clouds, real-time system on day and night skies, and sharp looking sunlight, while the overall environmental design shared with great water rendering, smoother textures on buildings and objects, and animated particles of trees and grass is quite amazing to look, but I do find the facial animation on the characters is rather stiff looking during lip syncing which could have done it bit better, and I also wanted to point out some minor loading textures in some areas during the exploration that can only happen rarely just for less than 2 seconds which is not big of the deal, but I do appreciate with the design element in the game that the developer are trying to push the boundaries of the hardware to make the game look appealing as possible.
Overall, stiff facial animation and minor loading textures, but shares with impressive real-time weather effects, and great environmental design.
Music and Sounds
The original soundtrack still retains the same orchestrated style as the previous games which feels just like Shenmue as you expected. I really liked the mix sounding of villages and city which perfectly fits well on Chinese culture aspects, as the whole soundtrack was composed by Ryuji Luchi who has previously worked on his score for Shenmue 2 did a stunning job of creating his best track to date.
It also shares with great use of environmental sound effects that is so nicely done in both locations featuring outside background noises.
I got to say the voice cast in the game is rather mixed bag compared with previous games.
It was fine for characters like Ryo, Shenhua, and Ren which is sounds just like from the previous title except I'm bit disappointing on mostly NPCs as well as the several of villains especially Lan Di doesn't sounded as same it was before, so yeah I do really missed his sinister voice from the first game sadly.
I don't really mind having a Japanese voice over in the game which is far more better than the cringy English dub which you might want to stick with the Japanese dub instead.
Overall, cringy English voice, but also has incredible soundtrack and rock-solid sound design.
Special Features
The game does have 3 paid DLC contents such as story pack comes with additional side quest, big merry cruise filled with many gambling games to play and many prizes to win, and battle rally where you had to race through the village to the finishing line as well as beat up the enemy along the way.
The GAME places which is the location where you get to play some mini-games such as the returning QTE title 2 and Excite QTE 3, but it's a shame that the game sadly doesn't include the favourite SEGA arcade games like Space Harrier, Outrun, After Burner, and Hang-On, instead you'll end up playing with the generic stuff like miracle shooter, nice golf, whack a mole, smart ball, highway star, and Chobu Chan fighter which I finding it quite lackluster, so I rather play a game of lucky hit and spent chopping some woods than wasting time on these things.
Overall, it's not as bad but not great.
Advantages
Good story and characters
Gorgeous presentation
Decent open-world design
Various of objectives
Impressive real-time weather effects
Great environmental graphics
Incredible soundtrack
Fun social jobs activities and gambling mini-games
Disadvantages
Clunky fighting system
Poor QTE sequences
Stiff facial animation
Cringy English dub
Lacking SEGA arcades
Final Verdict
Presentation 8.5/10 - good storyline, impressive cast of characters, gorgeous locations view, and great real-time environmental system.
Gameplay 6.5/10 - clunky fighting system and poor QTE sequences, but shared with decent open-world design, smooth player's controls, and various of objectives.
Graphics 7.5/10 - stiff facial animation and minor loading textures, but shares with impressive real-time weather effects, and great environmental design.
Music and Sounds 7.5/10 - cringy English voice, but also has incredible soundtrack and rock-solid sound design.
Special Features 6/10 - Lacks SEGA Arcades, but does have 3 paid DLC packs.
Overall 7/10 - As I grew up playing the previous two games for SEGA Dreamcast as well the HD collection on PS4, this game is not quite as legendary as you might expected, but it's still a decent overall game that aren't as bad as many says.
I don't really understand their disappointment on the sequel which the developer team had kept the promise to bring back the franchise from the dead and delivering the whole Shenmue experience for fans that they been begging for years since the Shenmue 2's cliff-hanger ending, but I understand the whole Kickstarter funding isn't enough to make such quality action-adventure that the cult following series was very known for its innovative design elements and cinematic story back in early 2000s, but please give this game a chance because it is being faithful to the original franchise for its real-time environmental system, decent open-world design, various of objectives including puzzle-solving and investigation, participating the social jobs, and spending free time on mini-games which is pretty good, but I wish the fighting system, QTE sequences, facial animation, and English voice acting could have done something better doesn't mean everything is bad overall.
I know the sales figures isn't good on the PC platform due to one-year exclusivity of Epic Games Storefront as opposed to Steam Storefront came out year later resulted a weak overall sales compared with PS4 release which is kinda shame for Ys Net was hoping for the future next installment.
Despite the game has some flaws and out of luck sales, I am very glad the game is existed because it's the reason we want the franchise making a comeback.
I had a blast of playing the game over 20 hours of non-stop training, lifting up boxes with forklift, chopping down pile of woods, chasing chickens around, collecting toy figurine from capsules, playing various of gambling games, and battling with the ranked kung fu fighters is what made this game quite special and I do really appreciate with the storylines and characters as well as the whole presentation and graphic design are also a main highlight of the title which leaves this game an most underrated experience that could deserve a much love and appreciate.
I say this game is only just for the fans which is difficult to impress the newcomer of the series, so I'm hoping for Ys Net to make a better sequel in future because this franchise is not yet finished till we able to see how the Ryo's revenge saga finally ends to conclude the whole series, so that being said I still liked the game.
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