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| It's finally here. |
After the cliffhanger ending of Shenmue II, young martial artist Ryo Hazuki continues the search for his father's murderer, Lan Di, in 1980's China. He stumbles upon Bailu Village where meets a young girl named Shenua, who accompanies him after her father's sudden disappearance. The pair now must look for clues from the quiet village of Bailu to the bustling city of Naiowu, unaware of the dangers that befall them. The Shenmue games are relatively known for being slow-paced compared to other games, both in terms of gameplay and story. Shenmue III takes things up a notch by having the story progress considerably slow, especially in the first half of the game where not much happens in terms of excitement. Still, I enjoyed meeting some of the new characters while also having a chance to talk to past characters from Shenmue I. My biggest gripe with the story was how-- yet again-- the game abruptly ends on a cliffhanger ending that felt unfulfilling as there were many plot elements that still needed explaining, which I feel is my biggest disappointment with the game. It screams Shenmue IV, but seeing we barely got the third game, who knows when Ryo's journey will finally end.
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| After 18 years, the adventure continues... |
Shenmue III retains the gameplay foundations of its predecessors as you'll control Ryo as he explores wide environments, talking to NPCs and beating thugs along the way. With few clues on the whereabouts of Lan Di, Ryo must investigate the locals in hopes of finding a clue or two. Yep, that means you're gonna have to go ask villagers and sit through some awkward dialogue, which can be amusing at times. My first impressions when playing the game was how vastly improved the gameplay was compared to the originals. Controlling Ryo is no longer slow and clunky as it used to be and the game even addresses some shortcomings. Namely the ability fast-forward time during story segments, like where you must a couple of in-game hours for a character to show up and you've got not much to do. However, I wish the game featured a fast-travel option as navigating the huge levels initially is a huge hassle, especially when you're going back and forth between areas.
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Shenmue III introduces some much-
needed improvements.
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The combat receives a revamp as fighting feels a lot more fluid and smoother, with the controls being more streamlined. Similar to fighting games, you'll have to perform specific button-presses to pull off a combo while also being able to block attacks and strafe sideways. You can also level up Ryo's Kung Fu, which increases his attack power and health, by training and sparring against others in dojos. Better yet, you can purchase scrolls at various shops, which include some powerful moves for Ryo to learn and practice, some of which can make fights a breeze.
The game introduces a new stamina mechanic, where Ryo's health constantly depletes as he walks around town and even when training. This will require you eat lots of foods ranging from simple fruits to fizzy drinks to some delicious Chinese dim sum to keep Ryo in top shape. This is obviously a pricey endeavor as you'll need money to buy stuff, which thankfully the game has you covered. There are jobs Ryo can take such as chopping wood, chicken catching, and even good old forklifting goods to make ends meet. If that's much of a hassle, you gamble by buying tokens and betting them on games such as turtle races and lucky hit, where if you win, you'll make back your tokens and them some. You can then go to the Prize Exchange shop to buy prizes with your tokens after which you can sell them for money at the pawnshop.
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Quick time events are back too, thankfully
they're more forgiving than Shenmue II.
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There are some interesting side activities you can do in Shenmue III to pass the time. The game features side-quests, that trigger after certain story-related events, where you must help an NPCs out from collecting a set of herbs for them to finding a lot item, mainly fetch quests. One thing that bothered me was that side-quests are timed, which means that they can be failed if you take your time too much and are easily missable on the first playthrough. Still, the game packs series classics such as capsule toys and arcades, which return in all their glory. While not based on actual Sega games this time around, I still enjoyed collecting Shenmue inspired capsule toys and some of the arcade games were decent as well.
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| There's a ton of side-content to keep you hooked. |
Ryo's notebook functions as your menu on what to do next, as it highlights places and people of interest to check out. Also, it keeps track of your side quests and acts as a map whenever you get stuck, which was handy early on. The game took me around 20 hours to beat, about the same as Shenmue II. As for replay-value, there isn't much to see unless you plan on 100% the game, in which you can collect all herbs, finish all of the side quests, and collect all skill books, which would extend the adventure.
I wasn't expecting much from Shenmue III in terms of production values considering it's a Kickstarter game, but Ys Net and the supporting studios did a commendable job with the visuals. It's also worth noting that the team listened to fan-feedback ever since the 2015 reveal, as Ryo definitely benefited from the facelift. The environments are colorful and detailed while the character models also look good. There were the occasional weird-looking facial animations and models that remind you that it's a lower budget game, but nothing that will take you out of the experience. One aspect that annoyed me was the constant pop-ins of characters and objects as you move through the environments. The voice acting and dialogue retain the stiff and over-the-top feel of the original games. Seeing Corey Marshall voice Ryo again was a pleasure to hear and the other performance were also great. The soundtrack hasn't caught my attention, though it's still all right with lots of good tracks.
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| Surprisingly, Shenmue III is visually impressive. |
Shenmue III lives up to the series name and is a faithful entry in the series. Yu Suzuki and his team set out to create another Shenmue game and they did it to a T, for better and worse. While the story was slow and unsatisfying, I was still engaged mainly due to the great cast of characters. The refinements in gameplay are definitely highlights, as the fighting is more faced-paced and exploration feels a lot more fluid. Technical issues aside, the game looks visually well while retaining the style of past games. Overall, Shenmue III is more of a game for the fans than newcomers. Sure, there is a recap movie of the first two games to get newcomers up to speed but I honestly feel that they won't find much to enjoy here, seeing that the game takes its roots to over 20 years ago. Still, if you're adamant on getting into the series, then I recommend playing the Shenmue I&II remaster before jumping in to fully get the hype behind the games.
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