It is a return from afar that we never thought would be complete, but here we are, for lovers of old games and for the golden generation who lived through adventures and engraved memories that cannot be forgotten, I present to you the return of the Shenmue series and its third part, Shenmue III, after a long absence for generations and extended to up to 18 years without anything new It is mentioned, but everything changed when the developer Yu Suzuki returned to the third part and from the publisher Deep Silver to present a game that will satisfy those who have associated with the series since its inception and I am talking here about old players, but at the same time it will not satisfy the current players, due to the difference in the style of play from the rest of the games of the current generation still It follows the old fashioned style which is the main factor in the game.
The story is interesting but!
The hero, Rio Hazuki, who continues his story after the events of the previous two parts, returns to us, but for newcomers to the series, do not worry. Shenmue III is designed to attract new players and therefore you will not need to play any previous part in order to understand the events around you, but this does not mean that you will like it or it will be like any A game you are accustomed to .. Simply the story revolves around the hero Rio Hazuki going to the Chinese city of Bailou, which is characterized by the presence of many Martial Artists and kung fu fighters on a search and investigation of the circumstances of the killing of his father, who was training there in that village and then was killed in mysterious circumstances For very unknown reasons
There, Rio meets a girl named Shinoa, who also lost her father in strange circumstances, but all she knew was that a gang had a hand in it, and from here begins the journey of Rio and Chinua in the village of Bailou by investigating information and investigating their father's past by talking with the villagers and establishing Various friendships, and through some fighting clips with a gang, until you reach the full truth
How to present it!
And about the way the story was presented, it was a bit weak, and we will talk about that in detail in the General Gameplay section, but as a summary, the developer was unable to present the story as required, especially for new players who would not like the old style that the game takes greatly, unlike the old players who will not see any A problem with how to present a story like this, but despite the fact that the events of the story itself were interesting, but the ending was bad and this time, the old players will feel what I am saying, since they are fully aware of past events.
Play style:
The style of play is divided into two important parts or two elements on which the game is based mainly, namely investigation and gathering information from the village by talking with residents and establishing new friendships. Here an important factor appears, which is the style of dialogue, which will represent a good part of the story of the game and falls under the section presenting the story that I was talking about it, and the second element is the fighting style, of course, with Rio training and developing his skills continuously until he develops and is able to fight stronger enemies, and finally, on my side, there are Mini Games that will remind you of the Yakuza series somewhat or any Japanese game in general
Dialogues style!
you will rely heavily on investigation and gathering information from the villagers, in addition to inspecting some places, to be able to reach a conclusion that leads you to uncover a missing link from your father’s past. The idea is that talking with people is volatile, sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad and very boring. The dialogues within the events of the story or within its scope are very good, so there will always be new words.
You will feel as though you are talking to characters for the first time, but this does not apply to the main characters or the character that you are investigating, and this factor is very important as Rio relies on him to know directions by virtue of that he is a newcomer to the village and does not know anything about it and therefore you will have to talk to the residents for the sake of Obtaining a description of a place, which will most likely exhibit these defects
Thus, this element takes us to the way the story is presented, since the style of the dialogues is an important part of it and with some weakness in it, the style of presenting the story became bad in a way that the new players will not like, of course, because they are not used to this type and because the same method of presenting the story here is the same used with the old parts In the same way that the old players will not feel the difference
Fighting style:
The fighting style in Shenmue III is very entertaining and fun based on kung fu although it follows an old style and differs from the current games significantly, and it is not widespread in a huge picture, as most of the combat will revolve around training more, but this does not negate that it is fun and the fighting is Fast Based A bit classic, depending on Button Smashing without the need to set time in order to receive or send a strike, and there are some special strikes that you can perform through a combo, and you can even develop those strikes to make them stronger by practicing them constantly and in Training places to increase life points or the Stamina, etc., and these exercises fall within the framework of the Mini Games that I talked about before, and here their role is clearly visible
Mini Games and Daily Activities:
These games are a very interesting model to highlight an important element such as RPG, which is characteristic of the game in a clear and hidden way at the same time, as it is not an RPG at its core, but it follows the same pattern of this genre, especially since the missions are connected to a certain time in the day and therefore if you can finish the events One day in full, the rest of the day will be available for you to do whatever activities you want from hunting, exploration, doing work, but the most important of them are the Mini Games, and in terms of the types, they are multiple, there are Mini Games such as breaking wood that generate money for you and others present in festivals and entertainment and you get from them Tokens Exchange them for prizes like the exact Acrade places, or you can exchange those prizes for money and with this money you will be able to buy food and drinks that will give you additional strength during training or fighting or to increase your life points, for example.
World design:
The game contains many very picturesque landscapes besides that the simplicity of life in the village is represented excellently and even gives the game its own beauty, add to it the splendor of lakes with trees, which in the end paints a painting with stunning views, but unfortunately all that beauty has been destroyed by an element Only one, which is music .. !!
Graphics:
Regardless of the beauty of nature that we talked about, but that the design of the characters was not at the required level, whether from animations to facial expressions and reactions, it is clear that the game was developed purely digital without using any of the Motion Capture applications
Music and vocal performance!
Shenmue III
There is only one music style in Shenmue III, although it is in line with the gameplay, but there is no other in a way that will disturb you completely and thus you will feel very bored with the desire to completely close the music. As for the vocal performance side, it is good but with some defects Conversations are frequent even for the main characters at times, in addition to the fact that the representation is weak in terms of the poverty of facial expressions in different situations, which makes the scene normal and unmarked or almost dead for you as a player and does not give you the desired impression
Conclusion :
Shenmue III is a very good game, but it would have been excellent had it not been for the developer’s keenness to use the same old techniques in all elements of the game, whether from fighting style, characters, style of dialogues, story or even music, so you feel as if the game is locked in a generational conflict or that it might I fell into a black hole that brought it at a time other than its own, so it became caught in a cage between originality and modernity, as if the developer insisted that the game preserve its old luster in order to distinguish it from the rest of the games, a very lofty goal in my opinion, but in the throes of that