Jonathan Dogey

I didn’t enjoy the demo when it came out. I felt I was gonna pass on this game. But now, I’ve gotten it on PS5 on sale from Black Friday and I haven’t regretted the purchase once. I guess I wasn’t in the mood the first time. But now, I have been just feeling like this is a classic Sega Saturn game with modern graphics. Please do yourself a favor: if you are an old school Sega fan, and especially if you adored Nights Into Dreams, please shove your way through the clickbait YouTube reviewers and stick with this one. The boss battle on the first level was a little easy, sure, but there is something very beautiful hearted about this game if you give it a chance. The controls are great, and speaking for the PS5 version at least, the frame rate and resolution are absolutely perfect. Controls are wonderful, so I don’t know what people were complaining about. You just have to experiment with the different costumes in the game and use each one’s special power to your advantage. I agree with some reviewers that this is definitely a fun experience for people who like getting achievements collecting all statues, and finding secret passages. I expected to not like this, but I’m in a better mood since the early demo and I think it’s a classic homage to Sega Saturn platformers like Nights, Croc, Burning Rangers, and more. Yuji Naka deserves some credit for this game because it’s not deserving of most of this scorn.

Silent Hill 2 seems to play terribly in comparison to the highly polished and consistent running PS2 version. On PS3, I’m treated to horrible frame rates that scatter madly about between 15 FPS and a barely stable 28 FPS. Some times I’ve entered a room only for the whole room to have failed to load, so I’m running in a dark abyss forever, forcing me to turn off my game and lose all my progress. Some sounds are wonky sounding and terribly mixed, such as the jarring heinous sound when you kill an enemy with the chainsaw. If this is all you have, then it is playable. But man, when the classic PS2 game plays infinitely better, something is wrong.

Shenmue 3 gets so much right, I have to say off the bat that it deserves a ton of credit where it’s due. The graphics of the environments live up to the standards expected of a Shenmue game. The characters, while not showing graphics with the polish of the likes of Final Fantasy 7 remake or Death Stranding, easily make up for it with the fact that most all of them are quite memorable, funny, and so much fun to talk to and get to know. How developed they become to you depends entirely on your own play through. Unfortunately, where Shenmue 3 falls below the bar isn’t always from lack of trying. Suzuki did an amazing job considering the budget but the budget, nevertheless, plays a role in this game feeling shorter than it should have been, and several characters coming off as undeveloped and under represented. Niao Sun is a female villain who fans have literally been waiting for 19 years to know more about and see in action. She literally only shows up for a few seconds here and there, and the only time we start to know who she is at all, or what her role in the story is, the game was already ending. The ending to the game is where the only true disappointment lies, sadly. It felt fairly short, uninspired, and was very underwhelming, which is completely out of character for a Shenmue game. Both of the first games ended absolutely epically, had amazing cinematic artistry to wrap up their endings, and left you feeling like you finished watching something truly big budget. Coupled with the fact that there’s a cinematic artistry throughout this games cutscenes that’s somewhat lacking in quality when compared to the first two games. Again, I don’t think this is due to lack of trying. Suzuki just didn’t have a large budget. I’m shocked that in spite of the budget, the fighting system is surprisingly solid and playable. Even if it’s a bit simplified compared to the first two games, there is a trove of moves to discover throughout the game and add to your abilities and leveling them up in all the sparring you do throughout was very satisfying. Training all plays a huge role in your moves becoming stronger and being able to take more damage from opponents. I actually really love the combat in 3 much more than I thought I would. Suzuki has all but promised a sequel and personally, I think history could repeat itself and perhaps Suzuki can manage to pull off a Shenmue 2 again. The second was an amazing follow up to the first, which received its fair share of criticism. Maybe 4 will outdo the 3rd. But considering that 3 was supposed to be an epic return to form, the fact that it came up short in a few key areas was a letdown.