10 Major Problems With 2018's Biggest Video Games

6. Shenmue III Genuinely Can't Live Up To Expectations

Why does Shenmue matter?

For all but the most specific audience (those who owned a Dreamcast and stuck around to play Shenmue 1 and 2), the answer to that question is a mystery, but I'll tell you why: Because creator Yu Suzuki and developers YS Net were doing something genuinely unprecedented. Something that is nigh-on impossible to replicate in the modern climate.

See, back in the 90s we'd never seen video games that imitated the 'feel' of a big Hollywood production. Voice acting, 'directed' cutscenes, an epic story and real characters you could empathise with - Metal Gear Solid perfected this and had the reach of PlayStation to boot, but Shenmue was doing its best on Dreamcast, too.

Alongside the sensation of the game being an 'epic story' were all sorts of interactions with the environment itself. Things like picking up random items to inspect them, playing arcade games, winning at capsule machines and more would probably be left out of modern titles as "pointless", but back then it helped create an unprecedented sensation of interaction and escapism. And that, is why Shenmue mattered - that quintessential sensation of gaming growing as a medium right in front of you.

There is almost no way that Shenmue III can 'work' in a games industry that has no meaningful barriers of interaction left to break down.