The meta/opencritic guestimate

What will it score

  • Total voters
    73
jsh020

jsh020

Joined
Oct 4, 2019
Well we know that the reviews are going to trickle in at an odd but existent pace these next couple of days so lets put all of our pessimism, optimism, delusion, and so forth on display and take one last minute guess at what the critical response will be. Metacritic isn't some end all be all of the importance but it's still fun to guess.

For me personally, even with all the red flags in way of review embargos and multiple hit pieces, I'm expecting the game to do at least somewhat decent to lukewarm critically. I think its going to ultimately be a mix of 7's and 6's with only a few permeating 8's at the most from places like easy allies. So I think it will land roughly around the 70-74 range, but I also acknowledge that a few genuinely negative reviews might drop the score pretty significantly but ultimately we will see, i feel like the lowest its gonna get is a few scattered 5s cause its not like the game is some buggy mess.


NOTE, don't use this as an opportunity to make some blanket insults about games journalism
 
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70s for sure. Haven’t seen a negative word from anyone who’s played it, so I can’t imagine it’s going to fare THAT badly with the critics. Like I said in another thread I expect a handful of glowing reviews from critics familiar with the series, quite a few average reviews that acknowledge the series’ importance but stress the game is “for the fans,” and a couple of negative reviews from people with dark hearts.
 
I fully expected anybody who liked Shenmue I or II will be more than happy with it, but people who didn't "get" them probably won't get III either, but I think it miiiiight break into the 80s. There's enough nostalgia going on that it will nab a few points there, and emotion is often enough to bump scores up a few points.
 
Here’s the thing. I don’t think Shenmue will lose fans of the franchise. But it’s likely the first time a new generation will take the time to try the series. And some of those will be converted.
 
Famitsu I can see giving it 8s. Western publications though I can see giving Shenmue 7s, they'll acknowledge the jank but will be somehow entranced by the whole thing, with it feeling like an old game being used as a positive and a knock against it.
 
I'm still going with 68. The positive impressions are a relief, but I know there's going to be some 10/100 or 20/100 "Why did this game even get made" reviews coming. This series really brings the hate out in some people.

I know review scores aren't going to influence whether most of us buy the game, but damn it would be awesome if Shenmue 3 was a critical success too. I've been guilty at looking deeper into a game strictly based on its Metascore, so it wouldn't surprise me if a few non-Shenmue fans took the same approach.
 
70 as an optimistic opinion...60 for a cynical take. I feel a lot of people are going to be divided on it. I do feel 4 will occur if only due to 3 getting a lot of publicity and not taking up a VERY large budget compared to 1 and 2.
 
Mole said:
70 as an optimistic opinion...60 for a cynical take. I feel a lot of people are going to be divided on it. I do feel 4 will occur if only due to 3 getting a lot of publicity and not taking up a VERY large budget compared to 1 and 2.
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Shenmue 3 is alot of things, getting alot of publicity sure aint one of em.
 
mjqjazzbar said:
I know I can’t wait for Jim Sterling to scream for twenty minutes about how shitty this game is... the older I get, the more repulsive I find people who make a living tearing down other people’s hard work.
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If Jim Sterling says the game is shit then he might inadvertently boost sales. The guy has awful tastes is games and through his tantrums has already made himself enemy of most gaming fanbases. People otherwise sitting on fence about Shenmue 3 might give the game a closer look just to spite him.
 
Kintor said:
If Jim Sterling says the game is shit then he might inadvertently boost sales. The guy has awful tastes is games and through his tantrums has already made himself enemy of most gaming fanbases. People otherwise sitting on fence about Shenmue 3 might give the game a closer look just to spite him.
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I think that's a bit of an exaggeration even though the people that dislike him really dislike him, but I also dont think his audience is really the one who really even gonna get Shenmue to begin with.

Semi off topic, but yeah his taste in games is.....questionable, The man thinks sonic 4 is a good game and sonic generations is a bad one which is I think the "hottest take" I've ever heard of.
 
I'm guessing 6's and 7's.

I haven't read any previews, and probably won't read any reviews.

I just realized I've never seen a review for the Shenmue 1/2 collection and have no idea what the general consensus is outside of Shenmue fans.
 
at a guess 6.5-7/10 on ign and gamespot

and around 70-80% on mettacritic.

its great s3 is out on ps4 but im gonna say it again..shenmue is a niche game and shenmue HD and s3 should of been a nintendo exclusive.. imo a younger gaming audience would of been more forgiving of any flaws and enjoyed the games more, after all most of us fans were around 14/15 years old when we fell in love with shenmue.

i feel the average adult gamer doesnt touch a game unless its a solid 8 or 9 out of 10:cautious:
 
A Nintendo exclusive? That's such a bizarre and radical opinion. If you think being on Switch would be beneficial for the series, wouldn't you just hope it would be multiplatform instead of exclusive to a system it's not on?

PS4 has sold 100 million units, versus Switch's 41 million. I don't see how not being available on PS4 is beneficial in any way.
 
Thomasina said:
A Nintendo exclusive? That's such a bizarre and radical opinion. If you think being on Switch would be beneficial for the series, wouldn't you just hope it would be multiplatform instead of exclusive to a system it's not on?

PS4 has sold 100 million units, versus Switch's 41 million. I don't see how not being available on PS4 is beneficial in any way.
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Its just cause alot of niche games sell on switch for some reason like for say octopath which was a hit no one expected even square, it leads to alot of people thinking if it goes there it will guarantee help it out. But it won't make a massive difference for shenmue especially without 1 and 2 hd.
 
The switch had a pretty big userbase since the start and there weren't that many games and a lot of indies using multi platforms engines cashed on the market of people willing to buy whatever was available, it's a neat console.
Now the switch is full of games, not the same.
 
Kintor said:
If Jim Sterling says the game is shit then he might inadvertently boost sales. The guy has awful tastes is games and through his tantrums has already made himself enemy of most gaming fanbases. People otherwise sitting on fence about Shenmue 3 might give the game a closer look just to spite him.
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I don't agree with Jim Sterling when it comes to Shenmue, but I agree with him more than I disagree when it comes to most things about gaming. I don't think he has terrible taste in games either, it's a bit of an unfair thing to label him with when he has played and enjoyed so many different games from different genres.
 
Sterling is right on the money with 95% of things. Shenmue is probably the only thing we disagree on. I get the vibe that he might enjoy it...you never know!
 

Speak of the devil. At least he seems open minded considering he hates the first two games. The replies are predictably horrendous, though! More Yakuza vs. Shenmue than you can shake a stick at...
 
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