Subculture Classics: WWE Here Comes the Pain

Finally, Subculture has come back to the WWE! THQ and Yukes were best known for their involvement with the popular wrestling franchise Smackdown! Previous installments of the series delivered copious amounts of entertainment, but Here Comes The Pain take it up a notch in terms of gameplay, variance and customization. The game boasts up to 50 playable wrestlers including current male wrestlers, divas and legends from the 80s-90s eras, each with his or her own unique moveset and personality. Every match feels like a unique experience because of this, but it is only a small claim next to THQ's greatest creation ever released for the PlayStation 2.

Playing It For The Plot

Here Comes The Pain brings the aesthetics of live TV into the confines of your own console. From the wrestler's entrances down to the moves they perform, it's a gripping experience. Game types vary from single exhibition matches to the chaotic 30-man Royal Rumbles, where the goal is to eliminate other wrestlers by throwing them over the top rope and be the last man standing. Specialty matches like hardcore, cage matches and hell in a cell break off from the norm in terms of just winning by pin or submission. This was also the first of the Smackdown! series to include the Elimination Chamber: the metallic chamber of death begins with two wrestlers while four other opponents wait inside glass pods that open after a certain time. Whether diving off a chamber or Irish whipping an opponent through glass, everything within the chamber is interactive. Hormone induced teens and diva-crazy fans will get a kick of the Bra and Panties match. As its name implies, the objective is rip off the other diva's clothes til one dive is of everything but their bra and panties.

Here Comes the Pain features a plethora of player customization. The Create-A-Wrestler mode is a deep and user-friendly. Players can customize his or her own wrestler from the bottom up. Ranging from tattoos to mask, the mode lets you customize almost every part of the wrestler, including clothing and attributes. Players may also choose pre-designed posters and signs the audience may hold up during matches. Further exploring customization, Here Comes the Pain includes Create-A-Move-set and Create-A-Taunt feature. The latter mode allows players to further craft their wrestler's personalities, finishers and taunts. Creating a taunt is a great concept, but it's clunky. Although, making a unique celebration by flipping everyone off while doing a back-flip may be the best thing you can ever make in the game. Lastly, players can make their own entrances, choosing what song and video will play from the titantron.

The friendliest wrestler ever, Chris Jericho.

Compared to previous titles, Here Comes the Pain's season mode is vastly improved. Players will not be able to freely travel the arena anymore, however the experience becomes more personal and satisfying with branching story paths, influenced by player-made decisions. The roster and factions, before starting a season, are completely customizable, allowing players total freedom for their experience.With the brand split, wrestlers can either go to RAW or Smackdown. They can also become a fan favorite, known as a face, or be the antagonist, known as a heel. Also, championship belts can be assigned to whoever the player wants. Players can earn skill points to improve the stats of their own wrestler and spend in-game money to buy unlockable Legends, move-sets, arenas and extra costumes for wrestlers. Depending on the approach to season mode, players can form completely different experiences. If the player is a team-oriented wrestler, they can go for the tag-team championship belts. On the other hand, they can enter the singles competition and, depending on the weight-class, can strive for titles like such as the Cruiserweight, Intercontinental, United States, World Heavyweight and even the WWE Undisputed championship.

Oh! The Blood!

The controls for Here Comes the Pain were created with much more depth than the previous titles. Along with two reversal buttons, one for parrying strikes and the other for reversing grabs, there are four types of grapples: power, submission, quick and signature. Power moves inflict heavy damage to body parts, while quick moves wear down opponents. Submission moves work work well with in-ring technical wrestlers and signature moves are unique to specific wrestlers, such as Stone Cold's stunner or the People's Elbow. The limb targeting system is a new feature in which wrestlers can attack specific body parts until that limb is drastically weakened. Making a wrestler submit with an ankle lock will be much easier if the player has been attacking their legs and feet. Here Comes the Pain balances, yet delivers a very fun and intricate fighting system. 

Opposite the positives in this game, Here Comes The Pain's negatives are minuscule. Some wrestlers were removed, such as the legendary Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy and Ultimate Warrior. And a few of the wrestler's entrance theme songs were missing. Because of licensing dilemmas, some wrestlers have instrumental renditions of their theme songs that come off as a little too cheesy sometimes. Color commentators are absent from the game as well, so don't expect any play by play announcements. Expect to only be bombarded with nothing but the same soundtrack playing over and over again for every match. Nevertheless, these are only minor complains juxtaposed to the entire game.

Overall, the game's intuitive controls make it fun and, at the same time, easy for newcomers to jump right into the action. The creative repertoire of Here Comes the Pain allows players to vividly design their wrestlers from the bottom up and turn them into legends within the story mode. Boasting tons of gameplay and an aesthetically pleasing look, Here Comes The Pain may as well take the crown for being the best wrestling game to be ever released for the PlayStation 2.

A Look at Aesthetics in Magic: The Gathering

Full-art lands were confirmed to be in fatpacks for the next Magic: The Gathering set, Battle for Zendikar, and I am completely pumped! Now for those unfamiliar with the MTG card game, lands are tapped for resources, or "mana," and used to cast spells. A deck needs a collection of land to function. While there have always been special and unique lands printed throughout Magic's history, basic lands are one of the game's constants. So, what's the difference between full-art lands and basic lands? Besides the art, absolutely nothing. Both types of lands function equally, however, full-art lands do satisfy one thing, aesthetics.

Full-art Zendikar lands...Oh, yeah!

Magic: The Gathering is a complex beast. From deck archetypes to numerous formats to reading the meta, there are many facets to the game. Some aspects of Magic, leaning towards its aesthetics, even extend beyond the game; trading is a fun and social way of obtaining new cards, gathering every single item in a set is a real goal for collector's and customized playmats and sleeves allow players to express themselves. In a competitive card game such as Magic: The Gathering, superficial aesthetics, such as full-art lands or fancy sleeves, do not affect a card's quality nor does it impact play. In fact, special eye-pleasing cards may only elicit reactions that stretch between "Oh, that's pretty sweet," to "Holy Eff! You have a foil version of that card?! Aesthetics exists in different forms, but are definitely part of the game.

Planeswalkers! I need them! 

I haven't been playing Magic for long. However, the realisation of how capitulated I was to pimp out my my collection came quick. And funny enough, this affected how I built my decks. Exactly like having a full set of badass lands or using only specific tribal cards, I sought, and still seek, to unify my decks under a central theme or "flavor." The first deck I ever spent a ton of energy on and compiled together was a Red-White Heroic Soldiers deck. It was the Magic equivalent of the Homeric Achaeans bursting forth from the womb of the wooden horse and slaughtering the soldiers of Troy in their sleep. Did my deck accomplish anything that epic? Absolutely not. I lost more matches than I care to remember, but completely loved playing this flavorful composition of cards.

Two Foil Abzan Falconers: The Pearl in the Storm.

Since those days when I basically ran The Iliad equivalent of a deck, I've improved as a Magic player. Uh, well maybe. I at least found that winning came easier when a player explored beyond themselves ... or bought better cards. Now I know building a competitive deck without some investment is unlikely, but I found little joy in the ultra-competitive aspect of Magic. I forged a deck that was part competitive, part aesthetically pleasing and all parts badass. I didn't win every game, but the formula worked. The all too often "Why are you playing that?" only met a sly smile and one answer, "for flavor."

On the Fate reforged Gameday (Gameday is a free Magic tourney held to celebrate every new set release), I went in hoping I would at least make top eight to score a very shiny promotional card. I lose my very first round to a Blue-White Heroic deck, let the irony pass over me completely and immediately throw away any thoughts of scoring first place. However, the rest of the tournament went extremely well. By the end of the fourth round or so, I end up in the top 4. I got my promo and was ready to book it. But, the night wasn't finished. The particular store had its top players continue battling. and by some cruel jest from the gods, I found myself playing against the same Blue-White Heroic deck that kicked my butt previously. This time I won. Then I won again and took the championship playmat! I joked immediately, "Abzan Falconer IS the new meta!"

The Binder! 

Taking home the prize that day wasn't just work, but pure, absolute fun. I somehow managed to beat tough decks using cards that weren't necessarily great, but rather cards I enjoyed using. The competitive heaviness of Magic dissipated and the wonder of using flavorful and thematic cards hit me all over again. There was suddenly a place for cards like Abzan Falconer, Hardened Scales, and Abzan Ascendancy in standard.


Magic: The Gathering's aesthetics easily lured me in and continues to keep me intrigued. Top-decking a shiny creature card in a game is as enjoyable as scouring through all the promos I've managed to collect in my binder (there isn't a lot, but it's still nice to look through). Of course, competition in all forms still and will continue to exist in Magic, but so will fun and personal enjoyment. And I'm glad I discovered this. Now if you'll please excuse me, I need to start saving up to get those full-art lands in the next set.

We did it, Abzan Falconer...

Are you foil collector or a a hyper-competitive Magic player? Either one, both or neither, let us know how you enjoy your games of Magic: The Gathering! 

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Book Review: You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)

There's one thing to say about The Guild star and creator, Felicia Day: Felicia is a real person. Her  memoir, You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost), brings this point home in the most honest way possible. Released August 11th, the book composes a fascinating reflection of her celebrity identity versus her real life vulnerabilities.

Her humor shows up often and hits many levels--sometimes very quick and spastic or sometimes referencing a single person who's done her wrong. Felicia Day is hilarious, and the memoir shines when wit is juxtaposed to some of her many anxiety-driven recollections.

Dayum, Felcia...

Felicia, even in the introduction, displays her vulnerabilities, proudly almost, for all to see. She addresses fans and, funnily enough, also addresses an audience who may have stumbled on the book accidentally. She sets up her wit immediately and gracefully paces it throughout her memoir.

You're Never Weird contains many pictures of our red-headed-memoir heroine. While a few images gave the impression of just filling space, many pictures offer a good laugh or a "yikes, she wore that?" It's fascinating seeing the self-made internet star as something else besides the celebrity we gush over.

Felicia discusses many pivotal moments of her life, including her hippie, home-schooled childhood, the insurmountable 4.0 GPA of college, and of course, the creation of The Guild. You're Never Weird has twelve chapters. Most are fun and informative, but a few chapters allow readers a glimpse into the sad and unseen struggle between Felicia, her career, and her love of video games.


In past interviews, she mentions how much time was dedicated to the MMORPG, World of Warcraft, the grounding experience for her show The Guild. However, in her memoir, Felicia passionately describes her love of the game and how it affected her life. She writes, "I stopped going to acting classes. I stopped performing improv. Or doing plays, or socializing with real-life human beings. Several times I skipped auditions because I didn't have enough time to prepare after staying up too late gaming the night before. I ate, slept, and lived World of Warcraft."

Keeblerette, Felcia's WOW Avatar

While actors may be the only group who may share audition war stories with Felicia, gamers can completely relate to losing themselves in a video game. It's easy to say how much time a person spent conquering Skyrim or killing 1,500 marauders to unlock a specific skin for Zero in Borderlands 2, but it's something else to print how those hours affected a person's life. Felicia is brutally honest, and we can only love her more for it.

Felicia Day as...Keeblerette?

For an actress only in her mid-thirties, it's surprising how much of a story Felicia has to tell and how effectively her memoir elicits a reaction. It's as easy to laugh alongside the Felicia who wrote the memoir as it is to sympathize and relate to the Felicia crying after having to perform in front of her musical, collegiate peers. Felicia battles her confidence and doubts throughout her memoir, but every step forward she makes radiates to the reader. "Empowering" may be too small of a word to describe how her memoir can make a reader feel.

You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) is a good read, like Felicia asserts, for fans. But, as fans, let's be honest, it's still a good read for anyone. Felicia tells how her anxiety, self-confidence, and inner thoughts constantly warred with one another. But despite these inner-battles, Felicia pushed on and fought. Her book has a way of bolstering the confidence of its readers and makes one feel invincible, ready to take on the world. Her nerd humor and dry wit paint a unique, fun picture of a weird little girl who loved video games and grew up and conquered a piece of the internet.

Her memoir can be purchased at Feliciadaybook.com and is definitely recommended.

Let us know what you folks thought about You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost)!

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Life is Strange - Episode 4

Here's the fourth episode of our Subculture Times webisode series. Watch Life is Strange! 

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Way Of The Samurai 4 Review

Swords, Guns, Women and Samurais! Oh my!

Acquire Corporation's affinity for developing samurai and ninja-themed games led to the creation of their masterpiece, the Tenchu series, a dark and beautiful ninja simulator. The spotlight today, however, brings us to their other series, which focuses on samurais rather than stealthy ninjas. Enter Way of the Samurai 4, a Playstation 3 port now on PC. The backstory of the game revolves around the fictional town Amihama, where the main character is caught between the Pranjas, rebels who intend to keep foreigners away from Japan, and the local government, who sides with British forces for the first half of the story. The Pranjas fear Japan losing its identity and culture through English colonization. The British forces, however, feel their technological and medicinal advances can further improve Japan, gaining support from the government.

My Kenshin-like character

The game's charm is its branching story and how it affects the outcome of the game. Your actions and decisions determine your character's story and, yes, this game has multiple endings. If you decide to become a mass murderer, you will reap what you sow.  But if you build your character up to be somewhat of a hero, you will gain the utmost respect from the people.

What surprised me is the replayability and how previous choices will affect the outcome of the next playthrough. Once the game is finished, items collected, swords created and money earned are carried over so the player doesn't have to pull hairs out of their head from losing everything they've accomplished. The player is also awarded with endgame points to unlock extra content. These unlockables range from extra character hair styles, weapons and even harder difficulties, giving Way of the Samurai 4 much more diversity as players continue their adventure.

Superb Dialogue keeps you immersed throughout the game 

This is in fact an open-world game filled with quirky characters and hilarious dialogues. The town is filled with shops, restaurants, item/food stalls and a casino all painted against a beautiful Japanese backdrop. There are loading screens when moving from one area to another, but they are quick and do not encumber the adventure. Way of the Samurai 4 also has a fast-travel system. Although, sometimes it's better to avoid fast travel since it takes a toll on the character's energy, and you may miss some opportunities for side missions 

Customize your own weapon

The combat system is pretty complex in terms of timing and fighting stances. Way of the Samurai 4 shouldn't be treated like a button-masher. A single opening in your defense can be synonymous with death, especially on the hardest difficulty.

Players have three different fighting styles available at their disposal: swords, spears and hand-to-hand martial combat. Each one requires a moveset that can be learned or picked up from other fighters. Mastering a style requires players to use the chosen stance for a certain amount of time or, if you're lucky, finding a move scroll can unlock some moves immediately.

I generalized swords earlier because there are not only katanas in-game, but knives, odachis, long swords and much much more. Weapons can be upgraded to meet their full potential and are one of the best parts of the game because players can creatively name their swords whatever he or she wants.

Gathering items the honorable way

Forging swords in Way of the Samurai 4 is extremely accessible as players can easily craft new swords by dissembling weapons they find. Weapons also realistically get dull with use and may eventually break if not taken care of.

Your health in the game coincides with an energy bar. Without energy, your samurai avatar cannot regain health amidst combat. The more energy you have, the faster you gain life. Energy drains through combat and strenuous activities, not including running around town, but could be easily restored by eating or drinking. In the middle of the health and energy meter is the Spring Harvest gauge, which enables your character to perform faster and stronger combos to quickly finish off enemies Rurouni-Kenshin-style.Though the Spring Harvest gauge steadily increases through normal combat, players can raise the gauge by consuming certain food or drinks.

Assert your dominance

Way of the Samurai 4 is a port of the PS3 version, so the graphics are only just slightly enhanced from the console version. There's nothing to be excited for in that regards. The game is constantly updated and worked on as there are a few sound glitches and graphical issues. Luckily, those issues do not hinder the game at all. For $24.99, you get exactly what you pay for, but as of right now, Way of the Samurai 4 is only $19.99 on Steam until Aug. 6. Fans of samurai, sword fighting and even Rurouni Kenshin and Samurai Champloo should definitely pick this game up to satisfy their sword-slashing needs.

Visit the Way of the Samurai 4 steam page to get your copy today and...

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New Game Plus Coming to Witcher 3

The Witcher 3's final DLC is a new game plus mode for veterans of CD Project Red's latest game, according to a post from the official Witcher Facebook. 

Like the previous DLCs, the new game plus mode will be free.

No release date has been given,yet, but the the Witcher Facebook post reads, "It won't happen this week though - we need a little bit more time to finish it."

The new game plus mode will be the sixteenth DLC in a string of content that includes new character outfits, missions and even alternative gwent skins. 

New game plus is a mode only available after a player has beaten the game. Typically, the loot, armor and equipment a player owns at the end of their adventure carries over into a new game with new or tougher enemies. 

However, whether or not Witcher 3 will handle its new game plus mode similarly or take the DLC in another direction has yet to be determined. 

For more Witcher news, players and fans can visit www.TheWitcher.com.

Stay tuned for more news and updates on The Witcher 3 and stay tuned for Subculture! 

Hearthstone Calls for The Grand Tournament

Hearthstone lead designer and game director Eric Dodds announced a new expansion,The Grand Tournament.

Featuring over 130 new cards, new mechanics and a discounted pre-purchase week, The Grand Tournament is set for release in August.

Hearthstone's Lead Designer Eric Dodds

Dodds, speaking at San Francisco's Folsom Street Foundry and through Twitch, joked at the best guess as to what would follow Gnomes vs. Goblins. "There were a lot of great ideas and . . . one of the ideas that was kind of cool was the idea 'maybe are we doing Pirates vs. Ninjas?'" Dodds added, "There's only a little problem for me personally . . . [there's] some difficulty because I have a personal take on which way that conflict would go." Dodds chose pirates over ninjas.

The Hearthstone director continued, saying this theme of silliness and humor finds itself in the premise of The Grand Tournament. In regards to Warcraft lore, Dodds saidThe Grand Tournament's arena was built to find and assemble the best warriors. 

However, the lead designer discussed what would happen if the arena was kept open. He said invitations were sent to warriors across the Warcraft world, emphasizing The Grand Tournament to "be more on fun and honor and glory rather than this need to defeat the Lich King.

"When they looked at the people who arrived to do battle in the tournament, it actually looked a little bit like this...

So, they are still mighty knights. They are just mighty unconventional knights . . . "

Though thematic and filled with silliness, Dodds promised many new cards to change Hearthstone's metagame. 

The Hearthstone team, with this expansion, explored variations between card power juxtaposed to hero power. 

Maiden of the Lake, a neutral card for 4 mana with a power of 2 and toughness of 6 , is one of the spoiled cards to emphasize this nuance. Maiden of the Lake reduces hero power costs by 1. 

"It's pretty good," Dodds said, "you can sneak some new effects here and there, but it gets a lot more exciting when you start to include other cards in the mix. So, let's look at a mage dragon and think about how this would effect the Maiden of the Lake." 

Dodds revealed the Coldarra Drake, a 6 mana cost 6/6, that allows mage players to use their hero power any number of times.

He said, "There's a ton of awesome combos that we have here and this is sort of scratching the surface. . . We have alotta cards that are based around the hero power and affecting the hero power."

Dodds revealing Coldarra Drake

The newest giant, another card revealed to be affected by hero powers, is Frost Giant. The card initially costs 10 mana for and 8/8, however Frost Giant costs (1) less for each time a player uses his or her hero power in a single game. 

Further delving into The Grand Tournament, Dodds reminisced, "When we talked about this expansion, we talked about, 'is this enough?'" The lead designer said the Hearthstone crew thought about adding a new keyword, something they've never really done before. "We thought maybe it was right time," Dodds said, "but it's around the idea that hero power matters. So, we are adding the keyword 'Inspire.'" 

Inspire triggers every time a player activates their hero power. 

Lowly Squire is a 1-cost minion with 1 power and 2 toughness and the first card revealed with "Inspire."

Dodds said the Inspire mechanic can be found on many neutral minions, so synergies between different heroes and the new mechanic open "a ton of different combinatorics that you are all going to get to play with."

The very next reveal was a 5-cost legendary creature with Inspired, Nexus-Champion Saraad . Whenever Inspired is activated, Saraad adds a random spell to its controller's hand. "One of the reasons we like this guy, " Dodds added, " is he's going to put cards in your hand you weren't necessarily expecting. You're going to play in a different way when you have him. And of course he's an ethereal riding an energy camel . . ." 

Following the arena themes, Hearthstone artists created a brand new board just for The Grand Tournament." Dodds described the board as a mini-arena come to life. "You can eat from the food area and have them refill and bring you different food." The board's audience will cheer and feel sad, depending on how well you're doing and there is a mini archery range with plenty of secrets. 

According to the official Grand Tournament website, "Starting next week, players will be able to pre-purchase a bundle of 50 Grand Tournament Card Packs for $49.99." Players will also get an exclusive card back through this deal. 

Again, players can look forward to Hearthstone's newest expansion, The Grand Tournament, in August.

For more information, readers can visit www.TheGrandTourney.com or watch the rebroadcast of The Grand Tourney announcement for themselves on Twitch. 

Stay tuned for Subculture! 

Under the Radar Games: Ryse Son of Rome

Testudo

Enter Ryse: Son of Rome. Yes, the same Ryse: Son of Rome that was one of the flagship exclusives for the Xbox One launch.

Since its launch and less-than-steller reception though, Ryse found a new start as a PC port in October 2014. The port remains the same as the Xbox version save for its graphical limitations. Whereas Ryse capped at 30 frames per second and 900p on the Xbox One, the PC version supports 4k viewing and 60 frames per second.

However, given this is an Under the Radar segment and not a video on PC specs, let's go back to the topic at hand, the game itself.

Swift

Ryse is a Herculean amalgam of a mindless hack-and-slash violently juxtaposed against cinematic gore. It's as if the developers took the fun, repetitious combat of a Dynasty Warriors game and threw in Russel Crowe from Gladiator to froth together a precise, brutal video game of visceral combat and a sea of lost limbs.

Throughout the campaign and multiplayer modes, this four-button fighter pits the player against hordes of barbarians. Combat in Ryse, similar to the Batman Arkham series, is handled through strikes, counterattacks and finishers. But where Batman only knocks out his enemies, the foes found on the other end of the blade are efficiently cut down. Executions are brutal galleries of pain. Each strike holds its weight as limbs are cut and flesh is pierced in slow motion. There's an epic, yet simple satisfaction reveling in Ryse's combat and battle finishers.

Down

Ryse's narrative doesn't bring anything new to the industry. However, contained in the package of what the game is, Marius' RISE to revenge spells an exciting adventure through his campaigns as a Roman soldier. One segment, especially, proved thrilling and absolutely fantastic because it adopted much of the brilliant arena-moments of the movie Gladiator to Ryse.

Intervention

The narrative also lingers between the realm of men and gods. This inclusion of deities, along with striking a chord in my heart of literature, sculpts Ryse to be very Homeric and classical. Instead of a bland tale of revenge, Ryse orchestrates a thematic narrative driven by personal desire. 

Now whether those desires loom from the Ceaser, the main character Marius, or even the barbarian king, Oswald, Ryse cements how much humankind strives to choke every advantage it can receive despite the costs.

The characters in Ryse, like the myth of Sisyphus, the boulder and the mountain, are eternally lost between what they set to achieve and actually fulfilling their goals. The game tells a story much bigger than personal desire, and the characters who remain blind to this are punished like those in the ancient Greek tragedies.

Cut

Ryse is absolutely brilliant in its aesthetics of brutality and its execution of themes. Combat is simple, but stylish, visceral and fun. Marious' epic unfolds as a quest for personal revenge, but also expands beyond mortal boundaries to create a much more mythical narrative on the human condition. The initial release of Ryse bore witness to a game that was deemed to repetitive without much of a striking plot. However, I feel Ryse basks in its glorious combat and thematic narrative without exceptions, thus landing it as a perfect contender to be an Under the Radar Game.   

Anime Expo - Episode 3

The Subculture Times crew hits the 2015 Anime Expo for some panels, booths and... hentai? 

Shenmue Kickstarts for 2 Million on Day Two

"I'm looking for Sailors."

The Shenmue 3 Kickstarter, revealed only yesterday, June 15, met its funding goal of $2 million dollars. This promises the long-awaited third installment of the Shenmue series will find its home on the Playstation 4 and PC around December 2017.

But even though the Kickstarter is a success, Suzuki and his team have laid out stretch goals extending beyond the initial $2 million dollars to create a bigger game. If the Kickstarter is able to fund $3.2 million dollars, the development team will provide subtitles in several languages and include a brand new rapport system. Reaching the stretch goal of $4 million dollars, the developers will include a skill tree system, 5 mini games and expand the first of three explorable areas, Baisha Village.

Shenmue director and producer Yu Suziki expresses Kickstarter is the perfect platform to usher the return of the cult series. "I can finally bring you the continuation for Shenmue 2, " Suzuki added. "Shenmue 3 will be the story you have waited for."

Niao Sun of the Chi You Men

The Kickstarter states Shenmue 3 will follow Ryo and Shenhua as they travel China, specifically through three areas: Baisha Village, Chiba and Bailu Village. Shenmue 3 will run using the Unreal 4 engine.

One of the newest features, Suzuki states, are "technique scrolls, which will connect to the different aspects of the game. [They'll] allow you to use the new skills right away in battle . . . making it all the more exciting to get a hold of one."

Shenmue 3, according to the Kickstarter website, will also incorporate "new fight mechanics to achieve a new level of interactive storytelling," while keeping familiar elements from the previous games.

Many of the project members for Shenmue 3 have worked on the first two games, including Shenmue's main character design artist, Kenji Miyawaki, and the Japanese voice actor for Ryo, Masaya Matsukaze.

Shenhua in Unreal 4

Upon the publishing of this article, the Shenmue Kickstarter campaign is at $2.7 million dollars. The Shenmue team updated their Kickstarter, thanking all those who have donated and for fans to continue asking questions and voicing comments about their latest project.

Shenmue 3 is 14 years in the making and through the passion of its cult following, Suzuki and his team have managed to reach its funding goal within two days and aim to make Shenmue an even bigger game.

As Suzuki says at the end of the Kickstarter video, "The fate of Shenmue is in your hands now!"

And if you missed the hyperlink above, you may find the official Shenmue Kickstarter here: http://tinyurl.com/olf4sdl

Check back often to see how the Shenmue 3 campaigns unfolds and, of course ...

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