Yakuaza Kiwami 2 - Review

Can anyone explain to me how it is almost the 1st of March?  2019 is flying by already, I have been so distracted with everything I've been neglecting playing games!  My second game of the year is Yakuza Kiwami 2, I was really excited to play this as I had so much fun with Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami.


There is a snack food company called Paqui, I came across them about a year or so ago when I saw people trying the one chip challenge.  Basically, you get sent one chip from them that is so hot you may actually die, well not really but it's crazy hot.  I wanted to try some of their products but they don't ship to Ireland, so I checked Amazon UK who had them but also won't ship to Ireland.  Finally resorted to Parcel Wizard and sometime later I got them.  One of the flavors of chips I got were Cool Salsa Verde, they were awesome and reminded me of the old Phileas Fogg chips.  They are dry but also full of flavor, they are not as good as Phileas Fogg chips but pretty good.  Playing Yakuza Kiwami 2 I found myself asking was it as good as the previous installments or was it slightly lesser but still good?

Story


There is so much story in the Yakuza games and Yakuza Kiwami 2 is no exception.  The game starts with you being able to watch the events of the previous games.  The games see Kiryu and his adopted daughter Haruka living together in peace.  That is until he is pulled into the Tojo Clan fold again due a dying wish, and an impending war with the Omi Alliance.  Kiryu will need to explore the streets of Kamurocho and Sotenbori to find answers and stop an all-out war.

Outside of the main story, the game features seventy-six sub-stories which although good doesn't feel as memorable as previous games.   If this wasn't enough Majima is back!  He has his only saga, which is really short but also really enjoyable.


Overall the story is great, the Majima saga is really enjoyable if a little short, and while the sub-stories are not as good as previous instalments they are pretty solid overall.

Visuals


The visuals are completely overhauled versus the original release of Yakuza 2.  The game looks amazing and is bustling with life. The streets of Kamuroho and Sotenbori feel even more detailed than the previous game and feel more organic than the previous games.  Even going into the store there is so much more details to items in the shop.  The minimap feels a little clearer as well making it easier to navigate your way around the world.


Overall the visuals continue to amaze and I am curious to see what will be done with the Yakuza 3 Remaster, which will hopefully be released sometime this year in the west.



Music 


The music in Yakuza never really disappoints, as the game's progress so does the music.  There is still heavy use of electric guitars and electronic sounds, but it now features a nice dose of piano pieces which will really help in creating a sombre feel.  The score is composed by Hidenori Shoji, a composer from Japan who works include; Sega Touring Car Championship, Project X Zone 2, Sonic All-Star Racing Transformed and the Yakuza series itself.


Listening to the score again it reminded me in part of Yuzo Koshiro's Streets of Rage, which isn't a bad thing.  There were many great tracks in Yakuza Kiwami 2 including; 'Majima Construction', 'The End Of Dogma', 'Vertical Point', 'Ogre Has Been Reborn', 'Amusing Octagon', 'Bad Fortune, Not Bad', 'Fall Is Eternal Moment' (Piano), and 'Credits of Kiwami'.


Overall a great soundtrack that really helps define the overall feel of the game.

Gameplay


Like with the Yakuza Kiwami 2 story there is a lot to offer in terms of gameplay.  There are many enemies to take on, all lining up to be punched, kicked, thrown or otherwise abused.  Fights
can end up spilling into shops and you can even put enemies through windows.  A new, fun addition are allies, once you unlock them they can help you in battle by throwing you hot sauce, a large whip, an oversized fan and a leek are just some of the helpful weapons you can get.  The game won't always see Kiryu fighting alone and the special attacks you can pull off with allies are quite satisfying.


The leveling up system is interesting but in many ways, I prefer those in the previous installments.  Experience can be gaining by pretty much-doing everything, but the bulk of it will come from eating food.  There is now a hunger gauge which helps you pick gain points in certain attributes, which are then used to unlock abilities.  Getting the right balance of food can be difficult and I found that after completing a third of the game I had so much money but little to spend it on.

The hostess bar returns which is a fun mini-game which all about trying to take a run down and make it great.  Majima decided to set up his own construction company, you recruit staff, level them up and carry out missions to protect your area. It sort of plays out like a real-time strategy but the last mission was overly awkward and felt so much harder than the other missions including those online.


There are a number of other mini-games including; a peeing game (yep, that's right), baseball, golf, watching videos like 'An Anteater Ate My Husband, photography, Colosseum battles, and playing games in the arcade.  These are just some of the options on offer.


while I have my reservations in relation to the leveling up system and Majima constructions end mission overall the gameplay is fairly solid.




Final Thoughts

After forty-hours of playing how did I feel?  Pretty good.  The main story was good and I really enjoyed the Majima story, the sub-stories weren't as good but far from bad.  The visuals and music were amazing.  The gameplay was really solid and had some great new features, even if it did take me a while to the leveling system.  It might not have been as memorable as the other two games but it's hard to fault it.  This one gets a solid 4 out of 5

Yakuza Kiwami - Review

Last year I played Yakuza 0, it was fantastic, so much so that I now rank it as one of my top 5 games on the PlayStation 4.  Yakuza Kiwami is a remake/remaster of the original release from 2005, the visuals are massively improved, the fighting techniques from Yakuza 0 have been carried over making combat a lot more robust, additionally, there is extra story content.  Despite getting the game as a Christmas present I only got around to playing it now, technically that's not true I have just been holding off to better savor the experience.


Meat good! I know that makes me sound like a caveman but it is what it is, in honesty, I can't really think of any meat I don't like.  BBQ Pork Ribs are sort of my new favorite, soft meat that literally falls off the bones and always has me wanting more.  I like having sides with my meals but with pork ribs, I just don't need them.  Playing Yakuza Kiwami I found myself asking was this my new favorite I could not get enough of?

Story

The scene opens on a small dark room, a dead body on the floor, rain, and lightning crashing outside.  The protagonist, Kiryu stands there looking pensive, a gun in his hand, a few moments later the police enter the room and take him away.  Fast forward ten years and Kiryu is finally out of prison, the Kazama family and the Tojo Clan have all but turned their back on him, the man he killed was a high ranking Yakuza.  His best friend Nishiki has gone to the dark side, the woman he loved has disappeared presumed dead and as if that wasn't enough 10 Billion Yen is missing from the Tojo Clan that is almost on the brink of collapse.  Kiryu must traverse the town of Kamurucho and search for answers along with trying to clear his name.

Death, tragedy and betrayal, Yakuza Kiwami has it all.  It's not all doom and gloom though, there are sub stories galore which dance between sometimes being a positive distraction from the main story and sometimes a negative one.  Majima is a great character and a lot of fun, after returning from prison he thinks you have gone soft and wants to help make you the ultimate fighter again so he can defeat you.  Watch out for bins, alleyways, oversized traffic cones, police and more as you never know where Majima could be hiding.

Overall a great story with some interesting sub-stories,  however, I found the found the sub-stories and some of the main story to be nowhere near as engaging as Yakuza Zero.

Visuals

The visuals are greatly improved over the original release and are almost identical to those in Yakuza 0 in terms of quality.  Both games boast a similar trait and that is that the towns look and feel really organic, there are people talking, laughing, pretending to play golf, fighting, and drunks.  The town looks bright at night, along with being a lit grim almost seedy, during the day it's bright and become a more positive place.  It is difficult for me to pick any one area as being better than another, I did like the look of the Millennial Tower especially near the top floors, I can't say any more than that unfortunately (spoilers).

Overall a visually impressive game, and already very much looking forward to Yakuza Kiwami 2 in August as the game is supposed to look even better. 

Music 

The Yakuza series has a very identifiable sound and is one of the many great things it has to offer.  It often varies between a funk and rock sound depending on the situation. The soundtrack for Yakuza Kiwami features new tracks, old tracks, and some remixed ones.  There are a number of composers who worked on the soundtrack including:

Hidenori Shoji, a Japanese composer, arranger, lyricist, and performer whose works includes Yakuza 3, Code of the Joker and Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed.

Chihiro Aoki, a Japanese composer, arranger, lyricist, performer whose works include Yakuza 3, 5, 6,  and Phantasy Star Online 2.

Shunsuke Minami a Japanese composer, arranger, and lyricist whose works include Yakuza 5 and The Legend of Heroes Sora No Kiseki.

Shunsuke Yasaki a Japanese composer, arranger, and performer whose works include Tekken 7, Zone of the Enders Remix and Yakuza 5.

Zenta Tsuchihashi a Japanese composer, arranger, and performer whose works include Yakuza 0, 2, 6 and Yume No Tsubasa.

Tsuyoshi Kaneko a Japanese composer, arranger, lyricist, performer whose works include The Phantom Kingdom, After Burner 20th Anniversary and Yakuza 6.

Keitaro Hanada a Japanese composer and performer whose works include Yakuza 2, After Burner 20th Anniversary, Galaxy Force II and Thunder Blade.

Sachio Ogawa a Japanese composer, arranger, lyricist, and performers whose works include Virtua Fighter 4, Space Harrier 2, Yakuza 0 and Sonic Symphony 25th Anniversary

Saori Yoshida a Japanese composer, arranger, and lyricist whose worked on almost all the Yakuza games.

Yuri Fukuda a Japanese composer, arranger and performer and like Yoshida has worked on almost all the Yakuza games.

There were some great tracks, however, there were some not great ones including the Funk Goes On, for some reason they scrapped the original one that featured saxophone and changed it and gave it more of a dance sound - it was not for me. 

The soundtrack runs a little over ninety and has over thirty tracks, while it was not as memorable or good as Yakuza 0 it did feature some good tracks, including:

'Revive You Reborn'
'迫'
'Flirt with Bomb'
'Scarlet Star by Fierce Tiger'
'Flirt with Bomb'
'Scarlet Star by Fierce Tiger'
'Flirt with Bomb'
'Scarlet Star by Fierce Tiger'
'Get Over It'
'キワメシトキ'
'Prey Me - Revive'
'Virtical Point'
'Lunatic Warrior'
'Everlasting Spirit'
'In A Dead Heat'

Overall not a bad soundtrack, there were just a few tracks that felt wrong and out of place.

Gameplay

The system used in Yakuza 0 allowed you switch between four different fighting styles, Brawler, Rush, Beast, and Dragon.  Each one is fairly self-explanatory with the exception of Dragon, this style combines all the best moves and more to create an ultimate style.  Yakuza Kiwami uses the same techniques with the exception of the Dragon style which this time can be only learned from Majima and Komaki.  While it did not affect me, as I only played Yakuza 0 last year Kiwami does not go into much details about the styles and benefits of each if I hadn't played Yakuza 0 I would have felt a little lost.

This time you need experience points to unlock abilities, they can be acquired through fighting, eating or completing sub stories.  The best way to get experience points is by taking on Majima, he will pop up randomly to test your abilities, it also unlocks Dragon abilities and was one of my favorite things to do.  The only issue is you end up having a lot of excess experience points and nothing to spend them on, it would have been great if you could do something with them, maybe exchange them for money?

The action flows really well throughout the game with the exception of two really stand out points.  The first is near the start of the game in which you have to sneak into a funeral, it's annoying and very out of place.   The second one is right near the end of the game in which you are fighting a mob, you keep switching between fighting and seeing what another character is doing.  Every time I got into fighting there would be another cut scene.

Like in the other Yakuza titles there is a lot of things to do outside the main story, you can go to the batting cages, play Shogi, Race Pocket Cars and play a game called MesuKing.  It's supposed to be a kids card that is basically rock, paper, scissors.  The characters wear some item of clothing that makes them look like a bug and very little else - not what I would call a kids game.

There are seventy-eight substories, the are some good ones but they were not as fun as Yakuza 0 (if you like Yakuza 0 why don't you just marry it?).  My three favorites were finding giving a tour to an out of towner, helping a Romeo and Juliet type couple and helping my pocket racing friend find a successor. 

Overall some great gameplay, a few parts I felt were lacking but for the most part, it was a lot of fun.

Final Thoughts

So after thirty plus hours how did I feel?  Pretty good.  The story was strong for the most part, the visuals were amazing, the music wasn't bad and the overall gameplay was good.  It doesn't beat Yakuza 0 but certainly a lot of fun, this one gets a solid 4 out of 5

Yakuza 0 - Review

I remember playing the original Yakuza on the Playstation back in 2005, while I liked it there were a few things that annoyed me about it.  In fairness though I never completed the game because there was section I kept dying in, I kept trying to run & buy health but always got attacked by a random group of thugs before I could.  That being said I have always meant to go back & try it again.  Yakuza 0 was a great chance for me to start from scratch. 


I like appetisers, they are a great way to get you ready for your main course. Sometimes though the appetisers are almost better than the main course a great example of this for me is Buffalo Wings.  I really love them, my favorite in recent times has been from a restaurant called Soozis, they were just so damn tasty.  Playing Yakuza 0 I found myself asking were the appetisers better than the main course?

The story takes place in 1988, in both Kamurocho & Sotenbori.  Kazuma Kiryu is a small time debt collector for the Yakuza.  Shortly after a simple debt collection the guy you collected from turns up dead & everyone is looking to you as the guilty party.  The police are after you & the Dojima family want to throw you under the bus.  It's clear you are being framed, but by who & for what reason? Lucky enough you have some allies, most notably your main oath brother Akira Nishkiyama, who seems a little innocent for a Yakuza but is as loyal as you can get.


Not so far away you have an ex-yakuza who is not having a great time of things either.  Enter Goro Majima, manager of the high end cabaret club called The Grand.  He is doing all he can to get back to his former status , no matter how close he gets another new road block is put in his way.  This time he is being asked to kill & it is something he may not be able to do but if he doesn't he will be killed.


I enjoyed getting to play as both characters & watching them develop but as a whole I found Majima's story to be far more satisfying.  I even found a lot of his sub stories to be more engaging. This is not to say Kiryu was boring but I think I already knew what to expect from him after playing the original game.


There are some many great side characters in the game including; Bacchus who is bad at paying his debts & his friend Kamoji who is apparently a fisting artist (his words not mine), Nugget who is a brilliant financial manager, Miracle Jackson (aka Jack Michaelson, aka Michael Jackson) a singer, a dancer, a lover but not a fighter, Mr Libido, who is well....ummm, interesting.


The ending is bitter sweet & while it kept me wanting more I did not finish the story feeling unsatisfied (that's what she said).

Visually there are both highs & lows.  The highs would have to be the bright lights, down & dirty feel of the city.  There are fluorescent lights everywhere at night & the streets look dirty, there are people selling all manner of things & some of the outfits have that classic 80's feel.  There was an interesting feature used sporadically throughout the game, when some characters are interacting with each other the look changes to a kind of film Noir style.  The camera pans from one character to another, no lip or body movements just the occasional change in facial expression, I felt it really worked well but would have like to see it used more.


The lows were that some of the character designs almost look unrendered at times during gameplay. It made the characters looks flat & lifeless, considering the look of the rest of the game I wonder was this used to convey how young the two protagonists were or did the studio simply go over budget on of the other parts of the game?


The soundtrack is a varied one & includes many genres; pop, rock, dance & romantic. Take for example Kiryu's battle music, it is has a very rock sound which worked well with his character & fighting styles.  Often when going into a fight I thought the music was saying a lot about the character; he is a tough guy that can take whatever you throw at him.  Then there is Majima, his battle music often had a more dance/trance sound which again worked well with his character & fighting styles. The music spoke to his character, I felt it said; the more violent the better & if things get chaotic or bloody I won't be disappointed.


The composer of this very eclectic mix of music is Hidenori Shoji, who's has worked on; Super Monkey Ball (which is an awesome game on the Playstation 2 that I cannot recommend enough),
Fighting Vipers 2 & The Yakuza Series.   He is also part of a music group called [H.] who are made up of the Sega Sound Team which includes:


Akiko Nasu
Chihiro Aoki
Chiho Kobayashi
Eisei Kudo
Hiroshi Kawaguchi
Junpei Mishima
Keitaro Hanada
Mitsuharu Fukuyama
Susumu Tsukagoshi
Takahiro Kai
Takenobu Mitsuyoshi
Yasuhiro Takagi
Yuki Takatsuto


They have worked on; OutRun 20th Anniversary, After Burner, Fantasy Zone: Ultra Super Big Maxim Great Strong Complete Album, Galaxy Force 2, Thunderblade & others.

Listening to the score again really got me pumped & made me want to start playing the game again. The soundtrack is just over 3 & half hours long & is packed with great pieces, some of my favorites included;


'Substory Theme A'
'Substory Theme B'
'Pandora's Palace'
'Force Addiction'
'Crash Addiction'
'Fatal Conflict'
'Customer Creed'
'One Eyed Slugger'
'Try To Have Some Fun For Me'
'Fever Time'
'Misery Comes on Beat'
'Archnemsis'
'Two Dragons'
'Breeze Time'
'Ignite Your Spirit'
'Friday Night'
'Judgement'
'時間シンデレラ'
'怨魔の契り'

The gameplay, where to begin?  There is simply so much to see & do.  I suppose lets look at the fighting side of things.  Each character has three main fighting styles & one legendary one.  They play very differently from one another & work with whatever playing style suits you best.  Two of my styles were; Kiryu's Rush Style, which offers speed & evasion at the cost of power & Majima's Mad Dog Style, which to me felt like the best of all his styles with a little extra thrown in. My two favorite moves were; Kiryu's recovery flying headbutt & Majima's triple take down finisher using Demon Fire Dagger to stab the third enemy.


Making money is a big part of the game, you use it not only to buy items but also to unlock abilities. Kiryu's money making game is real estate; buy properties, upgrade them, protect them & take out the King of each area.  The money is slow to come in at first but after a while it flows nicely, there are also there a few sub stories attached to it that are quite fun.  Majima's money making game is a helping a failing hostess bar take over the town; find hostesses, upgrade the club, train the girls, get support from the local businesses & keep the customers happy.  I found the hostess bar to be more rewarding from a story point of view but financially Kiryu's I think was more rewarding.


There are so many mini games available, here are just some that are available:


Karaoke - which works alright & can be quite funny
Baseball - I found this to be fun enough but got bored of it quickly
Space Harrier/Outrun - getting to play the original classics was great & also reminded me how tough they were
UFO Catcher - a game I really like playing in real life as well as in the game
Pool/Darts - a lot of fun & many options for both
Bowling - great fun & good mechanics
Fishing - fairly straight forward, quite fun & it's crazy what some people through in the water
Telephone Club - the 1980's version of Tinder which had some hilarious endings


One of the past parts of the gameplay were the sub stories, they actually provided you with stories rather than just being a set of side missions.  There were so many characters I got to like & learn about.  Some of the stories were really funny & many offered real emotions & depth.  I finished more than 80% of both characters sub stories, half the reason I did not go for 100% was because I wanted to leave some for the next time I played it.


The game offered so much & each time I thought I had discovered everything it had to offer something new popped up.  The gameplay was really good & while on occasion I found Kiryu's fighting styles to be a little stiff overall I had very little to complain about.  There is a healthy amount of Japanese comedy which I really enjoyed.  All in all some great gameplay & I look forward to playing it again in the future.





I knew finishing the game that I had been playing it for a while but I never realised I have been playing for 70 hours. To me this is a testament to how good the game was - time flies when you are having fun.  While there were a couple of things that I was not as pushed on gameplay/visually/story wise as a whole the game was really really good.  I am looking for to playing Yakuza Kiwami (remastered version of the original Yakuza with a bit more thrown on top). I would like to give this game a big monkey thumbs up or 4 out 5 (the conversion rate is about the same).