Yakuza 5 Remastered - Review

 

Happy New Year! Ah, can you believe it is 2020 2021 2022 2023?  First game completed of the year is Yakuza 5 Remastered, stared it last year, but due to it being a mammoth game, and being majorly distracted/addicted to Elder Scrolls Online I only finished it a couple of days ago. I have been a fan of the Yakuza series for a while, especially since they remastered the series. I now just have one left to play in the series, not including Lost Judgement or Like A Dragon.

I love crisps, but it can be tough to find ones that are really tasty, and moorish. Pringles is often my go to brand when I'm not quite sure what I want. Recently tried their Sizzl'n Spicy BBQ, as I enjoy the others in the Sizzl'n series (why did they make a new spelling for it?) I thought why not. They weren't bad, but there was something that just did not quite work for me, I feel maybe they were too ambitious with the flavours, and ended up creating something sub par. Playing Yakuza 5 Remastered I found myself asking were there just too many flavors trying to be combined together?

Story

In Yakuaza 4 Remastered you take control of four different characters, for Yakuza 5 you are given five!

The overarching story sees the tentative truce between the Tojo Clan, and Omi Alliance begin to disintergrate due to health issues with the current chairman of the Omi Alliance. The story sees Kiryu Kazuma dragged back into the fray, unwillingly. 

There are five protaginists; Kiryu Kazama, Taiga Saejima, Shun Akiyama, Haruka Sawamura, and Tatsuo Shinada. Each character has their own story, in the case of Kiryu we see him take on the role of a humble taxi driver, where you can actually take people on taxi rides and take on some street racing. Taiga, after a brief stint in prison sees him being a hunter in a mountain town, taking on mountains beasts and saving people who have wandered there. We see Shun setting up a second Sky Finance location which ruffles some feathers with the local Yakuza. Haruka who is pursuing her dream as an idol, and doing everything that goes along with; TV Spots, interviews, handshaking events, quiz shows, and lot of practicing dancing and singing. We see the introduction of Shinada, a disgraced baseball player and now sex journalist, he has not given up on baseball and seem him take on events and challengers in the batting cage, and the stadium.

The overacrching story feels a little weak, especially when it comes to character motivations, which was disappointing. The individual character stories are quite interesting, I prefered some to others; taxi driving and hunting were a lot of fun, baseball grew on me over time, being an idol was a little tedious at times, but overall they all had a good conclusion.

Overall there were some good elements to the story, but, the game was really carried by the sub plots of the other characters, rather than the main narrative.

Visuals

If you compare the visuals of the original release of Yakuza 5 and the newly remastered version they are a lot sharper, but also smoother in terms of character design. The city scapes in the game feels a lot more organic, buzzing lights, massive, and often unique store fronts. While having five characters is certainly ambitious it did give way for more locations to visit; Tokyo, Osaka, Hakata, Nagoya, and Sapporo. Each of them does feel unique, even down to traffic patterns, with more and less people in certain areas. 

The sub stories added some fun visuals, everything from; Haruka dancing in crazy outfits. Kiryu enjoy a little Fast and the Furious style races that are all about respect. Saeijma, rolling around in the mountains, hiding behind trees, and then being nearly mauled to death by bears. Even Tatsuo had to some outlandish moments that were reminsent of Kung Fu Hustle and Shaolin Soccer.

Overall the visuals do not disappoint, they are fun, engaging and on ocassion outrageous.

Music

The sound track is full of heavy guitar riffs, and actually reminded me to the first games in the Yakuza series, along with some late ninties, earler two-thousand soundtracks. Mitsuharu Fukuyama has been the composer for a number of the Yakuza games. Outside of these though he has a rich body of work including; Sega Rally 2006 (brings me back), Binary Domain, Rub Rabbits! (crazy series that needs to be brought back), Mario And Sonic at the Winter Olympics in Sochi (2014) and Rio (2016) to name a few.

The soundtrack spans two volumes, and over four hours of music which of course only makes sense with such a large game. Some of my favorite tracks were; 'The Battle For The Dream', 'Isolated Fight', 'Hailstorm', 'Victory Road', 'Full-scale Offensive', 'Endless Fight', 'Nuisances', 'A Desperate Run', 'The Cool Sosuke', and 'The Passion For Batting'.

Overall the soundtrack wasn't bad, but definetly did not stand out for me.

Gameplay

This cannot be stated enough, there is so much gameplay! It's difficult to tell where to even begin, but I will try anyway. Each character, as in previous games in the series have their own style of fighting. Kiryu is pretty well balanced is great for taking on any type of opponent. Saejima is a beast and can throw opponents, and objects around like they weigh nothing. Shun for sure has the most powerful legs in the game, is great for breaking through enemy blocks, and has some impressive finishing moves. Haruka, fights with her dance moves, think of 'You Got Served'. Shinada might not be the best fighter but is great with weapons, you also have couple of weapons that are unbreakable, but only for him. Heat moves, in many cases can be considered finishing moves, they look really slick, and painful, which my wife can atest to as I repeatedly heard her say 'why?'. 

The levelling up system is the same as Yakuza 4, there are four skill trees of sorts for each character, you won't be able to unlock all of them n a single playthough but at least seventy-five percent of them. It really is a  matter of preference, you can't really lose out no matter what points you put where. Each of the characters can be leveled up to twenty, even Haruka.

The sub stories feel a little more toned down than in previous games in the series, I felt this was a shame as I sorted of missed the wackyness. There are seventy sub stories in total, plus each character has an addtional fifteen to twenty of their own story missions. I completed all of them, as I was unable to help myself. I think helping giving a political speech, training a chicken to race other chickens, and helping an unusually dressed man, attract the opposite sex, and find love.

As always there are a ton of mini games, many types of gambling, the colesssum is back if you are looking to test your fighting skills, table tennis, cooking food, arcade games, snowball tournements, and many more. There is something for everyone one to enjoy, and if you are like me will want to try all of them at least once. The hostess bars are back, sadly, no matter how hard I try to get into them I just can't, I miss managing them too much. That all being said they are a bit of fun. Food is a big staple of the Yakuza series, and Yakuza 5 Remastered is no different, all of it looks so good and there is such a variety on offer, also it is great way to replenish your health.

Overall the gameplay is strong, while I miss some of the wackyness I have become accustomed to in the rest of the series, it was still a lot of fun.

Final Thoughts

So, after over a hundred hours playing, how did I feel?  The main story was okay, but by no means a strong entry in the series. What kept me playing were the individual character stories and development. The visuals once again were great, featuring new locations really mixed things up, and the cities you explored really felt organic. The music, while maybe not my favourite of the series so far was still good. The gameplay, next to the characters stories was really good, hours upon hours of fun, and helped keep me hooked. For me I would say this could be the weakest of the series to date, and don't get me wrong I had fun, but perhaps Sega was somewhat over reaching and stretching themselves to thin, sometimes less, is more, this one gets 3 out of 5

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