Not long ago (relatively speaking) I finished the longest entry in the Yakuza series, Yakuza 5. I usually like to give myself a break between sequels, but this time I was just itching to play Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life. It was a chance to take on the role of Kirya Kazma solo again, which seems like such a long time ago now.
Do you like Doughnuts? Of course, you do, you're not some kind of psycho. There is a newish place that opened near me called Off Beat Doughnuts, the great selection includes my all-time favorite; Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. It combines some simple and tasty things together, doughnut, chocolate, and peanut butter, nom nom. Playing Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life I found myself asking if was this the perfect recipe, combining all the things I love?
Story
The start of the Yakuza 6 is hard-hitting, Haruka (long-time series favorite, and Kiryu's adopted daughter) is hit by a car while holding a baby. The baby is fine, all good there, but Haruka is in a coma. Kiryu is just out of a stint in prison, and after visiting Morning Glory Orphanage finds out Haruka has been in the wind for a few years, then finds out she is in hospital carrying a baby - that's a lot right? We see Kiryu on a mission to find out how this all happened, why, and what going on with the baby? This time the game has you moving between the quiet(ish) Onomichi, and the bustling city of Kamarucho.
A complaint for me in Yakuza 5 was the substories, there were lots of them, but they lacked the zaniness the series is known for, and none of the felt as heartfelt as others in the series. This time around Sega Team did not make that mistake, we get to see an out-of-control Roomba's, Tinder gone wrong, and the return of one of the best side characters in the series Pocket Circuit Fighter! There is a lot more besides these, but really brought to mind those in Yakuaza 0, along with Kiwami 1 and 2.
Overall the main story is pretty solid, the ending was, well, a little bit of a cop-out in some ways (won't give any more away than that), and I feel it stopped the story from being excellent, rather than just really good.
Visuals
As the series has progressed the visuals have become better and better, and Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life is the pinnacle of that progression. Onomichi is a small town in the Osaka Prefecture, it is a small fishing area, a little run down, but also has this homely feeling. It feels like a small town, from the scale of buildings, the inclusion of an old cemetery, shrines and a temple, and smaller restaurants. Kamurcho is as busy as ever, there are few visual changes to the city in comparison to the other games in the series, a revamped and rebuilt Little Asia, some businesses have closed, and new ones opened in their place.
The characters look more realistic, with some of the older characters, like Detective Dante you can really see details in the face that were not as present before, puffy eyes, wrinkles, and even the hair. Younger characters have similar details, and they look a lot less generic than in some of the series.
Overall, the visuals are strong, the team has focused on both larger details like those of buildings and lightning but also put focus on the smaller things like items in stores and homes. From what I have seen for Yakuza 7 Like A Dragon, they look even better again.
Music
The soundtracks for the Yakuza Series have generally been pretty strong, for Yakuza 6: Song Of Life the composers have knocked it out of the park, and is one of, if not the best soundtrack to date. There is a balanced focus on hard-hitting battle music, and more somber and serene pieces when dealing with poignant and heartfelt moments. The soundtrack is composed by; Hidenori Shoji (Super Monkey Ball
Outrun, Yakuaza Series, along with the spin-off Judgement), Kenichi Tokoi (Daytona USA Championship, Space Channel 5, Feel The Magic: XY/XX, NiGHTS: Journey Of Dreams, Yakuza 4),
Yuri Fukada (Super Monkey Ball, Sonic and Sega All-Star Racing, Yakuza Series).
The soundtrack is around three hours long and features some great tracks, some of my favorites were;
Kiyomi Snack, Kamuro Again, Chaos Madness, With Impatience, Through, Town Bully, Stand Off, Sneak Into The Pandemonium, Togenkyo, Recapture Serenade, Fist Law, Qui Garde Un Secret, Destiny, and, A King Of Apathy.
Overall, a really solid soundtrack, featuring nothing but gold.
Gameplay
It won't be any surprise to fans of the Yakuza series that there is a lot to do when it comes to gameplay, but we will get to that shortly. The combat feels more fluid than before, and Kiryu seems to have picked up some new moves. I love the leveling-up system for it as plays more like an RPG, getting experience points from almost everything, such as eating, fighting, completing sub-stories, main stories, clan wars, and lots of other ways too! The game really rewards you for the time you spend playing.
Substories are a big staple of the Yakuza series, and this game is no different. There is a good number of them, sometimes they are fun, others sad, and some really heartfelt, you will want to play them all!
If you need something to do while not focusing on the main store or sub-stories there are mini-games galore. There are; darts, karaoke, mahjong, baseball, arcades, and probably more I am not remembering. Then there is Bar Chats, a great feature where you make friends in a local bar, and get to help them. The hostess bars are present as always, and while they can be fun at times, they really need to go back to hostess management featured in the earlier games in the series. Kiryu, kind of sort, has his own clan, and with that comes clan wars a simple strategy game that has you recruit characters from the Yakuza universe, and command them on the battlefield of street fighting. Last, but not least a new addition is managing a baseball team, which is more fun than it sounds, trying to go from zeros to heroes, by using team spirit - and leveling up of players.
Overall, the gameplay is as solid as the rest of the game, and to me felt more in keeping with some of the first three games, which was awesome!
Final Thoughts
So, after a little over thirty hours, how did I feel? Time flew by, and could easily have played more, which I will in the future when I try playing it on Legend difficulty. The story is really heartfelt, the substories are great, and the only thing that let it down was the ending. The visuals, look fresh and smooth and was great watching their progression in the Yakuza series. The music was on point, and I can't say it is clearer than that. The gameplay was really solid, and fun, and felt really rewarding when leveling up either Kiryu, members of the clan, or the baseball team. This one gets a solid 4 out of 5 it narrowly misses out on full marks, but hey, how many of us are perfect?
I'm a pretty big fan of the Yakuza series, especially since it was remastered with the release of Yakuza 0. Each year around Christmas time I end up playing one of them, this year it is Yakuza 4 (will likely play Yakuza 5 as well). While I try not to read about the plot or gameplay before I play a Yakuza game I knew going in this time there would be four playable characters. I previously enjoyed playing Kiryu and Majima, but would be four a little too much?
I like many things about Japanese culture and like to try and embrace it when I get the chance. When myself and Nollsy visited London a few years ago went to a Benihana which was an awesome experience. Tried a selection of sake which was really nice. A couple of months ago I saw these awesome sake glasses and had to have them. My better half got me two bottles, tried both and I have to say I did not like them. I asked myself was it just a lower quality than I had tried or was I simply swept up in my time in London and anything would have taste good. Playing Yakuza 4 I found myself asking was this a lower tasting quality or was I just not into it?
Story
There are four playable characters in the game; Kiryu Kazuma, retired legendary Yakuza now running the Morning Glory orphanage, Masayoshi Tanimura, a police detective who has a problem with authority and playing by the rules, Taiga Saejima, in prison for the last 25 years after a hit gone wrong, and Shun Akiyama, a very unique loan shark who doesn't believe in his clients paying any interest on their loans. What connects all these characters together, a mystery woman who everyone seems to want to find.
The game is split into four parts (one for each character), set over four chapters each. The stories independently are interesting and in the final chapters all the stories converge revealing something much bigger going on.
As always with Yakuza it has sub stories for each character to play, the only downside is that while there were some zany missions it felt a bit more serious than normal.
Overall the story is pretty good and while having extra characters was interesting at times it was a bit too much of a distraction from the main narrative. I did feel once Kiryu became playable the story did heat up quite a bit and was more interesting.
Visuals
The visuals are pretty good in the game, and with the addition of new areas like the rooftop, hidden ally town, underground, car parks you get to enjoy another level of Kamarucho never seen before. At night the game seems more moody than in previous, a large part of this I feel are due to the lighting effects. One of my favorite parts visually was running around when it was raining, the effects look so good.
When playing as Taiga Saejima you get to explore a prison which was a bit different and very reminiscent of A Way Out (due to just having played it). The other characters tread familiar ground but as Kamarucho has been upgraded even more it never gets dull to look at.
Overall some great visuals, and see a game remastered after ten years really does breath new life into Kamarucho.
Music
The soundtrack has that classic Yakuza feel, with some extra guitars and a blend of both smooth jazz that on occasions gets pretty intense and gave me a feeling of being pulled down. The soundtrack is created by Yakuza series veteran Hidenori Shoji who also worked on Judgement and Fighting Vipers.
The soundtrack provides over three hours worth of music and around seventy tracks. My favorite tracks include: 'Roarless Dragon', 'Glee', 'Funny', 'Whiskey and Rhapsody', 'Spicy Brass Squid', 'Speed Star', 'Material Delights', and 'So Hot Ping Pong'.
Overall a pretty classic Yakuza soundtrack with a little extra added on top to keep it fresh.
Gameplay
The four playable characters have very different playstyles; Akiyama is pretty agile and his punch and kicks do a decent amount damage, Tanimura has a play style very close to that of Yagami in Judgment and Lost Judgement, very fast and has a great counter block technique. Then there is Saejima, who hands down is the worst (combat wise), he is painfully slow, his moves when they connect are strong but even his defense is not great. The first boss you take on as him nearly broke me as I felt like I wasn't fighting more dodging a lot and then occasionally making contact. Kiryu is hands down the best fighter by far and incorporates the best elements of the others.
Each character can level up and get orbs, these are used to increase skills, it does not take a lot to level up as long as you don't avoid battles and engage in other activities.
Weapons feel like they have more focus on them this time, there a lot of weapons to be made, upgraded and broken. It was fun to try but still like using my body to do my fighting.
Like with the other Yakuza games there are slew of sub stories, some are fun but other feel like a bit more of a chore especially the hostess missions which every character has and is quite costly. I really do wish they would bring back the hostess club game where you could manage the whole thing.
There are a ton of mini games, my favorite being table tennis, there is also; batting cage, mahjong, shogi, karaoke, arcade machines, fishing, UFO grabber and more. There is more than enough to fill your time whether you just want the experience points, looking for trophies or just want a break from the main story.
Overall the gameplay is pretty good, the only thing that lets it down really is a certain characters fighting style, and some sub stories not having the fun quality Yakuza fans are used to seeing from the series.
Final Thoughts
So after close to thirty hours how did I feel? Not bad. The story is pretty good but as they sometimes to many chefs spoil the broth and while the inclusion of new characters was interesting four felt like too many playable characters especially for a game which traditionally has had just one. The remastering real brought the visuals up another level, and added to an extra layer to Kamarucho. The soundtrack is what we have come to expect from the series but Shoji has got lazy and added some new elements. The gameplay is pretty solid but again the extra characters do slightly water things down especially Saejima or maybe his enemies were just not as well balanced. Overall the game wasn't bad but can only give this one 3 out of 5
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