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?
Happy New Year! Ah, can you believe it is 202020212022 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
I have been pretty giddy to play Yakuza 3 since the remastered collection was released, I even made sure to pre-order it. The quality of the story and gameplay of Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2 were fantastic and hoped that Yakuza 3 would be the same. This was my first time playing Yakuza 3 so curious to see how the story of Kiryu Kazama would progress.
I love eating a tasty sausage (easy now), there are so many varieties and you can rarely go to wrong unless you go for the super cheap ones. I fancied sausages and mash the other day, so picked up some Tesco Finest Pork Sausages. Now they weren't bad but nowhere near the same quality, I had got used to with O'Flynn's Gourmet Sausages. Now maybe O'Flynn's had simply spoiled me with the taste and flavours of their sausages or maybe Tesco Finest Sausages weren't as good. Playing Yakuza 3 Remastered I found myself asking, what kind of sausages was I eating?
Story The direction of the story is very different from the previous ones in the series. One side of the story sees Kiryu Kazama in Okinawa running an Orphanage, Morning Glory, with his adopted daughter Haruka. It is so sweet watching them take care of the orphans cooking, keeping house, dealing with childhood problems and different prejudices. The other side sees a change in the Tojo Clan and being on the brink of war and a sinister force at work which is far beginner than before. Kiryu is forced back into the troubles of the Tojo Clan while also trying to keep Morning Glory and its orphans safe. This time though can Kiryu really do it all or will it all come crashing down?
While there are many great elements to the game my favourite was those focused on Morning Glory, see Kiryu in a more fatherly light was really nice. There was a level of simplicity about it that was hard not to love. The Tojo Clan storyline was good but lacked a certain something and did draw me in like the other games stories had. The substories were a little shakey, where there were ones I enjoyed they did not seem as fun as the others, Okinawa substories were great for the most part but those in Kamurocho just did not have the same appeal.
Overall the stories lines were not bad but in some ways, I wish they had created a shorter game than just focused on Okinawa and the Morning Glory Orphanage rather than trying to cram so many things into it.
Visuals
The visuals....mmmm.....I.....hmmm. Getting to enjoy a new area was great and felt fresh and fun. However, the visuals were nowhere as good as they could or should have been. Obviously, there was serious remake/remaster of the first two games as they were on the PlayStation 2 and would have looked really poor if they had not. That being said I feel Sega really dropped the ball with Yakuza 3. The visuals look like an early PlayStation 3 game and while side by side comparisons of the original versus the show improvements they just are not enough. Honestly, perhaps they rushed the release due to working on Judgement and being concerned some would be released on the PlayStation 5 and would fail without serious work.
I hate to bash on a game's visuals but it hard to ignore them, perhaps I was just spoiled by the others but consistency is key and Yakuza 3 is certainly lacking that element. Music Thinking back on all the Yakuza games I have played so far there is a distinctly Sega sound to it. There are these fun tracks combined, guitar riff infused tracks along with epic battle tracks. Many of the sounds of Sega are created by Japanese composer Hidenori Shoji. He is a rich body of work including not only the Yakuza Series but also; Sega Tour Car Championship, Project X Zone 2 (and when 3 is released might be the only reason I buy a Nintendo Switch), and Sonic All-Star Racing to name but a few.
As always there are number of great tracks even though it feels like one of the shortest soundtracks to date. Some standout tracks for me were; 'Fly', 'Howl Of The Dragon', 'Urgency', 'Pure Malice', 'Lyricism Without Tears' and 'Fish On'.
Overall it is a fairly solid soundtrack and while it is not my favourite one of the series it did not make it any less enjoyable.
Gameplay
As always in Yakuza games there is a lot to discuss in terms of gameplay, let's start with the big one, combat. The fighting element is fun and will feel familiar to those how have played the others in the series. There are a couple gripes I had, firstly fighting does not feel as robust as the other remastered Yakuza games, and the levelling up system. The more you fight, complete mini-games and sub-stories the more experience points you can gain. That makes sense, what does not make sense is that often you have to pick between upgrading between two abilities, for example, you can increase your health or improve the damage you do when throwing an enemy. This way of levelling up made no sense to me and is something that was unnecessary to incorporate into the game. On the plus side, there is a new way you can acquire fighting abilities, one of these by capturing people having crazy things happen to them and then blogging about it.
There is a host of mini-games including; fishing, mahjong, massage (you read that right), running, and a number of others. Then, of course, there are the classic substories, they are usually quite quick to complete and pulls you away from big responsibilities and just helping people in their day to day life, from the simple to the bizarre.
Hostesses Bar. This is an element I have really enjoyed in the series I love managing the clubs, the fun stories of the hostess and the competition in other clubs. Sadly, this was missing this time around. Instead, you get to visit hostess bars and try to win over the hostesses. That part to me seems a little bizarre, you pay a lot to be there, you are kind of expected to give gifts and to answers their questions the way they want. Now it could be just me but if you are paying to be there with them surely they should just go along with whatever you like or are into (unless it is demeaning or all-out rude). Instead, you are pretty much courting them with no guarantees they will like what you say or do. So why would you not either go to an escort or try to get with a real girl especially considering the effort you have to put in with a hostess. I am not sure if this was put in because this is how it actually works in Japan or if Sega just wanted to go in a different direction, in either case, it was not for me. Overall the gameplay isn't bad but certainly has some shortcomings, while of course, I understand the need to change things up but as the old adage goes, if it ain't broke why try to fix it? Final Thoughts
So, after nearly thirty hours how did I feel? A bit underwhelmed. The story had some great elements in it but felt like they tried to cram in too much. The visuals were a huge downside and hope that Yakuza 4 and 5 look a lot better. The music was reliable as always and while it was not my favourite to date in certainly is not bad. The gameplay was a little hit and miss, risks were taken that did not pay off and the combat was a little weak by comparison of the other games in the series. Overall this one slides in with a 3 out of 5
I recently completed Judgement (or Judge Eyes) on the PlayStation 4. It is set in the same world as the Yakuza series but follows a different character. It became clear earlier this year that Yakuza 3 remastered would not be released until 2020, and needing a fix my attention was drawn to Judgement. It offered similar elements to the Yakuza series but instead of playing as a Yakuza you play as a lawyer-turned-detective.
I like coconut things, quite a bit and if it is combined with chocolate even better. I recently went into Tesco and decide to try their Tesco's Finest Coconut and Chocolate Biscuit cake. I had gone in for something else and thought 'how bad could they be?'. They were one of the tastiness things I have had in ages, so much so I went back for more. Playing Judgement I found myself asking was this even better than what I really wanted?
Story The story follows Yagami, a lawyer who, after a bad case, retires and opens his own detective agency in Karamucho. He has a number of allies - his closest being Kaito, a former Yakuza who is pretty handy in a brawl. There is a killer called The Mole who has been gouging out peoples eyes and when those murders intersect with one of his own cases Yagami decides to investigate. I can't give any more away as there are way too many spoilers. What I can say is while it feels sort of slow start with it picks up in pace quickly and ends really well.
The main story is great but one of the best elements is the side cases and friend requests. They share some of the some dark and often comedic moments that the other Yakuza games are known for. That said, while I liked many of them they were not quite as enjoyable as the Yakuza series ones.
Overall the main story, sides cases and friend requests were a lot of fun and many of the characters, especially your allies, are very likeable which really helped me invest in them.
Visuals
Since Yakuza 0 and the remake of Yakuza 1 and 2, I have been spoiled by the visuals and Judgement is no exception. The world is busy and full of life, sometimes even to the point where I start asking people to get out of my way. The stores, restaurants, and mini-game venues all have a lot of detail in them making them feel like real places. The character designs look amazing and no detail was spared, except for one, the eyes. Not all but some characters have dead-looking eyes which can be very jarring at times.
Overall the visuals are amazing and it was great getting to explore Karamucho again.
Music
Hidenori Shoji has helped create a very distinct sound for the Yakuza Series (Ryu Ga Gotoku) and now he has turned his attention to this. Judgment has a very similar sound there are rocking guitars for battles, and whimsical tracks for the happy fun moments. However, Judgement adds an extra layer that I have not experienced before which is moody guitars along with what I can only surmise as being a cross between old school detective shows and modern-day espionage films.
The soundtrack runs a little over three hours and there is a lot packed into that time. There are so many great tracks some of my favorites being:
Random Fire
Puzzle
My Own Style
Yagami Detective Agency
Strange Encounter
Hyenas Wheezing
In Jeopardy
Speculation
The Laff Riot
Vast Fire
Off Guard
Destination
Penumbra
Kamimurochi Funny
Anyway Happy
Dive In
Overall it is great soundtrack and is easily as good as any of the Yakuza games if not slightly better.
Gameplay
The gameplay in Judgement is very similar to that seen in the Yakuza series but with some new additions. The combat is more streamlined and feels smoother, there are two fighting styles; tiger and crane. Yagami is more agile and because of this can leapfrog over enemies, wall jump and get out of tight spots. It took me a while to get used to the new styles but once I did I quite enjoyed them. Enemies feel a little tougher especially when they hit you with special attacks that destroy your health and make it impossible to heal fully until you have been to a doctor or got a medical kit.
The Keihin Gang terrorizes the town but what's worse is they keep coming back even after you defeat them. They appear with a 100% threat level and overtime or as you defeat the gang leader and footsoldiers it drops. The only issue is that it happens so often and if you ignore them you get a guilt-ridden text message from a local restaurant owner.
The final boss battle is really well done and had a perfect build-up to it. It ended up being a slight struggle as I hadn't brought enough supplies, but in the end, I prevailed.
The detective element is played out very lightly, tailing people, taking pictures and asking/answering the right questions. It was fun enough but was not very taxing from the detective point of view. It is difficult to know if this was done on purpose or not. If it was taxing it might distract too much from the main narrative.
We all need friends sometimes and in Judgement, there are fifty potential friends. Each can be made friends by fulfilling certain requests, some are more challenging than others. The one I did not get was the Majong girl, mostly because I can't quite get my head around how to play it. Once acquired, friends will then greet you around town and in some cases will even help you in fights.
There is a host of mini-games to enjoy including; baseball, darts, blackjack, poker, VR and my favorite - drone racing! These are a lot of fun and there are lots of upgrades available to make your drone the best out there. As a fan of pigeons, I quite liked the little pigeon head on my drone.
The Yagami Detective Agency feels small and homely and there are a number of activities available. There is sleeping on the less than a comfy looking couch, playing pinball, listening to music, adding decorations to the place and of course checking out your side cases. Side cases are a welcome distraction from the main story and some are dark, funny and sometimes a little weird. I liked them a lot and helped build relationships with characters in the town.
Overall the gameplay was really good with almost nothing to complain about. I'm already looking forward to my next playthrough.
Final Thoughts After fifty hours of playing Judgement, how did I feel? Pretty happy! The story was really well done, and while the side missions were not quite as enjoyable as the ones in the Yakuaza they were still good. The visuals look fantastic and are really detailed, the music was good too and add something a little more than heard in the Yakuza series. The gameplay overall was really fun, with the exception of a few minor annoyances. Overall it was a solid contender and I hope there is a sequel in the near future, this one gets 4 out of 5
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
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