Publisher: Sega
Developer: Ryu Ga Gotoku
Platform: PS3, PS4, XB1, PC
Genre: Beat-em Up Action
Release Date: 3.7.2017
It's been awhile since I've played a Yakuza game that has shaken me a bit inside and turn out to be something entirely different, something that felt like a mixed bag of sorts. Just finished off Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2, hot off the heels of the remastered collection release, I've finally tried out Yakuza 3 and.......yeah I don't know about this one chief.
Despite its age and shortcomings, 3 is still a hell of a ride. The story takes to interesting turns which has you dealing with yet another inside powerful struggle but with shady 3rd parties involved as well of both political and business spectrum. While 2 was mostly a revenge tale from the antagonists side of the coin, 3 dabbles into basically how hard Kiryu is trying to move on from his past as a Yakuza yet, deals with the previous life that never how hard he tries to keep distance, always ends up getting reeled back in. Gameplay is a leap forward compared to the early PS2 iterations. The visuals quite a step-up in 2009. Lastly, the soundtrack kicks ass.
But after playing the later games like Judgment and Kiwami series from Ryu Ga Gotoku, I've realized how poorly this game has aged. The combat isn't that fun, mechanically and visual artstyles wears out its appeal in time. Also, excessive blocking and flanking out. A.I is annoying, and lastly the sidestories and mini-games too much of a chore for just easy grinding.
The story of Yakuza 3 starts off non-chronological order where you pick off 3 years after Yakuza 2, then flashback to months after the ending of 2. A year after another, you pick up bits of the story, meet new characters before the narrative kicks into gear with one plot twist after the other.
Yakuza 3 still has themes of gang rivalry, power struggles yet also veers into the politics of the world and Japan itself. That's one aspect of the story, the other is Kiryu's attempt at leading a normal life seemingly fail time after time since he's always pulled into trouble. His life as a Yakuza is pretty much bound to him despite his true and trying attempts at protecting anybody caught in it. While being caught up in a heinous political conspiracy.
Storywise, this isn't the best that Yakuza has to offer, but it is leaps and bounds better than the first Yakuza game. With crazy new characters, new locales like Okinawa, more Yakuza family rivals to pummel and of course, lousy street thugs to beat down.
The occasional mundane city side stories are there, but they're crazier than before and often takes you deep into both Okinawa and Kamurocho city inhabitants. Some side-stories are pertinent to the main plot like taking out Rikiya, your new underling from Okinawa around Kamurocho in a tour and finishing his quests to fulfill something right around the end.
Though despite how much of a step-up 3 is from 1 and 2 in terms of content and presentation, after playing the new games, it seems to be showing its age, but this part of the game is more edible compared to the other facets of the game.
Yakuza 3 is a brawler, unlike the first two games, it focuses itself entirely as a third-person action game. You're sprawling through the city mostly in third person without dealing with the issues of camera angles of course like most moments where the camera is fixed at bird's eye view of the streets.
Unlike Kiwami 1 or 0, you don't get to pick between different stances, you only fight with combos you unlock after unlocking moves from gained XP. Do note however that, it is far better than Yakuza 1 and Yakuza 2's combat. You're pummeling guys with more than one, two punches. As you gain XP, you unlock new upgrades. Some will give you new moves to prompt and unlock heat actions. This is the game where special heat actions are introduced where you'll continue with your moves to become a bigger finish.
Despite the familiar realistic setting, this game the absurdity to level 5. You're going around the city getting into these mini-quests call revelations. In here, you find and camera video of the denizens of both cities doing some of the most insane things. But you also learn new moves from these, like being able to whiz behind each of a group of enemies and knocking them down with QTE button prompts.
And then there are the substories and mini-games. Like fishing, Sega Arcade, bowling, dart, baseball and so on. Substories are mostly stories based around the denizens, where you help people with their issues or get caught up in weird scuffles. There's a ton to do, so much so that these are good mostly for XP farmings, but I even got cash from them. Of course, if you want to make real cash, you can actually run a hostess joint and hire people in order to make money. This is a thing that both 0 and Kiwami 2 has done which of course, earns you always a butt load of cash.
This is a fun game, but not without its flaws. Mini-games are hard, some of the substories are very difficult to solve and pathfinding issues often get in the way of the experience. Which kind of puts me in this infuriating position considering this is actually a fun game.
Then there's the enemy A.I. They're too aggressive and with devs decided "hey, just think and try to find a way around it" enemy blocking design. Hence, the title "Blockuza 3". Because this game's enemies will interrupt constantly by flanking you aggressively or block just to infuriate you. If one of those problems would be solved and the blocking wasn't excessive on boss fights, this game would have been an easy recommend.
It's too much to deal with at times. Very tedious and cumbersome ordeal. Then there's also the camera, it is ok when you're moving horizontally, but vertically the camera reverts, which is just obtuse in this day and age of camera movements. I couldn't finish a few of the substories properly thanks to this.
Am surprised at how good a 2009 game looks, despite everything just reminds me of the late 2000 era. However, this game was heavily touted to be that next-gen looker back in the PlayStation 3 days. The HD refresh managed to upscale everything. Like, all the textures of streets, roads, grass, rocks, debris, etc. Though the animation is pretty subpar. On gameplay and cutscene.
This feels and sounds like a late 2000s game. But a late 2000s Sega game. I mean where do I start by saying I miss Sega games each time I hear the sound design from it. The music itself lends credence to the title thanks to a number of great composers working on the game. In fact, I'd say that 1, 2 and 3 has great scores to boot. Just gets me on an adrenaline rush everytime fly starts.
3 was really pushing boundaries at the time it was out, now it's a good reminder of that time. Honestly I didn't mind everything else besides the weird animation, that kind of felt unsettling often times.
If it wasn't for those issues I've mentioned in terms of gameplay, mechanics and design, this game would have been a sure fire hit. It's one of those games that has a lot of highs and some really bad lows.
But I'll look fondly back into this game. After 35hrs of going through it, it was quite the rush, an exhilarating experience I'll never forget. But now, onto the next Yakuza games. The better ones of course.