Yakuza 3 Review — A Game With Too Much Stuff to Do » 30ninjas

Yakuza 3 Review — A Game With Too Much Stuff to Do

Share on Facebook posted 03-12-10 by Angelo D'Argenio

The Yakuza series is a lot like a Japanese take on Grand Theft Auto, with a beat ‘em up spin. Yakuza 3, is probably the most complete Yakuza game yet, featuring an in-depth story, with a vast open world to traverse and many RPG elements to keep you feeling as if you have a say in how you beat up your opponents. Overall, before going any deeper, I can say that Yakuza 3 is a decent game because of how much stuff there is to do, but loses points in my book, for the exact same reason.

Kazuma Kiryuu is one bad-ass dude. Not only does he have the chops to pull of a hawaiian shirt and a white suit with pink button down while still looking intimidating, he also is genuinely intimidating. Kazuma solves problems … with his fists … and just about everything else that is lying around. Though he is gangster to the bone, he is certainly one of the good guys. Hell, the game starts with him running an orphanage. However, much in the vein of your favorite Grand Theft Auto game, Kazuma gets tangled up in gang warfare and it is up to him to set the record straight … while taking generous time off to play golf, sing karaoke, and take pictures of people with his camera phone.

The gameplay of the Yakuza series is very simple. You find a guy, get a mission, go to the mission site, beat the shit out of a mob of guys, and repeat. The whole game basically is Grand Theft Auto, except you deal out punishment with your fists rather than guns, like a real man. The fighting system isn’t very deep. You have a weak attack button, a strong attack button, and a block button. You lay on strings of weak attacks for damage, and use strong attacks to break through guards and such. You have a bar that represents your fighting spirit, and when it is full you deal more damage and are harder to knock down. You can also trade in that bar for a chance to do a finishing move, which does massive damage, mostly through quicktime event sequences. The final combat element, is the ability to use an array of weapons. Kiryuu will gain access to swords, staffs, bronze knuckles and much much more. Aside from traditional weapons, you can also pick up just about anything in the environment to give your enemies a sound thrashing, and I mean anything, from bicycles to fence posts, to signs, to chairs, to garbage bins. Character growth, is basically governed by sinking points into different stats. Sink enough points and you will learn new techniques, however you also can do this by reading books and by taping strange events on your camera phone. All in all, the game is pretty fair, but you do have to manage your stats effectively, or else you will quickly fall to some rather cheap bosses.

Dealing out punishment with your manly fists of compassion is not the main attraction in Yakuza 3, believe it or not. Like Grand Theft Auto, this game boasts a large open world that you can just mess around in. There are side missions, shops, mini-games, and all sorts of other things. To be honest, I still don’t know what half of these items do. No one with a normal amount of time on their hands will come anywhere close to 100% completion, and as a completionist this makes me cry! It’s like Shenmue with more fists! You can’t ask me to go to batting cages and then sing Japanese karaoke while other people’s lives are at stake! GAH!!!

The graphics are pretty damn good. Sega used the PS3 to the best of its ability. Some people’s faces are frozen in angry glares, but that’s how yakuza members look in real life, so it’s OK. Bodies move realistically, if not over-dramatically. The fighting is damn near anime style, even though the graphics go for a more photorealistic look.

The music is OK at best, but the voice acting is great. Yakuza 3 doesn’t make any concessions with its Japanese flair. The voice acting is all in its original Japanese, with English subtitles plastered over them, and this is exactly what we wanted. The characters just seem so much more natural when they speak in Japanese, especially considering that the whole game is set in Japan.

Yakuza 3 is a pretty good game all things considered. It’s not going to fly off shelves any time soon, but it is a decent fusion of a Grand Theft Auto free world mission-based game, and a rough and tumble action RPG beat ‘em up. If you have some money to blow, and you are looking for a good action game … and you already blew through God of War 3 and Bayonetta, then Yakuza 3 is a good buy.