Yakuza 4 (PS3)

I completed Yakuza 4 last night and it gave me a final statistics screen. It had took me 35 hours to complete the story, yet according to the completion statistics I had only completed 23% of the game. It's been a while since I've last played a game that has had me playing for half a day for a number of days. To clarify Yakuza 4 doesn't have a particularly long story. 10 of those 35 hours played were story. Half those 10 hours were cutscenes. What makes this game excellent are the distractions.

We'll begin with a brief overview of the story. Like the previous game, Yakuza 4 has an option to watch a catch up of the events that happened in the first three games. If you're someone who wants to purchase this game but not have to play through the other games then Yakuza 4 has you covered. Although I would recommend you play the others first to get a proper understanding of the story. At the very least Yakuza 3 has the same option to watch the first two game's story. As for Yakuza 4's story it seems in my opinion better than Yakuza 3's story. What's new to Yakuza 4 is that you aren't controlling just Kiryu Kazuma but three other characters. I was a little sceptical on how this would work. The first character you play as is Shun Akiyama, a loan shark with a different way of lending money. Without interest and collateral, you just need to pass his little tests to gain the money. Quite possibly the most interesting new character in the game. Taiga Saejima: a hitman who killed 18 Yakuza on his own but was later caught. My initial expectations of Saejima from the trailers were low but I was amazed by his very interesting story. It caught me by surprise. Masayoshi Tanimura: a policeman with a gambling problem. Tanimura's story wasn't particularly interesting at first. His was the weakest of all the stories but nonetheless quite exciting at least until the end of his story. Finally you have Kiryu Kazuma, a former yakuza (the fourth chairman of the Tojo Clan too, that's apparently up at the top) who, like in the last game, manages an orphanage. I won't say anymore about the story because it's the strongest part of a Yakuza game. But it has plenty of twists and enough to keep you on the edge of your seat. It's worth mentioning like the last couple of Yakuza games that this game is in Japanese with English subtitles. If you aren't a fan of subs then this isn't the game for you.

Next is the gameplay. Unlike other story-heavy games this game has plenty of gameplay. Lots of it. Like I said earlier it becomes a pleasant distraction. Players new to the Yakuza games may be confused how it all works. When I first played a Yakuza game I kept running towards the main missions because I thought there was a time limit to them. Gradually you learn that you can complete the main story in your own time. That is when you start to play ten pin bowling when you really should be saving a friend from death. Yakuza 4 has the added bonus of not being as heavily edited as Yakuza 3 was. Yakuza 4 only has two edits. One is a Japanese trivia game (which isn't a massive loss) and the opening video has different music than the Japanese release. All this means is Hostess Clubs make a return. If you play as Akiyama you can create a hostess and slowly bring her up to the top. Saejima however has a dojo training side mission where he trains fighters to win in fighting tournaments. Tanimura has a police scanner event where you can take down criminals for some extra cash. Playing as Kazuma allows you to fight new gangs in Kamurocho. With that mention of Kamurocho it's time to talk about the "city".

Kamurocho is a district in Tokyo. A red light district at that. While it's the same old place we've been in for 4 games, it has been improved. There are more shops, more minigames and more restaurants. If you aren't completely happy with that there is also the ability to go on rooftops and underground. It's is annoying that we're in the same place again considering Yakuza 3 added a new map in Okinawa but at the same time us Yakuza veterans are so used to Kamurocho that we don't even need to use the map.

As for any changes Yakuza 4 has made I have already said about the character specific minigames there's also the new levelling system. In the previous games you would have to fill an experience bar. To unlock new moves you'd have to fill that exp bar a number of times. It was a hard enough system to explain which is easier to understand in action. The new levelling system isn't too different. When you level up you gain soul orbs which you use to purchase new abilities. There aren't too many changes but they're more tweaks than overhauls. Everything that was in Yakuza 3 (save for the Okinawa map) is there in Yakuza 4. Revelations are still in it, bowling, golf, fishing and pool are still in the game. Put them altogether and you have a game that can last you at least a month.

Graphics are the same as Yakuza 3. The cutscene graphics are astonishing but graphics outside cutscenes are just terrible. It's simply amazing how good the graphics can look in a real time cutscenes but fall short when you're just playing the game. This game is all about the immersion and you do seem to come back to reality when you see ol' low resolution textures man.

It's difficult to talk about Yakuza 4 because of the huge amount of content in it. There's so much to talk about. You can't possibly go on to say every little feature this has without having a large wall of text. This game will keep me company for a long while even though I've completed the story. But I still have the hostess club missions to complete, I want to go fishing, I need to fight in a tournament, I want to play darts. All that and much more for me to do. I've only completed 23% of the game, I have another 77% to go and I'll enjoy every second of it.

This review has been written after around 13 hours play...

I have never played any Yakuza games before and got it mainly because I wanted to get my teeth into something 'open world' and time consuming. After the massive disappointment of Dragon Age 2, I heard some good things about this series so decided to take the plunge.

The game is kind of a cross between GTA IV and Street Fighter (or any other kung-fu type fighty games). There is a gripping storyline in which you play four different characters (although after 13 hours I am still on the first character) all based in a fictional district which I assume is supposed to be in somewhere like Tokyo. I'll not go into the plot as you can read that for yourself in the game description.

Basically the game revolves around a main plot with various sub-plots of which there are many. These sub plots go from the usual 'go and see this man and complete a task for him' to the bizarre 'dress and make-up a hostess in a hostess club'. It is such a strange mix, which I for one am not used to, that it is keeping me intruiged as to what I might be asked to do next!

The figting is implemented quite well, with punches/kicks and various combos - of which you can learn more of as you level up. There are also weapons you can purchase or manufacture. You can make weapons by optaining 'recipies' and the correct ingredients ehich you find lying around. All I will say is that the combos are a bit much for my 40 year old fingers, so I end up just mashing the buttons until stuff dies. The more dextrous amongst you will probably cope better. Unlike other games like this, it doesn't seem to spoil the combat at all and I never feel like I am totally out of control.

This being a Japanese game, there is lots and lots of dialogue interspersed with acted cut scenes. Normally I would get a litte bored of so much dialogue, but the storyline is so good that so far I have kept on reading and listening. The cut scenes are also very well done and although the voices are entirely in Japanese (with sub titles), they seem very well acted and add to the atmosphere immensely.

Overall I am thoroughly enjoying the game so far. It is different from anything else of the genre and has enough surprises to remain fresh. The story is well written and well executed. The characterisations are good and I find myself wanting to know more about them and what happens to them - if it were a book I would probably have read it to the end by now.

Note, although I have compared it to GTA - there is no driving in this game - you walk everywhere. The district is a lot smaller than the other games but is just big enough to be interesting - I am not sure if any other areas unlock with the other characters.

Anyway, if you are looking for something a bit different in the vein of the Grand Theft Auto/Mafia type games then this may be for you. I am liking it a lot so far!

Yakuza 4 (Ryu Ga Gotoku 4) was released in Japan last year when we received Yakuza 3. Sega has done a tremendous job in localising Yakuza 4, everything that was missing in Yakuza 3 (hostess bars) is back in Yakuza 4. The only thing cut from Yakuza 4 is the AnswerxAnswer quiz mini game and the Japanese Intro with the song called 'Butterfly City' (licence).

In Yakuza 4 you play as four main characters, 3 new characters along with the 'Dragon of Dojima' Kiryu Kazuma. Shun Akiyama, the 'Lifeline of Kamurocho' who is a money-lender/loan shark. Taiga Saejima, a fugitive on death row who killed 18 men back in '85. And Masayoshi Tanimura the 'Parasite of Kamurocho', who is a cop that delivers his own brand of 'Justice'. Each character has a different fighting style, Akiyama is fast, Saejima is a powerhouse but slow, Tanimura relies on parries and technique and Kiryu is balanced (well he has been the main protagonist throughout the series, Yakuza fans know what techniques Kiryu has).

The story is the most important aspect of the Yakuza games. The story is much more darker than the Yakuza 3 storyline. If you did not like the Orphanage part of Yakuza 3 then you will probably like the starting in Yakuza 4 (although it is confusing). It doesn't have much emotional parts like Yakuza 3 did but there is a few heart warming scenes in the game. The storyline will probably take you around 25 hours or more to complete depending on what you are doing for example playing the mini games and doing a few sub-stories.

The leveling system has changed and is different compared to Yakuza 3. When your character levels up, the health and heat meter automatically upgrades but you get ability points, which you can spend on learning new moves for your character. The highest/maximum level for every character is level 20. You can also learn new moves by the returning revelations from Yakuza 3 (and Kenzan) and IF7-R which looks like a saiyan pod from Dragonball Z (IF7 was in Yakuza 3).

The mini games are back and better than ever. You can get easily distracted from the story by playing the mini games in Yakuza 4. You can play pool, bowling, table tennis (new), golf, gamble, fishing and more. There is online leaderboards for this game, you can check what rank you are with each mini game (I'm not sure if it's region or world wide ranks). You can create your own hostess with Akiyama, train a rookie fighter with Saejima (Hideo Kojima reference), stop criminals and resolve problems with the police scanner with Tanimura, or take on gang members with Kiryu.

The only issues I have with this game is dialogue, graphics and the map. The dialogue can annoy you if you just want to get on with the story (non playable characters mostly interrupt). The graphics have slightly been upgraded, but you get the same annoying graphical issues that were in Yakuza 3. Kamurocho is the main setting in each Yakuza game. In Yakuza 4, Kamurocho is the only setting (No Okinawa from Yakuza 3) but you get a underground mall, sewers, parking lot, docks and rooftops. I just knew most of Kamurocho from the back of my hand (because I played Yakuza 3 a lot).

Get this game if you are into Japanese games, especially if you are into RPGs. You get a good story, likable/ dislikeable characters and mini games plus sub-stories to distract you. The game is worth the money as you can probably put in around 100 hours into getting 100% overall (not including platinum trophy, you probably get a platinum trophy before attempting 100% overall in the game like Yakuza 3).