Game: Yakuza 0
Console: Sony Playstation 4
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 24th January 2017
Having only played a little of the first game in the Yakuza series, I didn't really know what to expect from a PS4 prequel, released over 2 years ago in Japan, where the series is far more accessible and popular. In no way did I expect Yakuza 0 to be completely engaging and accessible to franchise newcomers, have such a perfect tonal balance or the kind of storyline pacing which puts it in contention for my Game of the Year, in the very year Shenmue III is set to be released.
So let's back up; at the most basic level, Yakuza 0 is a story driven, beat-'em up influenced game where 99% of issues are solved with combat. Luckily, with 3 main fighting styles for each of the game's two protagonist's, weapons, fighting style upgrades and tons of money to be earned for beating down opponents in various ways, there's enough variety to keep the core combat engaging throughout the game's 17 chapters, as the plot drives events and player interest forwards.
As with most Yakuza titles, the game takes place on the streets of Kamurocho, a fictional take on Kabukicho, a Tokyo red light district, bustling with activity, people and most importantly Yakuza. There's a serious graphical upgrade on all previous versions of the district, and the sense of detail is awesome, especially for such a small setting when compared to most modern games. The sense of familiarity players gain by the end of the game with the streets only serves to deepen their emotional connection with the story.
I don't plan on spoiling anything in this review, since the storyline is such a big part of the game's appeal, but rest assured, though there's a lot of reading and watching to be done in the game, it's a gritty and epic cinematic tale that could easily have been too serious. That is, if players didn't have the option to indulge in karaoke, bowling, running a hostess club, investing in real estate, disco dancing, watching "erotic" videos, playing classic SEGA arcade titles, visiting a telephone club, gambling, racing remote control cars, fishing and completing ridiculous but simultaneously hilarious substories. Yeah, there's a lot of distractions from the main story, but here's where the perfect tone balance is struck, since players choose when and how they wish to break up the seriousness of the main game.
An interesting element of the game is the dual protagonists; the game switches between them every 2 chapters for the most part, and waits a long and tantalising time to have their storylines intersect. There are plenty of plot twists, and personally I saw hardly any of them coming. The real estate and hostess club portions of the game work similarly to one another, and form an optional and generally enjoyable addition to the story, though the mechanics of KIryu's real estate section are far weaker than those of running Majima's hostess club.
Completion points are earned in game for reaching pre-determined milestones. Some of these will occur naturally during gameplay and others are borderline impossible without putting a lot of time into the game. Unless you're dying to get 100% completion, this isn't really an issue, and CP can be exchanged for items, power ups and business skills. For me, it worked well as a list of things to do in the game; allowing me to be sure that I'd seen and done everything to my own standards, if not to that of gaining a completion point.
Each protagonist is able to develop friendships with people around their district and once maxed out, these each have some sort of bonus. An example of this is reaching the maximum friendship level with Emiri at the Bowling Alley. Once this has been done, bowling three strikes in a row (also known as bowling a turkey) will reward Kiryu with a literal turkey. Well, a chicken. Who can become a real estate manager; a perfect example of Yakuza 0's off the wall humour.
One of the most obvious improvements on past games is the amount of characterisation given to many recurring characters. Japanese only, subbed dialogue allows players to pick up on the mood in a less awkward and disjointed way than badly dubbed English dialogue. The Yakuza lieutenants who serve as antagonists in different portions of the game have their smug and untouchable demeanour almost shouted at players from their highly detailed expressions.
Yakuza 0 uses many different styles of cutscene, with completely voiced and rendered scenes, text based scenes and graphic novel style panels. This doesn't tend to get in the way, but can feel a little tonally inconsistent. To fully voice such a text heavy game would surely have been far too expensive though. With such a detailed recreation of Japanese streets, you can almost feel the ambience at times, though the game is pretty light on truly great musical accompaniment. With forgettable electronic music during fights and muzak behind sub stories, only the main story is treated any sort of engaging soundtrack.
Overall though, I'm pretty sure this will be my favourite game of 2017. The story was so engaging, the substories and minigames providing a hilarious and contrasting tone, all set in beautifully recreated parts of Tokyo and Osaka. I cannot recommend this game enough; if you're looking for something to get stuck into, this is definitely the one.
Rating: 98/100
Grade: A
