YAKUZA KIWAMI 2
Ki wa me in for a second serving
We rate the classic Japanese adventure, remade on PS4.
Kazuma Kiryu’s trademark back dragon tattoo has been reinked with the vibrant shades of Yakuza 6’s Dragon engine in this complete remake. If you missed Yakuza 2 the first time around, that’s probably because it was a PlayStation 2 game that released in 2006 (2008 over here). Considering PlayStation 3 launched in 2006, that wasn’t really a great time to have landed in shops. You probably shouldn’t have missed it, though, because it was a great follow-up to the first game, which tells the story of ex-Yakuza badass with a heart of gold Kazuma Kiryu, the ‘Dragon Of Dojima’. It covers him rejoining the world after a long stint in prison, his run-in with the yakuza families scrabbling for power, and his fatherly relationship with the child of the love of his life from before he went behind bars. With the foundations already established, this frees Yakuza 2 up to just tell a rollicking good crime story filled with fantastic moments of police intrigue and mobster violence.
DOUBLE DRAGON
The story has its roots in the massacre of the Korean Jingweon mob in the 1980s. It deals with the ramifications from both the perspectives of the police and Tokyo’s Tojo family, both of whom were involved. This ends up interfering with a proposed alliance between the Tojo and the Omi, the family’s biggest rivals, who reign over Osaka.
Kiryu ends up being obliged to help broker the alliance himself, only to butt heads with the Omi’s very own dragon-tattooed badass, Ryuji Goda, son of the Omi’s patriarch. After things hit the fan (or, rather, the fan is violently smashed over the heads of plentiful yakuza goons), Kiryu is forced to team up with Kansai policewoman Kaoru Sayama, known as the “yakuza huntress”. Hounded at every turn as they try to unpick the complex web of events, endangering civilians
caught in the crossfire, they move back and forth between the neon streets of Tokyo’s Kamurocho red light district, and the distinct riverside takoyaki-filled streets of Sotenbori, Osaka.
This remake comes at a good time, following on from the first game’s remake, Yakuza Kiwami, which itself acted as a sort of pseudo-sequel to Yakuza 0, a series prequel that was also a perfect re-entry point to the series. Where the first Kiwami tied itself in retroactively with 0, there’s less of a throughline here in the main story. But that’s nothing to complain about, as it’s a terrific story, and seeing it recreated entirely within the Dragon engine is astounding. It sets a high bar for remakes everywhere. Just take a glance at the screens, then remember this was a PS2 game running on your dusty CRT. Talk about a glow up.
ZERO HOUR
Connections to 0 and Kiwami come in the form of some of the extra content added to this release. Both the cabaret club management and the clan creator return, but more spruced up, with their own stories to play through (and they aren’t to be sniffed at – there are new cutscenes with plots that are both quite funny and serious, just like the main game).
The cabaret club GP has Kiryu managing a hostess bar in Osaka, picking up where Majima left off in 0, with plenty of callbacks to the hostess world those 20 years in the past. And this time the clan creator takes the form of becoming foreman to Majima Construction, commanding your workmen to defend points on the map. You’re introduced to these in the main game, but are never forced to progress through them to complete the core story, but you’d be remiss to skip them.
As usual, the world is packed with the sort of other diversions you’d expect: arcade versions of Virtua Fighter 2 and Virtual-On, a driving range, a batting cage, karaoke, darts, and mahjongg, to name but a few, with a gravure photography minigame taking the place of the camgirls in 6. There’s no shortage of distractions, but the cabaret club GP and clan creator really take the idea of Yakuza minigames to the next level. And, of course, there are plenty of sub-stories, sidequests where Kiryu helps the residents of Japan with their often ludicrous problems. Whether that’s being haunted in a The Ring-esque situation, dealing with scam artists, or fighting a grown man in a nappy, Yakuza Kiwami 2 has some unforgettable moments.
The biggest addition expands on fan-favourite character and 0 co-star Goro Majima, adding three prologue chapters where you control the mad dog himself in events that precede Kiryu’s reintroduction to the family. Combat-wise Majima plays completely differently to Kiryu, which adds some great variation. But his chapters are bare-bones: you don’t get
“THE BIGGEST ADDITION EXPANDS ON FAN-FAVOURITE CHARACTER GORO MAJIMA.”
experience points and upgrades, and there are no sub-stories, you just sort of play through them. They’re a welcome addition, and act as an epilogue to his stellar story in 0, but it would be nice if his differences were used more effectively.
YAKUZA BRUISER
You spend a lot of time in Yakuza Kiwami 2 beating other people senseless. Kazuma Kiryu is the kind of guy who has no reaction to having a champagne bottle smashed over his head. Being built in the Dragon engine, the gameplay shares most of its DNA with Yakuza 6. There’s a little extra depth with charge attacks, and some unique skills you can learn from different martial arts masters, but for the most part it still feels lacking in variation compared to the multi-style combat of 0/Kiwami. That said, there’s something extremely satisfying about the over-thetop ragdolling as you kick thugs into one another, activating your heat meter to finish them off dramatically, doing things like smashing bicycles over heads, blocking punches with hot irons, or using a plunger on a man’s face. For something you do over and over, you’ll never want to stop doing it.
Some of the mission structures can get a bit tiresome, feeling like they’ve not moved on much from Yakuza 2’s initial release, or even Yakuza 6. But, as far as remakes go, Yakuza Kiwami 2 is an absurdly detailed effort, moving one of the best stories in the Yakuza saga forward snugly into the madly impressive detail of what was accomplished in Yakuza 6.
VERDICT
This remake is a welcome and impressive return, but it makes it clearer than ever that next time Yakuza struts into town, it needs a fresh set of threads. Oscar Taylor-Kent