YAKUZA: LIKE A DRAGON

New hero Ichiban Kasuga takes his turn

“WE ADAPT TO THE NEW STYLE OF COMBAT WITHOUT MISSING A BEAT.”

This might be the first mainline game in the Yakuza series not to star Kazuma Kiryu (it’s titled Yakuza 7 in Japan), but minutes into booting it up our worries swirl away. This is, from the off, Yakuza doing what Yakuza does best.

We’re immediately captivated by compelling Japanese crime drama that’s good enough to make some movies blush, swinging between perfectly pitched moments of emotion that make us tear up and goofy, rude comedy that has us laughing out loud. Within five minutes we fall in love with Ichiban Kasuga, a rookie Yakuza, as he’s cussed out by a dodgy porn seller who he roughs up in order to return the money to some high school students (instead of taking it for the crime family), before worrying about his hair. He might be brasher and more headstrong than Kiryu, but he’s got just as large a heart of gold, wanting to help the community around him.

HERO POWER

The action is where this instalment is a big departure from the earlier Yakuza games. Not only does Kasuga have some different moves to Kiryu, you control him in a completely different way. As Kasuga puts it when his pal asks why he rushes into fights so easily: “Sure, I pretend I’m a hero when I fight. When it’s time to throw down, my brain just starts thinking in Dragon Quest terms.” (Which gets the irritated response, “Ugh, again with the Dragon Quest?”)

When he gets into a brawl things take a turn for the, erm, turn-based. That sounds like a massive change, but in practice it feels like the mashier Yakuza we know and love. Everything is so fluid that choosing between your attacks isn’t that far off punching in combos. Turn-based it may be, but there’s a lot of interaction. Some skills get more powerful if you mash or tap at the right times, and hitting when you’re attacked will reduce damage with a Perfect Guard. Following up with attacks on downed enemies will (like in previous games) result in a stronger move, and you will automatically pick up nearby objects if you attack when next to them.

In the opening hours (set in Kamurocho, though we end up in Yokohama), we adapt to the new style of combat without missing a beat. Though, with this shaping up to be one of the longest Yakuza games yet, we’ve yet to see if it ends up wearing thin – nobody likes getting stuck on an RPG boss. So far, it successfully fuses new and old, offering a taste of something fresh while giving us more of what we love: a Japanese crime drama with bite, with a healthy side of zany side-missions and comedy.

Fights are turn-based, but Kasuga and friends have special moves that would make even Kiryu envious. Above As the game opens in turn-of-the-millennium Kamurocho we feel right at home on the streets – and then a time skip pushes us into uncharted territory.