World of the Yakuza
Yakuza 0 is a fantastic value-for-money prequel filled with mini games, side-stories, multiple combat styles and large spaces to explore,
YAKUZA 0 is the long-anticipated prequel to the widely popular Yakuza series developed and published by Sega. It should be noted that this long wait applies only if you live outside of Japan or don’t have a Playstation 3 or 4 to play it on.
The game was originally released in Japan in March 2015. Localisation for North American and European Playstation 4 consoles only appeared two years later in January 2017.
If you’re gaming almost exclusively on a PC like me; you would have waited till Aug 1 this year, just over three years after the original release.
The good news, however, is that for Malaysian PC gamers, the Steam version is only RM85 at full price, making this game good value for your money as long as you’re not turned off by the unfamiliar gameplay styles.
PLAYING THE GAME
The game has a lot of exposition to cover to introduce characters to a player, which is important even for long-time players of the series as despite still being centred on the heroes Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima, the story covers everything from the very beginning.
As such, players will be treated to sometimes rather long cutscenes. Some cutscenes switch styles between being fully animated with lip-synced dialogue and cinemagraph styled slow motion reminiscent of story cutscenes from Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. The back and forth cutscene styles can be jarring and unfamiliar to some players yet create interesting atmospheres that are effectively used.
TRADITIONAL STYLE
The game is not a Grand Theft Auto clone and there isn’t quite a large sprawling open-world to explore.
It sticks to a very linear structure, both gameplay- and story-wise.
It does give players two large areas to run around in, each for one of the main characters, but there are no vehicles to ride and guns are a rarity. It focuses on hand-tohand combat, with the occasional random object that can be used to whack an enemy. Even the combat system is a far cry from what most games employ; there are no rhythm style combat triggers like the Batman Arkham series and Quick-time-events are minimal.
COMBAT STYLES
The game allows players to switch between three combat styles unique to each main character that can be upgraded by spending in-game money on unlocking upgrades for each fighting style. These upgrades can get expensive and though beating up goons does give the player money, it’s not nearly enough, which is where the mini games come in.
If you choose to just tackle the main story game and ignore side-stories and mini-games, Yakuza 0 is rather short but will still tell a strong story. Yakuza 0 truly shines with the inclusion of mini games and side-stories.
There’s everything from full-fledged classic Sega arcade games to dancing rhythm games, karaoke and bowling. But the highlight of the mini game is the Real Estate Royale and Cabaret Club Czar mini games unique to Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima respectively.
Both games are management-style simulator games that can rake in the big money the fastest if played right. Each has storylines and is able to unlock fighting upgrades which will make boss fights later in the game less of a headache. I enjoy Cabaret Club Czar as it throws a joyful roster of wonderful characters at the player to get to know and manage.
The mini-game is also a surprisingly well thought-out lesson in being respectful to people.
CONCLUSION
Yakuza 0 is a fantastic game that does its own thing in a market saturated with big open-world titles giving players total freedom.
It tells a concise story and offers players plenty of wonderful moments ripe for taking screenshots.
A wide array of emotions can run through the variety of cutscenes and every character is introduced slowly with care in order to be understood before anything is meant to pay off.
The game, however, isn’t for everyone. A lack of a substantial tutorial does leave a lot of questions unanswered on combat mechanics. Training side-missions to help players better their skills can be rather challenging even for those experienced in fighting games or brawler style games.
Yakuza 0 needs to be played as a package without skipping the side-stories and mini games as they are all part of the fun. You do have the option of a New Game + mode that allows you to take your time once you’re done with the main story.
The PC version is also generous in giving out items that help the player progress much faster. A previous gen hardware game, it also means that it runs buttery smooth on even lower end systems yet still manages to look amazing.
Yakuza 0 gets an 8/10 from me.