I also found the game's characters and story resonated that much more deeply based on my experience with its prequel. There is something really special about exploring Kamurocho and seeing how it's evolved from 1988 to 2005. So much of what I loved about Yakuza 0 is present and fully-formed in Kiwami.
#Yakuza kiwami majima pocket circuit race 1 series#
I also knew it might lack whatever series refinements that may have benefited its prequel. Yakuza Kiwami is a remake of the 2005 original, so while its story follows that of Yakuza 0, I knew it wouldn't have the same scope. 2Īfter digging Yakuza 0 so much that I actually returned to play through a bunch of sidequests, I decided I should probably play this title next… and I'm really glad I did! There's a lot of fun to be had if you can put up with some strange design choices and a sometimes grating combat system.
Taken on its own merits, Yakuza Kiwami is a solid and interesting game, albeit a frustrating one. There are times when the near constant interruption of thug fights while you're trying to navigate across the map becomes a detriment as well. While Majima and Kiryu's interactions are a highlight of the game, the 50+ boss fights get old quickly when you realize that the enemies will spam armor, heal themselves constantly, and make you use the same few moves if you want any hope of the fight ending in a reasonable time. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Majima Everywhere system. The combat in particular is a straight downgrade from 0, with boss fights being a combination of boring or frustrating. The main villain of the story is absent from it most of the time and there are several ancillary characters that bloat and weigh the story down. Where the game really shows its age is in the writing department, with the main story being melodramatic and overly complicated. The minigames and substories are again the best part and are consistently funny and wholesome. If I had gone straight from Yakuza 0 to this, I think it would've been a lot more disappointing but after a couple month break from the series, it felt nice to return to the world and see the characters again. The Yakuza games are something I've been sleeping on for a couple of years now, but I am happy that I took the plunge to get into it.ĩ.6/10 ~ There is a little something for everyone.ĭespite my middle of the road score, I had a lot of fun with this.
I will probably go back and play the prequel in a few months and see how it improved the series since the Kiwami 1 games took a lot of the original source material and added more to it. There was always something you would come across and the missions could range from thoughtful to outright funny. Just going around the city and having random stuff happen really felt like how an open-world game should be. I loved the story, characters, and semi-open world environment. I felt like Rush and Brawler became more important towards the end of the game since a lot of the attacks in beast mode were too slow. The combat was pretty good and I liked the number of finishers and being able to switch fighting styles, although some of the bosses, later on, felt a little cheap. Learning to play Majong and also Shogi was really neat and I must say that the karaoke was great as well, especially when you bring someone along. I LOVE the minigames and side quest which were things I didn't expect and I still can dive more into them in the future. I really have a lot of respect towards this character and if it keeps up I could see him becoming one of my favorites in gaming.
Kiryu is a character that I didn't expect to have a less hostile side towards him and he did some badass things throughout the game. I had the time of my life playing through this game and spent around 30 hours on it. I do wish I started with Yakuza 0 to understand the story more since there are characters and references I missed. Yakuza Kiwami was my first entry into the series.
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