Review for Yakuza 6. Game for PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 08/12/2016 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 17/04/2018
When we go out into the street it is late at night: the neon lights blind us, very strong and colorful as always, so much so that we doubt that Kamurocho is not a real place. But what does it matter after all? After more than a decade, returning to the role of Kazuma Kiryu and walking the streets of Tokyo is a bit like returning to the house in the country where we used to spend the summers in the company of grandparents. As we begin Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and we prepare to witness Kazuma-san's swan song, the difference between the real and the imaginary inevitably thins.
And then we get ready to admire the Millenium Tower, to visit the SEGA Club and to walk in the central Shichifuku Street once again, ready to greet an old friend with whom we have shared blows and emotions on three generations of consoles.
Grandfather Kazuma
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life starts exactly where Yakuza 5 left off, with all the most beloved characters in the series ready to give their best. A joy for the fans but a great burden for those who should approach the title with this sixth chapter: for these players, the title provides summary videos in the main menu, but our advice is to recover at least Yakuza 0, Kiwami and the aforementioned Yakuza 5 in order to better understand the plot, which is the true - and in some ways also the only one - reason why The Song of Life is worth buying.
Just to give you a spoiler-free taste, we just tell you that Kazuma has decided to serve three years in prison. He could very well have spared them and returned to the orphanage with Haruka and the other boys, but fearful that his ties to the Japanese mafia could put them in danger, he agreed to settle his debts with justice in order to later retire to private life away. from that world of betrayal and violence. An excellent plan, no doubt about it. Too bad that in the three years of imprisonment everything has happened: Haruka has left the orphanage to go (apparently) to Hiroshima; it seems that the girl then returned to Kamurocho with a son, Haruto, only to be involved in an accident and find herself comatose in the hospital. It will therefore be up to Kazuma to take care of Haruto (not without first having to clash with social services and close friends) and investigate what has happened in the last three years, to discover the identity of Haruto's father and find himself again embroiled in business. of the Yakuza, which this time will also involve the Chinese mafia and the families of Hiroshima.
As we have already mentioned, the plot is the real strength of Yakuza 6: as long as you are a longtime fan you will find many of the most iconic characters of the series. Be prepared for some disappointments too though: being the last episode of Yakuza dedicated to Kazuma Kiryu, he will be the only character that can be controlled directly by the player with all due respect to all the other charismatic protagonists that this stylistic choice relegates to secondary figures. After Yakuza 5 and the wonderful Yakuza 0, which saw the narrative unfold in an articulated way through the eyes of several protagonists, in this case there is the inevitable feeling of a return to the first chapters of the series when Kazuma was the undisputed protagonist. If on the one hand we understand the choice to focus attention solely on the historical protagonist of Yakuza, on the other hand we regret to admit that the few minutes in which characters like Shun Akiyama and the never too loved and exuding charisma Goro Majima make their appearance are enough to satisfy those who grew up with Yakuza, but also those who simply approached the series with Yakuza 0.
The last point of attention for newbies are the intermission videos: Yakuza has always been famous, as well as for the action sequences, for the long films that allow you to deepen the plot in all its most hidden aspects. While not reaching the duration of the last episodes, even Yakuza 6 is no exception and occasionally leaves the player even for a good ten minutes in front of the screen with the unused pad in his hands. We repeat that since this is the game that will close Kazuma's story, it is reasonable to expect emphasis on the narrative part, which must bring all the knots to a head without leaving anything to chance; likewise, don't say we didn't warn you if during the game you will find that basically the moments in which you are called to action will be counterbalanced by as many hours spent watching the intermission sequences.
My ring is the street
Fights have always been the highlight of the Yakuza series. In this last chapter you finally get the feeling that the area of each fist fight is not delimited by the usual barriers of people or cars created ad hoc, since all collisions take place in the middle of the road, sometimes even while cars are passing by. In addition, the antagonists are visible on the mini map and, apart from the logo that appears on the screen indicating who you are about to face, there is no solution of continuity between exploration and combat, a feature that makes it much more fluid and immersive. gaming experience.
The moves available are always many and well articulated, with the right amount of combo and special moves, which can only be activated once the appropriate Heat bar has been filled. The RPG component of the game is not particularly deep but always engaging, which allows you to equip items with different beneficial effects and spend experience points to add new moves to the arsenal or to enhance certain physical characteristics of Kazuma. The fistfights, especially in some moments of the adventure, are much more reminiscent of an old arcade beat 'em up than in the past, with many objects of the scenario that can be used as a blunt weapon: from a billboard to a pin, up to get to benches and scooters and obviously without forgetting baseball bats, edged weapons or some (rare) firearms, there are really many choices available to the player to get the better of the opponents. The challenge level is freely selectable from the pause menu, but if at the easy level it is practically impossible to get beaten, by increasing the difficulty it will be good to learn how to manage parades and attacks with the right timing, under penalty of a premature game over.
The gameplay is completed by a series of side-quests and the possibility of participating in the worldly (and corrupt) life of Kazuma: also in this respect we report as Yakuza 0, with the management of the cabarets and the decidedly amusing secondary missions, beat Yakuza 6 as to variety and involvement; despite this, entering a karaoke, in Club SEGA for a game of Outrun, in a restaurant to taste ramen, attend a night club or simply help a victim attacked by criminals are actions that lengthen the in-game experience and make the world of game more alive and true than it would appear if we ignored these tasks to simply follow the main storyline.
The minigame featured in Yakuza 6 has to do with gang battles: on the streets we will be able to beat and enlist followers, to be deployed in tower defense-style missions to increase Kazuma's supremacy over the surrounding areas. This is not such a rewarding undertaking to complete and we are convinced that some players will snub these sub-quests, which are less intriguing than those Yakuza developers have accustomed us to over the years.
Between neon and tan
Kamurocho, the silent protagonist who is the background to the entire Yakuza series, obviously could not fail to play the lion's share in this sixth incarnation of the brand. This time, however, the scene is shared with the prefecture of Hiroshima, a perfect scenographic counterpart to show the skills of the technical sector of Yakuza 6. If Kamurocho amazes, as always, mostly at night, with its neon jungle and crowded streets of characters intent on giving themselves to worldly life, Hiroshima gives its best during the day, with the waves of the sea that reflect the sun's rays on the city, so as to make the sensation of warmth palpable.
Technically the game amazes even in the very close-ups of the characters, with the really well-finished textures of skin and clothes, especially as regards the protagonists. There are some small imperfections here and there, especially if you consider the decrease in the level of detail in long shots and some too much uncertainty in the frame rate during night races, when the streets are crowded and the shop signs are all lit. The visual experience is still enjoyable and treated as a whole as one would expect from a SEGA game.
The soundtrack is not very invasive but always present, captivating especially during the fights and the most action sections, with some themes that fans will not be long in recognizing. All the dialogues are dubbed in the original Japanese language and subtitled: the lack of localization is not necessarily a negative side, since most of the titles with this amount of dialogue do not offer a translation of the dialogues; at the same time, listening to the original Japanese actors helps to immerse yourself in the all-oriental atmosphere of the game.
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is the title with which the historical protagonist of the series, Kazuma Kiryu, takes leave. It is not the most successful chapter of Yakuza and, precisely because of this choice to focus exclusively on the single character of Kazuma, it does not offer the same variety of missions and sub-missions that its predecessors guaranteed. Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami remain the highest peak reached by the brand, as well as the perfect starting point for new players. Yakuza 6 is instead a product recommended exclusively to those who follow the series from the first episode, which while criticizing the little space dedicated to key characters like Majima will still be able to appreciate all the nuances of the plot.
► Yakuza 6 is an Adventure-Action game developed and published by Sega for the PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 08/12/2016 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 17/04/2018
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