Review for Yakuza Kiwami 2. Game for PC and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 07/12/2017 The version for PC came out on 09/05/2019 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 28/08/2018
Sega and Ryu ga Gotoku Studio have shown a deep respect for Yakuza, which over the years has evolved both on a playful and purely narrative level. The saga has gone from not even having to be born, due to the target too narrow for a game in the PlayStation 2 era, to having six main titles and two remakes. Last in this series is Yakuza Kiwami 2, remake of the second chapter.
The title has been completely restored, while keeping the original script, albeit enriched and improved. If Yakuza 2 is already very popular, its new version manages to completely make you forget the original, combining the classic style with the modern Dragon Engine which has in turn received a heavy upgrade. There is therefore everything you need to churn out a great game, which Yakuza Kiwami 2 manages to be, albeit with some small flaws.
A war between clans, a war between dragons
The story begins in a very eventful situation. After a few cutscenes set many years before the events, we move on to the present, in which the new head of the Tojo Clan, Terada, is grappling with an impending threat: the Omi clan, a powerful Yakuza group based in Sotenbori, threatens to declare war to take power over Kamurocho. After the events of Yakuza, or Kiwami, the Tojo Clan is in trouble, and the only way out is to find the dragon of Dojima, Kazuma Kiryu. We then take control of our protagonist who will have to help his ex-clan, defeating the Omi clan and rebuilding the foundations he destroyed a year earlier.
As always, the series is characterized by a respectable narrative sector, embellished with exquisite cutscenes, with one of the best direction in the videogame field. But to highlight the events are above all the excellent characters. Kazuma is a hero we have come to know very well by now, but seeing him at work always reminds us how well he has been built over the years. Accompanying him will be new and old characters, but the icing on the cake remains the villain, Ryuji Goda, the dragon of Kansai. Every scene in which he appears is extremely tense, even when it seems that our protagonist can get the better of him. Goda represents a more emotional and ambitious counterpart to Kiryu, ready to do anything to be like the dragon on his back, even as he enters the war to defeat Kazuma and thus become the only Dragon. Of course, the other characters also perform very well within the script. The heroine co-star of Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a much more complex character than it may seem from the premises and all the other new additions are also credible and appreciable. Obviously then there are the characters already present in Yakuza Kiwami who had already proved their worth, including the usual, charismatic, Majima Goro.
Kamurocho Love Story
In Yakuza Kiwami 2 there will be two explorable neighborhoods (of two different cities), Kamurocho and Sotenbori, as in Yakuza 0. These are full of interesting and fun side quests ranging from making photo shoots to Gravure Idol to helping old ladies or beat up mysterious murderers. Of course, the two cities are also full of minigames, all of which are fun and addicting. Two in particular are being developed a lot: the Clan Creator and the Cabaret Club. Fans of the series will have already recognized these modes, in fact they are both returns for the series, the Clan Creator was already present in Yakuza 6 and the Cabaret Club in Yakuza 0. Nevertheless, the two mini-games have been significantly improved. The Clan Creator has a more interesting substory, thanks also and above all to the presentation of Majima, and has had many improvements to make it more fun to play. The Cabaret Club instead has been revived in a very similar way, with a new sub-plot that also involves the faces known in Yakuza 0.
To underline the presentation of two excellent arcade titles playable in Sega Center: we are talking about Virtua Fighter 2.1 and Virtual-On. In general, we remain on levels slightly lower than Yakuza 0 when it comes to the quantity and quality of minigames and secondary, with a less dense Sotenbori than in the prequel title, but with a more than satisfactory result.
Beating like a dragon
The Dragon Engine has made progress since Yakuza 6 despite the short period between the two titles (one year, in Japan). The game does not suffer from frame drops, if not very rare, at least on PlayStation 4 Pro, with only a few very rare freezes in a couple of sections. The facial animations and graphics are very similar to those of the sixth chapter, but they were impressive at the time and still remain so.
The combat system has undergone a drastic improvement. While there is no return to different styles like in Yakuza 0, the title has taken the gameplay of Yakuza 6 and refined it. Several overpowered techniques have been removed or revised, the level up system has been improved and limited to avoid having exaggerated stats from the start and the Heat Moves bar has been brought back to a more classic form. The possibility of bringing with you weapons to unleash in battle is also back, very useful especially at high difficulties. These changes greatly benefit the title's challenge level which, after an excessively simple Yakuza 6, returns to have an excellent level of challenge that encourages the player to test the title even in higher modes than the initial one. Despite this, however, the lack of fighting styles is still felt. The level up system is certainly more targeted and optimal than in the past, but the styles gave a greater variety to the combat system.
The Majima Factor
The biggest addition to Yakuza Kiwami 2 is the “Majima Saga”, a story set before the events of Kiwami 2, which tells how Majima comes to be the boss of Majima Construction. This is a very short and limited mode: with Majima, in fact, there will be no secondary mission and it will not be possible to avoid random street fights. The duration is very short: the main quest can last less than 2 hours. On the other hand, the narrative, although short, is good, but not so much for the main events of the Majima saga, but for a couple of cutscenes that almost act as fillers in the main story, remembering however how much Majima is a phenomenal character, among the best written if not the best written of the entire series.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a remake made with passion and love for the original, but with the awareness of having to modernize a game for PlayStation 2. With a respectable script, fantastic characters and a direction among the best in the gaming landscape, Kiwami 2 stands as one of the best chapters in the series. Too bad that the great novelty of the title, the Majima Saga, is partially a disappointment, but even with such a short duration the writers managed to remind us how fantastic the character of Majima is, increasing the desire for a new chapter based on him .
► Yakuza Kiwami 2 is an Action-type game developed and published by Sega for PC and PlayStation 4, the video game was released on 07/12/2017 The version for PC came out on 09/05/2019 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 28/08/2018
