Review for Yakuza Kiwami. Game for PlayStation 4 and PC, the video game was released on 29/08/2017
At the end of 2005 it made its debut in Japan Ryū ga Gotoku, which arrived a few months later in the West with the decidedly more prosaic name of Yakuza. The game, thanks to the excellent success at home, became the progenitor of a prolific series that, however, in our part was not as lucky, even though it became a cult saga in a small circle. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Sega brand, it has decided to create a remake, Entitled Yakuza Kiwami, which will also be available in Europe in just over a week.
Like a dragon
Before analyzing the additions and improvements made by the remake, it is appropriate to spend a few words on the original game, considering that at the time the buyers were not very numerous.
Yakuza, like almost all of his epigones, is essentially a three-dimensional scrolling fighting game set in an open world context (in this case Kamurocho, a fictional district of Tokyo), full of collectibles, subquests and minigames, which can involve different genres, such as dating sims and rhythm games. The main character is Kazuma Kiryu, a yakuza just released from prison after serving a ten-year prison sentence. Upon his return to Tokyo, our hero will realize that many things have not changed for the better and will find himself embroiled in a very intricate and dangerous ten billion yen deal.
Although the temptation to define Yakuza as an oriental GTA was strong at the time, the analogies stop at the open world context (developed in a completely different way) and the underworld theme: Ryū ga Gotoku is a strongly story driven adventure, in vehicles are not driven, entire cities or even states are not explored, firearms are not widely used, which have an ancillary role to fights.
Yakuza in our time
With Yakuza, Kiwami Sega didn't want to reinvent a game, but to adapt it to today's standards of the series: in a certain sense it can be said that this remake is just what Yakuza would have been like if it only came out ten years later. Graphically, the title is infinitely superior to the original (as you can see below), but this is completely normal, since it is not the remaster, already released in 2012 but remained unreleased in the West. The yield is completely similar to that of Yakuza 0, certainly not amazing in 2017, but these technical improvements also have a significant impact on the usability of the game: in particular, the frame rate is much more stable and the uploads - which were a real plague - are reduced both in frequency and in duration.
Considerations aside, however, the localization deserves. In 2006 Yakuza arrived with English dubbing and Spanish translation, but all subsequent episodes, including Yakuza Kiwami, were brought to the West with the original voices and English lyrics; on the other hand, the additional material (including also plot related cutscenes) would have led to the need to redo and retranslate the game. Considering, then, the poor quality of the first localization work - especially with regard to the decidedly out of place "gangsta" dubbing - there is no need to be too sorry.
As for the gameplay, the speech is similar: on the other hand, in the context of a very conservative series it would not have been reasonable to expect revolutions from a remake like Yakuza Kiwami. The fights closely resemble those appreciated in Yakuza 0, from which the four fighting styles were borrowed, which serve to make up for the lack of other usable characters, as is customary for the series from Yakuza 4 onwards. Even the surrounding aspects such as the growth system and the management of the subquests have been modernized to align with Ryū ga Gotoku 0, even if all the part relating to the business is missing.
The additions mostly concern the optional material and secondary mechanics, such as the one - however not unpublished - of Completion Points. Among all it stands out Majima Everywhere, a very long subquest that will allow Kazuma to rediscover the style of the Dragon of Dojima. Basically, during the walks for Kamurocho it can happen to come across different variants of Majima, to be defeated to learn new skills and to accumulate an avalanche of experience points, which you will need in large quantities if you want to complete the skill trees.
Then there are two more minigames to which several new substories are linked: one of Mini 4WD borrowed from Yakuza 0 and MesuKing, a card game based on the rock-paper-scissors scheme. Basically, therefore, the speech made for the technical sector also fits the gameplay: with Kiwami, Yakuza has been adapted to the standards of Yakuza 0, and this has led to a significant increase in longevity for the completists. Although perhaps someone (not the writer, for sure, Ed) got tired of sifting through Kamurocho for the umpteenth time ...
Yakuza Kiwami preserves the merits of the original game and elevates it to the evolutionary stage reached by the series with Yakuza 0, proving to be a congenial experience both for newbies (who would do well to start right here, at this point), and for connoisseurs of the saga. Sure, the release is a little too close compared to that of Yakuza 0 (January 2017), but we are sure that Kazuma fans will not let Kiwami escape while waiting for Yakuza 6.
► Yakuza Kiwami is an Action-type game developed by Sega and published by Deep Silver for PlayStation 4 and PC, the video game was released on 29/08/2017
