Japanese

I must admit, I’m not a big fan of the Yakuza franchise. Sure, I had heard about the previous releases around the time they were in the news, but they all managed to pass me by fairly unnoticed. I have come to realize that is a damn shame, considering the fact that it is players like me who made Sega so hesitant to release the game over here.

Yakuza 4 will have its Japanese (and possibly only) release just nine days after we get the third game, and it shares a release date with another notable Japanese series that’s a little more popular here: Final Fantasy XIII. The game’s appeal is a further limited by the fact that the game is subtitled in English, not dubbed. While this is something the fans will love, it is not something most gamers will be happy to play. Despite these factors, Yakuza 3 deserves attention, even from Americans who don’t understand a word of Japanese.

No simple knockoff

To be frank, Yakuza is Japan’s Grand Theft Auto. When looking at the similarities between the two, many would be willing to ignore Yakuza as a simple knockoff, but it is really much more. The first two games put you in the shoes of Kazuma, an experienced killer made famous throughout the Japanese mafia, a.k.a. the Yakuza. Kazuma is an orphan who is adopted by and raised into the Yakuza. He gains a high level of esteem and even tries to create his own family as the series begins. Unfortunately, Kazuma takes the blame for a friend’s crime of passion, and is sent to prison for a decade. When he re-enters the Yakuza he is thrust into a changed world. Kazuma repeatedly tries to distance himself from the Yakuza, but something always manages to pull him back in. As the third game opens, he is running the Morning Glory orphanage in Okinawa, but another big event in the Japanese underworld thrusts him right back in.

The Yakuza games are famous for their sandbox worlds, with many side-missions and quests to complete. How many games have you fight off street thugs that challenge your authority, then casually walk into a karaoke bar for a date?

As a third-person brawler, the franchise has always been praised for its great combat system and plethora of optional weapons. Just in the recently released demo, I was able to fight off enemies with lamps, bar stools, trashcans, bicycles and street signs. That is just a sampling of all the things in the world you can pick up and use. Of course, Kazuma has more conventional weapons at his disposal, like staffs, nunchucks, and spiked brass knuckles, to name a few.

Blogging

Without any kind of tutorial for unfamiliar players, I found myself losing the tough boss battle several times, enough to be offered “Easy” mode. The steep difficulty curve aside, I found myself having quite a bit of fun. The combat system involves light and heavy attacks and grapples. You can choose between Kazuma’s weapons or bare-handed with the D-pad, and as mentioned earlier, almost anything can be picked up and used as a weapon. The previous games utilized a fixed camera, ala God of War. With close- quarters fights, this often led to unseen, off-screen enemies landing attacks. Now, with a freely movable camera, the problem has been removed.

A new feature in Yakuza 3 is Revelation. If Kazuma sees something odd happening, he can capture the event with his cell phone in order to gain something from it. For example, one event consisted of a young girl being harassed by a drunken businessman. If you choose to follow the event, Kazuma will pull out his cell phone and a quick time event takes place. Upon successfully pressing the right sequence of buttons, and watching the girl pull off a nice throw, you have to pick one of three responses to the event. Choosing the correct one will cause Kazuma to blog about the event (really Sega?), and be gifted with a new combat move, while choosing the wrong one results in no reward. Don’t fret, however. Walking away from the location of the event and returning later will respawn the event, so another attempt can be made.

In addition to brawling and blogging, Kazuma enjoys taking girls on dates to karaoke and arcades, where he completes some simple rhythm-based mini-games. All work and no play makes a Yakuza a dull killer.

Give it a chance

Yakuza 3 is engaging, and really makes me miss third-person brawlers. Still, it is not a game for everyone. Some will lament the dated graphics, but the game is technically a year old. The fact still remains that the presence of subtitles over a Japanese voice track will unfortunately deter some players. But, any player who enjoys action adventure games should really give this game a chance. Without doing so, we may not see another Western release for what I have discovered to be a great series.