LogFAQs > #885066211

Yakuza is one of those series' that I remember coming across as a kid, not being able to get the games myself and subsequently missing out on. I played the first game's demo, and it was good fun - GTA was one thing, but the small snippet of beat 'em up gameplay and batting cage practice suggested a level of depth on Yakuza's part that was never present in GTA. Being more of a beat 'em up, it really had Urban Reign to live up to - but I never got the full game, and I didn't hear about the series for years afterwards.

Just about a month ago, Yakuza 4 went on sale on the PSN store. It was that or Yakuza 5 - I didn't play Yakuza 3, which I understand is a western fan favorite, because it wasn't a part of the sale. I didn't really care, because I heard about the Reminisce feature - maybe one day in the future I'll go back and play it, but I know enough from the Reminisce cutscenes to have gotten me by in Yakuza 4.

First off, the story. The story of this game is like the plot to a Fast and the Furious movie - there's an emphasis on family and togetherness, there's some heavy action moments that are counterbalanced with absolutely absurdity, there are a bunch of ridiculous twists and there's a truly ludicrous amount of money involved. You have four separate stories of revenge, hope and the pursuit of justice, with the four main characters staying true to a set of virtues and values that come across as subtly as a freight train and render (most) of them as stoic and cool as a Hollywood cowboy.

Along with the main plot, you have Substories - these are little storyline quests you do for rewards and XP. All four characters have their own set of Substories, and chances are they'll take up most of your time. I consider my playthrough "finished" because I beat all the Substories - even the bonus boss at the end of the game - and I racked up 50 hours just getting to that point.

The game is very Japanese, you have sentai suits and banchos and cute cartoon mascots. The characters aren't above a good hotblooded speech, and the values and virtues of the main characters are manly as fuck. The game is also pretty creepy towards women, the hostess club minigame has an ogling minigame (that's at least more tactful than Killer is Dead's Gigolo Mode) and the Hostess Maker minigame feels slimy. There's also a substory where a main character turns down a single mother for a loan, saying she doesn't have enough of a work ethic, because she isn't willing to work in a massage parlor to stay afloat. There's a point in what he's saying, but it felt pretty wrong to see your player-character turn away a struggling single mother because she didn't rush to work in a jack-off parlor.

The main gameplay aspect of the game is the beat 'em up aspect - you go up to assholes, a health bar appears after a small loading cutscene, you beat them until they're bloody and you get a reward from them or from a person you're doing a quest for. But that makes up half the gameplay at best. You have activities like golf, fishing, karaoke, bathing in a hot spring, ping pong, bowling, gambling, pachinko machines, arcade games and a fucking claw machine, and they all add up to 100% completion to my knowledge. I didn't even touch golf or fishing, outside of a single Substory, and I only ever touched on everything else when I was looking for a laugh. I got this game for $10, and the sheer wealth of gameplay it has justifies the purchase several times over.

And on a smaller note, the game doesn't have a massive skill curve if you're new to the game. The bonus boss will fucking annihilate your anus, but an absolute beginner could beat this game. That being said, there are several levels of difficulty and an equipment crafting service for the balls-hard difficulties, so everyone's happy.

To my knowledge, Yakuza 3 is said to be one of the best starting points to the series. I reckon that if you can't get 3, then 4 is a fucking amazing substitute. This is one of the best games I've played all year.
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And we play lover's reggae, on accordion and banjo when the moon is high
Currently playing: Yakuza 4, Rayman Origins