NIDZUMI+

I’m going to presume that if you’re the slightest bit interested in Yakuza 3 or JRPGs in general you’re already in your twentieth hour by now. For those that aren’t interested or don’t know what the series is all about prepare to be surprised.

Yakuza 3, and presumably the first two as well, aren’t Japanese versions of Grand Theft Auto. They’re actually far from Rockstar’s well-loved franchise. Nope, Yakuza games are good old-fashioned JRPG games within an urban setting. The problem is that they’re probably a bit too old-fashioned by today’s standards.

We rejoin Yakuza’s lead, Kazuma Kiryu, on the lush sands of Sunshine Beach as our now ex-Yakuza is running the Morning Glory Orphanage, filled with a dozen surprisingly self-reliant kids. This leaves Kazuma to go off gallivanting around the expansive streets of Okinawa performing deeds and helping out his newly adopted kids.

Naturally this time living clean isn’t long-lived and soon Kazuma is off chasing the deed to the orphanage, that has carelessly fallen into the wrong hands. It’s safe to say that Yakuza 3’s story is as sophisticated as a 1990s action film by forcing Kazuma to save the futures of children, the only way he knows how. Sheesh.

It’s safe to say that Yakuza 3’s story is as sophisticated as a 1990s action film

Let’s just say, when the writing and story are the most important parts of a game you better get it right. It tries to get you to care about the characters, namely the children, but the way in which it’s done undermines what it’s trying to do. With this being a port on a budget, voice-overs are strictly for cutscenes and but they’re still in Japanese.

That’s not the problem – in actuality the cutscenes are, for the most part, great and the language keeps it authentic – the problem is overly long and drawn out text conversations. Characters slog along at a snails pace trying to build tension and depth but instead build the mundane and fatigued.

Not that I’m against lines of text delivered dialogue in games, if it’s done right, it’s just that surely we must have found better ways to present narrative in the last twenty or so years. The budget was against them, understandable. JRPGs are normally told in this way, sure if you say so.

That still doesn’t change the fact that when a conversation is made up of great cutscene that’s concise, awkward pause, mundane text chat that repeats everything and back again, it becomes a little tiresome and, well, strange.

You’ll really want to crank up the difficulty as combat just becomes a formality on the easier settings

Tiresome and strange definitely becomes a mantra for the whole game. A majority of the combat is within a traditional beat ‘em up format albeit with full 360° of movement. You’ll really want to crank up the difficulty here, as it just becomes a formality on the easier settings.

Meanwhile the breath of activities on offer will impress you but it’s nothing that you haven’t seen done better elsewhere. Going golfing will bring a smile to your face as a muscle-bound, back-tattooed, ex-Yakuza boss puts his 9 wood through the ball but most of the games are way too forgiving, allowing you infinite attempts to get it right, giving an almost 100% chance of success to the persistent.

The actual world is a stunningly detailed and expansive affair with tons of hidden secrets scattered about. Bustling streets of Toyko lit up with a neon glow are a massive shift from the peaceful beaches of Owinawa and the cultural change, even within this foreign land, is brought to life. It is, however, hard to fully appreciate the visual side of the game because Yakuza 3 was actually released over a year ago and it shows.

In fact a lot of Yakuza 3 does feel really dated and isn’t too far from Ryo’s adventures in Shenmue, a game that came out ten years ago. This is where the real problem stems from. Shenmue, although excellent for its time, was hideously flawed and Yakuza 3 hasn’t learnt from the mistakes of that Dreamcast classic. When you compare that to the narrative telling of today, it’s a no-contest.

I rarely found anything really worth the dedication that Yakuza 3 demands but maybe that’s just an ignorant Westerners opinion on it

Yakuza 3 is a quintessentially Japanese and epically long tale that is let down by sub-par mini-games and a dated combat system. After that, the game just becomes walking from point-A to point-B triggering decent cutscenes and mundanely long conversations. It would be made more bearable if the way in which it told the story was sophisticated and engaging but, quite frankly, it isn’t.

If you’re instep with the quirky ways of an JRPG you’ll probably learn to forgive its shortcomings and really enjoy what Yakuza 3 offers. However, personally I appreciated its Japanese aesthetics and unrestricted environments but rarely found anything else worth the dedication that Yakuza 3 demands. But hey, maybe that’s just an ignorant Westerners opinion on it.