The Yakuza series is one of the best in video games. Sad thing is, given their delayed localisation work and reputation for being a littleâŠdifferent, theyâre also largely ignored by the wider gaming public. Iâd love it if that could change.
Iâve been playing Yakuza 5 this week, and I can totally understand why so many people would at first instinct ignore this release. For one, itâs a PS3 game; many people, myself included, moved on from their last-gen console a while ago, and itâs a little jarring to venture back into the world of slow-ass game saves and janky textures.
Then thereâs the matter of the gameâs age. Why was Yakuza 5 released (at least in the West) on the PS3 in late 2015? Because it was originally released in Japan in 2012. Nothing like playing a 2012 game for the first time in 2015 to remind you how far PlayStation games (or even Yakuza games) have come in the three years since.
Then thereâs the obstacles the Yakuza series itself throws up. This is a long-running series with a continuous story, telling the tale of Kazuma Kiryu, his gangster buddies and the Tojo clan theyâre a part of. Itâs a weird series, combining a number of different gameplay systems, and it also makes you sit through hours of cutscenes with often little action in between.
So I can kind of understand why so many folks are unaware of the seriesâ quality, and unprepared to give it a try. And yetâŠI also think a lot of peopleâs avoidance is built on some unfair misconceptions of what Yakuza games are, and what they really excel at. So letâs tackle some of that head-on.
âTHEYâRE OPEN WORLD GAMES, ARENâT THEY?â
No. Iâm not quite sure where this mistake first cropped upâmaybe it was during the marketing for the first two games in the seriesâbut the Yakuza games are not âopen worldâ games. If you sit down with these expecting Grand Theft Auto, you will be sorely disappointed. While the Yakuza games do feature large urban spaces that youâre free to wander around in, theyâre nowhere near the scale of a proper open world title, nor do they have much of the interactivity youâd expect, with only some stores and the ever-present danger of being ambushed for a streetfight breaking up your strolls. Instead, think of Yakuzaâs world as a neon-lit RPG overworld, and youâll be much closer to the mark.
âIâLL NEVER CATCH UP ON THAT STORYâ
Wrong! While itâs true that the story of the Yakuza series continues from game to game, the series actually does a very good job of setting the scene for newer players by explaining key backstory concepts during early dialogue sequences and cutscenes. And if you want to dig deeper, every game since Yakuza 3 has included a recap mode in the main menu, which lets you watch cutscene packages explaining the story so far.
âALL THEY DO IS TALK!â
WellâŠyes. This is a series thatâs very heavy on dialogue. Much of it is skippable small-talk though, coming in the form of in-game conversations you can blow past by jamming the X button. The stuff you canât (or wonât want to) skip is normally presented as a cutscene, and itâs excellent! Really. Probably the best thing about the Yakuza games is that theyâre a giant soap opera about cartoon gangsters. If you love a good, trashy story in your video games, there are few better than Yakuza. If you donât, well, thereâs alwaysâŠ
âSO WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY DO?â
You punch people. A lot of people. Aside from all the talking (and some occasional minigame diversions), the bulk of actual gameplay in the Yakuza series comes in two forms: walking around city streets running errands (or travelling between missions) and beating the shit out of street thugs and rival gangsters. Sometimes this happens at random on city streets, sometimes it happens inside buildings on missions, but regardless of the setting, combat is always the same: an inescapable arena is drawn around you, and you have to keep fighting until everyone else is knocked out.
Combat in Yakuza is fantastic. Itâs quick, itâs deep and, best of all, itâs bloody as hell. Few dedicated brawlers can match Yakuzaâs sheer physicality when it comes to putting expensive leather shoes to a guyâs face. Between the copious amounts of blood, the sound effects and the way you can use giant props and weapons from your surrounds, Yakuzaâs fighting is guaranteed to make you wince.
âAND THATâS IT?â
Well, no. Another big appeal among Yakuza fans is the way the gameis one of the best in the world at virtual tourism. While some aspects of Yakuza games are larger than life, the majority of the games are grounded in reality so deeply that itâs a wonder youâve never had to do your in-game taxes.
Everything in the Yakuza games is justâŠmundane. Convenience stores arenât caricatures (like food outlets are in, say, Grand Theft Auto), theyâre just actual convenience stores, where you can buy actual branded Japanese food and snacks. There are department stores. Sega arcades. Noodle joints.
A good example of how bizarrely real the Yakuza games are can be found early on in Yakuza 5. In between apocalyptic street fights and wacky street races with drifting Toyota Crowns, you begin Yakuza 5 employed as a taxi driver. You wake up in the morning in your apartment, walk all the way to your office, check in, take a job, get in your car and drive. And when you drive, you need to do it properly. You need to stick to the speed limit, stop at stop signs, indicate before turning and even make smalltalk with your customers.
Itâs an insane contrast, but then, thatâs a key part of Yakuzaâs appeal. For ten years now the series has walked a fine line between realistic soap opera and batshit crazy brawler, and for the most part itâs somehow succeeded. By walling off the areas of its designâconversations are framed very differently from combat, which looks or feels nothing like pedestrian sectionsâYakuza has quarantined its disparate elements into something wonderfully cohesive, an experience thatâs far greater than the sum of its ageing and janky parts.
Yakuza 5 is out now on the PS3, and given everything Iâve just said, is as good a place to start as any. I havenât played anywhere near enough of it for a review, but it follows the same structure (and even most of the same characters) as Yakuza 4, which I liked very much
If youâve already parted with your PS3âor jut donât want to go backâthatâs totally understandable. Just keep in mind what Iâve said here and revisit it when Yakuza Zero, a bombastic prequel game thatâs on PS4 (and looks much prettier), is released in the West (and yes, itâs confirmed for 2016).
