Yakuza Zero – Review (PS4)

Yakuza Zero – Review (PS4)

Yakuza Dead Souls was the last game in the series to see a Western release, which was way back in March 2012. Thankfully Sega have finally relented and Yakuza 5 will see the light of day over here later in the year. That fact alone is a minor miracle considering that since the release of Dead Souls, Japan has been treated to Black Panther on the PSP, Yakuza 5 on PS3, the 1+2 HD collection on the PS3 and even on the Wii U, as well as Ishin on both the PS3 and 4. Not to mention the tons of other merchandise, movies and other nick knacks that us Gaijin are unworthy of. Not being content with all that Sega have just released the next installment in the main series, Zero, on both PS3 and PS4. At least there is no region locking on Sony machines.

Zero, or Ryu Ga Gotoku 0: Chikai no Basho, to give the proper name, is the latest in the main series proper. This is no spin off with Zombies or a journey back through ancient history. It is a journey back to recent history, a bona fide addition to the Kiryu Kazuma story. Seeing as it is a part of the main series canon we hopefully could see a Western release should Yakuza 5 do well in terms of Western sales. BUY IT PEOPLE.

yaki1

Set in 1988 this is a prequel, a common occurrence in the Japanese entertainment industry allowing the creators to tell stories about the main characters without being bogged down with the ever complicated directions that the series has been led down. Think of the simplicity of Resident Evil 0 compared against the convoluted mess that is 6.

Sadly though, for me, the story has to take a back seat as I really can’t speak or read Japanese other than a few basic words or phrases. For all I know they could be talking about hedgehog riding squirrels who have started a war with a neighboring group of pigeons. I have always wanted to learn Japanese, I just never got around to it. Damn you past Steve, lazy little twerp. I would absolutely love to know what’s going on, all I really know for certain is that Kazuma is low down in his family and works as a debt collector/enforcer in Tokyo and the second playable character, Majima Goro, is running a hostess club in Osaka. Other than that the story is somewhat of a mystery that I have only begun to piece together through cutscenes. Previous game playthroughs and the Google translate app on my phone have been absolute godsends in helping me push on to completion.

Not understanding the story heaps more pressure on to the gameplay, which mostly goes along the lines of ‘if it aint broke don’t fix it’. As always the majority of the game will see you beating the living daylights out of random street punks and other Yakuza members. Critics of prior installments have labelled the fighting as repetitive and boring. I for one have never found any of the games or fighting in them to be boring or bore me in any way. I love the combat, no matter how many times I bash the square and triangle buttons. The brawling this time around though does go some way in addressing criticisms that other titles in the series had. Each character has three distinct fighting styles that can be switched on the fly, a quick press on the D-pad allows changes to be made mid fight. Kazuma has his an unfinished variation of his usual style along with a fast hitting/dodging almost kickboxing style. His third mode being a walking damage soaking battle tank. Majima on the other hand is just as crazy as ever, his styles are faster and more violent, they all fit with his mad dog persona. On top of the standard style he has break dancing and baseball bat wielding modes, all three I love. Having three different options to fight with for each character is fantastic, there is no longer the potential issue of not liking a characters style. Don’t like one style? Then switch to another, having a choice is a good thing.

yaki5

The leveling system has also had an overhaul, like has many times throughout the series. To level in Zero you have to pay with cold hard cash. Goodbye XP, hello trust fund. Gloriously, money can be gained by just hitting people. Punching people will see coins and notes literally explode from their bodies. Variation and heat moves can see more cash earned as the programming works out bonuses and multipliers based on what you do. The end of each fight shows how much cash you have earned. Every Yen can be spent in the main menu, purchasing orbs for each fight style to upgrade your health, moves and heat moves.

Speaking of heat moves they are back and as over the top and violent as ever. Get enough clean hits on your enemies, fill up your heat bar and unleash hell. There are so many to unlock and perform, they may not be as silly as some of the past games but they are still great. One favourite surprise I had was around halfway through the game. I was hopelessly lost, I knew I had to buy something for a character but wasn’t sure what. Having just bought an orange from a shop I was accosted by some youth looking to tussle. Having beat a couple of them my heat gauge was full, a quick press of triangle and I grabbed the remaining guy and hit him into the air, on his way down the same orange I had just bought was stuffed into his mouth. Laying on the floor with an orange stuck in his mouth like a pig at a roast was a satisfying sight, that wasn’t the end though as Kazuma brought his boot sharply down onto the orange, stamping it into the enemies face. That definitely taught him not to mess with people doing their shopping. There are so many more wonderful and brutal actions to discover, I just don’t want to spoil them all here. Let’s just say that this all adds to the satisfaction felt from fighting, even after smashing the 1000th guys face into a wall.

yaki3

Although, what fun would it be smashing people’s faces in without having a good setting in which to do so?  This time round there are two returning places. Osaka and Tokyo. Both cities have featured several times before so any returning players will know what to expect, albeit with a lot more neon now. Both places look absolutely beautiful on the PS4, they have never looked bad but with the extra fire power on offer they truly feel alive. The extra processing power allows for extra detail, more colour, more signs, more fun. Even the streets are busier, complete with citizens going about their daily lives. They even react to your presence now, I stood in the middle of a chatting group who got annoyed at me being in the way and just walked off disgruntled. Miserable buggers. Anyone new to the series needs to understand how wonderfully realised these settings are and how accurately they are modelled after real life places. The Osaka portion is based on the real life area of Dotonbori, I have never been there but from pictures I have seen it seems pretty accurate. The other is everybody’s favourite Yakuza area of Kamurocho, based on Shinjuku’s playground of Kabukicho and from personal experience I know how accurate this virtual world is. My first trip to Japan in 2012 found us walking around Shinjuku not sure of where we were going when all of a sudden my brain kicked in to gear allowing me to tell my friends that around the corner we would find theatre square and an arcade. Going around said corner and fulfilling my prophecy caused the jaws of my fellow travellers to hit the floor, seemingly believing I had just developed psychic abilities. In reality I had just learnt this part of Tokyo from my prior experience with Yakuza.  Some creative licence has been taken to make everything more compact but you can find (and I did) all the places from the batting cages, the arcades, to the narrow streets of the Golden Gai.

Basically this is a long way of me saying how realistic the cities are, however, a good play ground is pointless without things to do and see. Like always as well as the main story Yakuza provides us with shops and entertainment spots to visit along with tons of mini games and side stories to play around with.

yaki6

There are a variety of mini-games on offer, such as karaoke, mah-jong, fishing, baseball and the UFO catcher. Some of the returning games have received an 80’s make-down. The Karaoke is more basic, the arcade games are older and even Club Sega is called Sega Hi-Tech land and comes complete with an old fashion looking store front. There are way too many mini games to list and discuss, but I do need to make a special mention to two more. The first of which I found inexplicably late in my play through and it has proved to be one of my favourites, a rhythm based dancing game.  s fun, awesome and ridiculous as it sounds. The second one I need to mention would never make it to any future Western release and I’m not even sure I can label it as a mini game, more an activity. I took Kazuma into a certain store, paid some money to the lady there who led Kazuma to a room. In this room Kazuma watched a lady on a TV until the camera zoomed in on a box of tissues and a trophy popped. I basically got a trophy for giving him a happy ending and I’m not sure how I feel about that.

Side stories wise, if this was in English I would complete every last one. Being in Japanese I have completed whatever I can. Like usual most involve talking to an NPC and helping them out by beating the stuffing out of another. Staying on the theme of Japan being slightly pervy leads me to the most unusual side story/mission I have ever played. Talking to a small boy saw me thrust into a stealth section, sneaking out of the sight-line of various women in order to buy pornography for the boy, giving a new meaning to Metal Gear Solid. Ignoring the subject matter though it was a satisfying mission to pass after I had failed the first few tries.

Money, as I said before, is an extremely important commodity in this game. Obviously you need it to buy things and to level up, you can even throw it around and stop random fights as the punks who were vying for your blood stop to pick it up. Outside of fighting the other major ways to earn money is another mini game/side story. Majima earns cash by running his hostess clubs, similar to how it was done in Yakuza 4. I could only work out the basics of this mechanic due to the huge language barrier which stopped me spending much time at the club. With an idea of what was going on I’m sure the whole thing would be a lot more enjoyable as unlike the hostess mode in 4 you get to direct your girls to the punters based on what they are after in a lady. Kazuma’s money making mode was a lot more simple after a play around with it. He is in charge of property management, buying properties in different districts, upgrading them, protecting them from trouble and then collecting a wage from them. Major bucks can be made from both, cutting down the time sink needed in order to level up.

yaki7

Easily made and easily lost. There is a character walking around both Osaka and Tokyo that I like to call Nemesis. A giant of a man who, should he spot you, begins chasing after you in order to quite literally punch every last bit of Yen from your body. The idea is to dodge him as much as possible as every strike he connects with reduces your wallet. I tried to attack him with a fair bit of cash on me but got too cocky and ended up leaving penniless. Live and learn.

Details and little things like this only increase my love for the whole series. There are so many subtle and not so subtle references to the past games, there is a great reference to Dead Souls where one character is basically acting like a zombie, it’s nice to have things to look out for. Whilst not up to GTA: Vice City standards, being set in the 80’s there are lots of nods to the era and the earlier setting. I have already mentioned the old name for Club Sega and the old fashioned Karaoke. The characters, obviously, look younger, New Serena is just called Serena, Millennium tower and the other new complex have yet to be built. Even Kazumas tattoo is yet to be finished, a black outline with no colour, perhaps referring to the fact that Kazuma himself is not yet the finished article and Majima does have his eye patch but doesn’t yet have his trademark hair cut or crazy voice.

All the series staples are still here from random fights, corridors full of men to be knocked out before taking on the object holding guy blocking your access and of course boss fights. The boss fights are a particular return to the glories of the older games. Gone are the endless gauntlets with never ending guys, and back are the one on one epic boss fights, a welcome return in my eyes. Another return welcomes back the same voice actors who do a fantastic job of bringing the characters to life, even though I couldn’t understand I could appreciate.

Thankfully everything is just as bat shit crazy as before. One section saw me hanging out of a car and shooting the enemies virtua cop style complete with the colour changing circle indicating incoming danger. I even had to shoot missiles out of the air. The whole thing sounds terrible and anywhere else it would be. Think of movies like The Expendables, complete fan service (not that kind), over the top, yet pleasing. I won’t ruin all of these moments as they need to be experienced first-hand. I won’t even mention the enemies that fall from the sky or jump from water like mermen, that really has to be seen to be believed. Everything is just mental and I love it.

yaki4

I could praise this game until the cows came home, Yakuza 3 is my favourite and now Zero is second. I do still need to address certain problems. Despite looking lovely there are the occasional screen tear problems, usually whilst looking up. Switching fighting styles outside of battle would also have been a nice feature. Any issue you had with previous titles are probably here to some degree also.

Anyone who is thinking of importing this will probably be aware that the Yakuza series are a text heavy bunch and this one is no different. For most people reading it will be impossible so completion will be down to prior experience, Google translate and a little bit of luck. Google translate did help me although sometimes the translations were too literal and didn’t make any sense when read in English. I could mostly get the jist of what to do but some occasions the translation made no sense and there were no helpful red blips on the map. Be warned, these occasions can see endless wondering of the map until you find what to do.

Even with some clueless wondering I managed to finish the game in 26 hours and 52 minutes on hard mode. This yielded a completion of 17.65% leaving plenty of room for more playthroughs. Had this been in English I would be running through the premium game and Extra hard in order to obtain the Platinum to add to my collection from 3 and 4. This would easily triple that playtime and then some as I found this to be one of the hardest in the series with some sections, especially at the end, being extremely difficult and testing my love. I haven’t smashed a controller since the PlayStation 2 days but I certainly came close. The final bosses and after credit scene soon reaffirmed my love.

You may be able to tell that I have enjoyed Yakuza Zero, in fact I am slightly depressed that my journey with it has finished. I really hope a UK release in forthcoming and would then no doubt earn a higher score.  As it stands, playing the import version is much like being a tourist in Tokyo.  You won’t have a clue what is going on half the time but you will love every minute.

Pros:

  • More Yakuza
  • Variation on fighting
  • Two great main characters

Cons:

  • No Akiyama
  • Language barrier

Rating: 4 out of 5.
logo

Related posts

JARS – Review (PC)

JARS - Review (PC)


JARS - Review (PC)

JARS is a charming, fun hybrid of the puzzle and tower defence genres, with a touch of the spooky side, making an enjoyable purchase.

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania – Review (PC)

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania - Review (PC)


Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania - Review (PC)

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is an extremely fun entry into the classic series, and is worth a play by any fan of the genre.

Tales of Arise – Review (PS5)

Tales of Arise - Review (PS5)


Tales of Arise - Review (PS5)

Tales of Arise pushes the action-rpg genre to it's absolute pinnacle, and whilst it is never revolutionary, it is one of the best in class.

Starlight Alliance – Review (PC)

Starlight Alliance - Review (PC)


Starlight Alliance - Review (PC)

Starlight Alliance is a fairly basic action-rpg about a pair of outcasts trying to take down an out of control drone network.

Jack Axe – Review (PC)

Jack Axe - Review (PC)


Jack Axe - Review (PC)

Jack Axe is a fun yet challenging puzzle platformer, with colourful retro inspired graphics and a nice soundtrack.

Bonfire Peaks – Review (PC)

Bonfire Peaks - Review (PC)


Bonfire Peaks - Review (PC)

Bonfire Peaks is a calm and satisfying puzzle game about putting all your belongings in bonfires, by moving around boxes.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl – Review (PC)

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl - Review (PC)


Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl - Review (PC)

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a bare-bones fighting game, and despite it looking quite nice, is severely lacking in content and replayability.

Xuan Yuan Sword 7 – Review (PS4)

Xuan Yuan Sword 7 - Review (PS4)


Xuan Yuan Sword 7 - Review (PS4)

Xuan Yuan Sword 7 is a straightforward action adventure game that does exactly what it sets out to do, and is worthy of a play.

The Last Friend – Review (PC)

The Last Friend - Review (PC)


The Last Friend - Review (PC)

The Last Friend is a fun and satisfying crossover of the tower defence and brawler genres, featuring plenty, and plenty of dogs.