Yakuza 0 (2015)

I have terrible reflexes, and therefore I am very disappointed with modern gaming’s obsession with action-oriented games. Yakuza 0 is a beat-em-up, so I should hate it. I partially do.

As for the gameplay, I am not sold due to aforementioned problem. In Yakuza 0 you walk around the town and fight bad guys. We’ve got 3-D combat, combos, and quick time events. Most of the time, this was all I’ve got. A grueling mess of the type of gameplay I suck at horribly. Luckily, this is a very easy game, so on normal difficulty I had very little problems with just mushing around and winning.

Then there’s also a lot of additional content in the form of mini-games dressed as side quests. You can buy properties, watch porn movies, manage a bordello, help make a movie, play classic Sega games, became a pro at some strange form of RC car racing. But I don’t care. My biggest issue with Japanese games is the sheer amount of random stuff you can do, but has no real impact on the game world. Yakuza 0 has a deep system for playing Shogi, as well as Dance Dance Revolution. I may be too old for this, or I have not enough time (nor mental capacity), but I never get any enjoyment from such activities. Make it integral to the main gameplay loop or don’t bother. I will not learn complex mechanics for a mini-game. I barely have time to remember your combos!

As a gamey-game, Yakuza 0 is definitely not my type. It may be yours - and if you like modern games, then it most likely is.

But there is also the story and characters. Those are the real meat of the game for me, and they made it an amazing experience.

Yakuza 0 is a prequel of an already established series of games. We control two characters - Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Mojima. Kazuma wants to be a yakuza, but is presumed to be a killer of civilian, and as a result needs to leave the mafia. His mission is to find who framed him. Goro was a Yakuza, but due to mistakes of his past, he becomes a slave to a yakuza boss and needs to do his bidding. At the same time a gigantic plot to take over an empty plot of land in the middle of the city is established. Somewhere around middle point of the game, when all pieces started to fall on their places, I begun to be annoyed when they stopped the story for, well, game.

Yakuza 0 is a weird. The main story is serious, but rarely becomes dark. It’s engaging, emotional, deep. All side activities are silly. Somehow it fits together nicely, but I don’t know. I’d rather this was a movie or a limited series.

Story-wise I have give my highest praises. The main plot is masterful, characters are amazing (voice acting is superb). Top bad I was thrown out of it in order to beat yet another group of thugs. I clocked at 34 hours completing a bit over 18% of the game, so I am not target audience. Still, the main plot pulled me back in. After I started completely ignoring all side-content, I begun to enjoy Yakuza 0 immensely. Yes, the final fight gave me thumb-blister¹, but after that we’ve got something like 26 ending scenes. Each more emotional than the other.

I want to learn rest of the story of Goro and Kiryu, and therefore I’ll continue playing other titles in the series. Too bad that there’s a game attached.