It's that time again, another week, another PS3 exclusive downed. This time, it's a game I really anticipated playing since when it was originally released and I never got around to watching the cut-scenes on the tube either
even though I really wanted to.
Yakuza 3
First off, I know there's probably only a handful of people here who've gone through a single one of these games, but for those who have, they know how awesome it is. Sure the combat and controls are a bit archaic, but the story/drama/script is some of the best you'll find in video gaming. The fact that they opt to use the original JP voice acting with sub titles is just that much better, because Yakuza 1 tried English voice acting on a very heavy Japan-centric story, it did not do well.
Yakuza 3 is a VERY meaty game, it has a lot of content. It took me nearly 20~ hours to beat it, for the record (as I heard on the podcast
) I am not playing FFXII, but was rather playing this since I finished Uncharted 1 like 2 weeks ago.
This is one of those things for which you absolutely NEED to know the previous story, thankfully there's lengthy "Previously on" videos, like 20 minutes for each entry that cover just about everything you'd need to know
.Here's the brief 'standard' review format for Yakuza.
Graphics: The game's graphics can be divided into two categories, real-time in-game graphics are very painfully sub HD, but they retain a lot of detail, the location of Kamurucho looks like a living breathing sector of Tokyo. Then there's the cut-scenes, the game uses VERY high fidelity models and lighting for the cut-scenes (think of it like the diff. between RE5's in-game and cut-scene models). The cut-scenes look fan-fucking-tastic. Better than MGS4's. That's a fact.
Sound (VA/Music): The Japanese voice acting is fantastic, sure I don't understand a lick of it
but the way it's delivered is enough to determine that a lot of effort went into it. The character tones, dilects are just about perfect. The general 'music' isn't noteworthy, but battle music are pretty good.
Story: Fantastic, if there's one reason you need to play this game, it's the story alone. Great stuff, exciting and engaging through and through, sure some cut-scenes are a bit on the longer side, but come on .. it's a Japanese game, what do you expect ?
Presentation: Again, fanastic. The presentation is top notch, everything about the Japanese city scapes are visually amazing. I said the same thing in my ancient Yakuza 1 review I posted on PG back in the mid 2000's, and it holds true even now.
Longevity: The game is huge, the main story takes a long time but you also have 101 side quests too, most of the experience you'll get will be from the side quests, and they are entertaining too. Some are just "go to x place, fight guys, end" but there's side quests that span multiple chapters as well.
Overall: I very much enjoyed each second of the game. I can very safely say that while God of War 3 has been the best "eye candy" game on PS3 so far, this was the best time I had playing a PS3 game overall.
9/10
I'll wait a little while before starting Yakuza 4 now, don't wanna burn out on the franchise too much. Though from what i've read everyone saying, Yakuza 4 is supposed to be a much better game. Should be awesome.