Yakuza 3

Written by Adam Woolcott  on March 23, 2010

Review: Where drunk dudes imitating strippers is just your average day

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In addition to the 100 distinct side-quests that range from investing in a tuna УfarmФ, helping a guy make the best instant ramen, discovering the weird rumors about Ryukyu, and escaping deranged crossdressers, Yakuza 3 offers a multitude of mini-games. Fans of the franchise are likely versed in Kamurocho's batting cages and bowling alleys, but Yakuza 3 goes overboard. Those two are included of course, but are now complimented by a darts game, pool, and an eighteen hole golf course. Seriously. To make it even more interesting, performing well in each game opens up a new quest against someone who is threatened by your awesomeness. In Yakuza tradition these games tend to be pretty challenging with strict requirements to УcompleteФ it on your way to 100%. The only game that's not very good is darts Ц the design makes it very difficult to get an understanding of how to play it. The rest are pretty simple, though none are as in-depth as a specific game dedicated to each activity would be. Along with these, standard casinos to play blackjack, roulette, and poker open up over time, and some traditional Japanese games of chance Ц stuff like even or odd dice Ц sneak in. Saving the best for last, however, is the new karaoke game. Whether alone or with a date, karaoke is hilarious, if only for the times when Kazuma busts out into song. Like the other mini-games, karaoke can be difficult, as the tempo changes can throw off the rhythm.



Of course, there's also the issue of cut content. For some silly reason Sega saw fit to cut things that had no trouble appearing in Yakuza and Yakuza 2, despite Yakuza 3 basically being brought over to appease a fanbase that no doubt harassed them on a daily basis. Some of it is understandable; there's a series of quests that serve as nods toward characters from Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan, the old-school samurai take on the franchise that released between Yakuza 2 and 3, but hasn't and probably won't come out over here. The rest of the cut content is rather questionable. The cabaret clubs where you pay money to talk with attractive women might be a little creepy, but they were also amusing (albeit expensive) diversions. At the least all the club girls are still in the game, and can be taken on dates before unlocking their standard side-quest... in which Kazuma gets lucky at the end. Much of the other cut stuff was supposedly done for УculturalФ reasons, such as a mission about a transsexual masseuse. Apparently we don't have any transsexuals in the west. Still, while the removed content is baffling, there's still almost too much going on in Yakuza 3. Case in point, I finished the game in just under 40 hours... and completed just 50% of the game. Granted, the completion ratio is based on everything you do - be it HEAT actions, side-quests, mini-game requirements, finding the hidden locker keys, or even eating and drinking at the various establishments in both cities.

This crazy amount of stuff to do is Yakuza 3's charm though Ц it offers the most entertainment per square mile in comparison to any other УsandboxФ style game. At almost every turn, there's a quest, a fight, entertainment, games, gambling, and of course a helping of plot. Admittedly the story is not quite as good as the first two games, as it's less about organized crime and more about political maneuvering and shady secret societies. It's still good, but it lacks the twists and turns of the older games, and some of the key characters from the past are practically cameos. Plus, with its release a year after the original Japanese date, things about Ryu ga Gokoku 4's plot give away certain things about Y3. We don't live in a vacuum anymore Sega, knowledge of foreign games is very easy to come across. Plot aside, Yakuza 3 excels with a nearly endless amount of content, a finely tuned beat 'em up battle system that offers both brutality and polished mechanics, and a great cast of characters, especially Kazuma himself, one of gaming's great characters that few know about. He's awesome enough to be charismatic and friendly to regular people, but capable of turning on the fury when challenged by random punks. I mean, he can beat up 20 guys at once... and he's pushing 40 years of age. Most importantly, the Dos Equis guy would be terrified of him.

Yakuza 3 is a little old Ц it came out in 2009, but it's still based primarily on the engine from the original game, which released on PS2 back in 2005. As such, the visuals aren't stunning, but they get the job done in other ways, such as the atmosphere. While Ryukyu is your standard resort city, Kamurocho is a densely packed mini-town full of landmarks. Of course, as Kamurocho is based on Kabuki-cho, it's to be expected Ц and it really is a very authentic re-creation of that area. Kamurocho especially is the life of the game, with tons of people wandering, gangsters everywhere, tall buildings full of entertainment, and barkers chasing you around in a futile attempt to drag you into their establishments. Yeah, it's all getting a little long in the tooth, as this is the third time through the place, it's still a fun area. The big change for Y3 is a fully controllable camera that replaces the static, almost pre-rendered camera from the PS2 games. It's always directly behind Kazuma now, and can be rotated in all directions to see everything in town. This is especially helpful during fights, as being able to swing the angle around to see enemies makes things easier with fewer cheap shots from behind.

Yakuza 3 follows in the footsteps of Yakuza 2 in offering no English language voice track, instead sticking to subtitles. It makes sense Ц while many games from Japan take place in fictional areas and thus can use any language, Yakuza is about as Japanese as it gets. As such keeping the language authentic makes a lot of sense. Sure, I'd love to hear Mark Hamill reprise his role as Majima like in the first Yakuza, but the guy who voices him in Japanese is crazy enough. It's hard to tell if the voices are really good, but they seem to handle the drama of the game well. They even managed to not use the usual annoying УkidФ voices for the gang at Kazuma's orphanage, which is a real plus. There is some English spoken, but it's extremely rare and only one character actually speaks it fluently, as the rest are spoken by the Japanese actors. There is one baffling scene where someone would speak English and the other Japanese... yet they both could understand each other, but that's the only time that things got awkward. When wandering through town, the voices of others stand out, and thankfully they have text bubbles to explain what's being said. That really adds to the atmosphere of the game; walking through a packed area should be loud. Best part is, when you hit alleys and other abandoned areas, it goes deathly silent... nice touch there. The music has slowly moved away from Sega-style Japanese Butt Rock to more dramatic stuff, but at least a couple of the battle themes pay tribute to it. On the other hand, there's one bit of fight music that sounds like insanely bubbly J-pop. It was quite hilarious if not totally bizarre.