DICKENS GOES GANGSTA
Also for: Windows
A Yakuza game is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna
get, and yet you do - it's chocolate. The uncertainty is in the flavor. How
will our beloved protagonist Kazuma Kiryu develop? Where will the story take
us? How funny will the substories be? What mini-games remain? How does the
combat and skill trees work this time? And most importantly: Is
Yakuza Kiwami 2, the remake of Ryu Ga Gotoku studio's own
PS2-classic Yakuza 2, to my taste at all?
The most striking update is the fabulous new engine, the Dragon engine, which
was also used to produce Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Gameplay feels
smoother with less loading screens, but above all it looks fantastic. It
pushes the PS4 hardware to its limits, and you can almost hear the strain of
the graphics processor working.
On a standard PS4 the framerate struggles to keep up, especially on crowded
streets. The level of detail is through the roof. As the camera closes in on
its subjects you can literally count the pores on their cheeks. Different
graphical effects, like soot or sweat, add great detail to their textures.
These may seem like trivial matters, but they boost the immersion factor. For
the first time, the city feels like more than just a backdrop to your story.
You interact more with it, knocking stuff over as you rush towards the nearest
burger joint to heal up and gain some experience. Through the display windows
you can see store personnel trying to appease their customers. New alleyways
open up, no longer sealed off by invisible walls like they used to be.
We simply see more of the Kamurocho and Sotenbori districts, and can see them
in first person mode - all the lights, the bustling streets, the signposts,
the shops jam-packed with stuff. When you activate photo mode and try to
capture stills of random people, they stop and give you their favorite pose.
I've never visited Japan, but after playing Yakuza Kiwami 2, I feel like I
have.
The main story is somewhat ridiculous with a straight face. As it picks up one
year after previous events, Kiryu has left the Yakuza to raise his adoptive
daughter, Haruka. He is still mourning the loss of all his old friends, when
the new chairman of his old Tojo clan approaches him asking for advice on how
to broker peace with the competing Omi Alliance.
And once again, Kiryu is forced back into "the business" as the chairman gets
assassinated in front of his very own eyes. Teaming up with a female cop - an
orphan named Sayama - your goal is to figure out who's behind the
assassination. It becomes a twisted Dickensian tale of orphans struggling to
find their place in this world. And maybe Kiryu might finally find love?
The story is complex, uneven and not entirely successful all on its own, but
totally works when paired with the immersion, combat and neat cutscene
direction. Its smaller moments are better than the major twists. It is one of
those narratives that is exciting to experience fresh, but makes little sense
in hindsight.
During a trip to Sotenbori, we get acquainted with the antagonistic blonde
powerhouse Ryuji Goda, who adorns the game cover. As a main villain, he is the
best this series has yet produced, with deep resentments after a life of
hardships and abandonment. His motivations are clear, yet he is surprisingly
honorable, and develops a little as the game progresses. You get the feeling
he and Kiryu could have been friends, but the circumstances never allowed it.
Some other side characters are not that well-developed. I might as well come
clear on this: I don't like Haruka, Kiryu's uncanny adoptive daughter. I
dislike how she is written. She may look like a child, but often behaves as an
adult and has sensibilities well beyond her years. It reminds me of that
great Kirsten Dunst performance as a 70-year old vampire trapped
inside a child's body in the horror movie
Interview with the Vampire (1994). Some other characters feel forced
into the plot to the point that it overcomplicates matters. Apparently, the
writers struggle with finding roles for every recurring character.
Apart from that, I enjoy every single thing about Yakuza Kiwami 2. The more
streamlined, martial arts combat mechanic is better than ever. The combat
jazz on the soundtrack accentuates the feeling of urban chaos. Kiryu
apparently has found a way to combine all fighting styles into one, which
makes the fights more fluid and quicker without sacrificing any of the
moves. You can use the random encounters to develop your own style, and try
it out for real in the boss encounters that spawn at fixed intervals, or in
the Coliseum Tournament.
I appreciate the new levelling mechanic as well, which finally makes
restaurants a central part of your playthrough. By simply exerting
yourself, either by fighting or simply running around, you build up your
appetite. When you eat, you gain boatloads of experience in different
categories, and by finding out appropriate meal combinations, you boost
your XP gain. This makes level grinding less tiresome and more
experimental.
This is one of the most addictive games I've played all year. Every
mini-game is tweaked or improved upon (except the UFO catcher, which is
actually worse), and as alluring as ever. Some new ones include golf,
pissing contests and lewd photography. You get sidetracked so much, some
sessions of Yakuza Kiwami 2 feel like playing an
old Epyx game of sports collections, like
Summer Games or California Games. The larger sidequests
involve Cabaret Club-managment (imported from Yakuza 0), which is
great, and a real time strategy-inspired gang war simulator, which
unfortunately is dull.
But that is almost beside the point. In a game already bustling with content,
life and activity, there's additional stories to be found, where you get
acquainted by the seedy underbelly of city life. These are, I feel, the heart
and soul of the Yakuza experience, because they're what makes it totally
unique.
Carrying explicit life lessons, they let you experience a slice of life
through a totally warped lens. One particular story had me expose a fake
exorcist - only to encounter a real ghost in the end. Another had me talk a
suicidal man out of taking his own life, only to push him into the arms of a
woman who'll make his life hell. Yet another had me introduce a street
musician, who writes good songs but can't sing, to a girl with a great voice
but no talent for writing music.
A few minutes of Yakuza Kiwami 2 doesn't paint the full picture. You can only
get it by playing the entire game, experiencing all of its nuances, quirks and
drama. You might look back at it and think: "What the hell was all that
about?" And that should be the concluding thought, because it's a crazy ride.
At times the main story comes to a halt, which gives you time to naturally
delve into the side activities and explore the substories. These come well
distributed over the game's running time, keeping the game's steady rhythm
intact.
Whereas narrative video games usually incorporate natural pauses that allow
you to turn them off and rest, Yakuza Kiwami 2 apparently wants you to spend
your downtime in its world as well. And since it is so much fun, why shouldn't
you? Everything seems to be a competition in this universe. Resting would only
make you lose your edge. Old friendships wither away against the prospect of
being number one, and once lost, new alliances can only grow out of business
agreements.
That is the harsh lesson taught by Yakuza Kiwami 2. Although they should be
best friends, Kiryu and the main villain Ryuji are so much alike they can only
be enemies. The diversity of the world has no need of duplicates. Although
they might be kindred spirits, they inhabit the same marketspace, and must
compete for their right to it. There can be only one.
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