Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (2016, Playstation 4) Review

FADING OUT IN STYLE

Also for: Windows, Windows Apps, Xbox One, Xbox Series, Xbox Cloud Gaming

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Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is the final, bittersweet journey in the shoes of powerhouse protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. To give us a better look at the action, it premieres Ryu ga Gotoku Studio's new Dragon Engine, which updates the series to a new generational standard. Just like in the subsequent Yakuza Kiwami 2, we get more immersed in the chaotic, metropolitan lifestyle. 

And it looks great, particularly the improved lighting and facial textures. As you squeeze through previously sealed off Kamurocho alleyways, or get in and out of stores, or involve yourself in random street brawls, the game doesn't need to load. World exploration is as smooth as a Yakuza suit, and the improved visual fidelity provides the cutscenes with a more somber and personal tone than ever before.

That tonal shift also comes naturally with the occasion. Since I knew this would be the final game to star Kazuma Kiryu (voiced by Takaya Kuroda), I approached it with an almost anxious anticipation. He gets all the attention this time, unlike the previous two games which he shared with other playable characters. It seems like a twist of fate to send our hero into retirement like this, to see him go just as he receives a more real, unfiltered way to capture his audience. It feels sad, obviously, but the writers give him a respectful farewell.

But with so much effort poured into improving the engine, the scope of the art itself suffers a little. The developers have obviously had to cut quite an amount of content to get the game ready in time. Sections of the game world are sealed off - specifically Kamurocho's Champion district, West Park and Hotel district - with only vague in-game explanations as to why. Also, a lot of staple side activites are missing or hampered in some way. Fun stuff like bowling, pool, gambling, the UFO catcher and the Coliseum fights are nowhere to be found.

Although the spirit is still there, Yakuza 6 feels a lot smaller and story-focused. I'd wager we'll see an improved version in the future, something like a Yakuza 6: Director's Cut, that restores what's missing.

Consequently, this ending chapter ranks somewhere in the middle, which feels a little disappointing considering everything Kiryu's been through. But in the ways that matter most to me personally - story quality, substories (now fully voiced) and characters - the game delivers. People in for challenging combat, upgrade trees and mini-games might feel disappointed. The game overall is also laggier with sluggish controls. The PS4 hardware obviously has a hard time keeping up with the new engine.

The poor framerate makes the combat mechanic suffer the most, with defensive timing-based skills like parrying and countering becoming practically useless. An offensive approach is more viable, but with so many moves locked behind the charged Heat- and Climax-modes, Kiryu's basic fighting style feels more limited than ever. The skill tree is also disappointing. Since a lot of his acquired abilities are so situational, you rarely get to use them.

For the first time, you cannot even purchase weapons, and have to make do with random trashcans, bottles and signs in the environments. With these limitations, and with poor rewards in money and experience, there's little reason to go looking for fights.

Instead, you mainly gain experience from story progression, solving sidequests and eating. Restaurants have nice assortments of delicious-looking meals, and the right combinations will significantly level up some of your five attributes. This is how you gain skills - by eating - which one could only wish was true in reality as well. I enjoy this mechanic because it's so quick and painless to exploit, but doing so is hardly necessary because of the low overall difficulty of the combat.

The story picks up right where the masterpiece Yakuza 5 left off. Kiryu's survival hangs in the balance. As he lies unconscious in hospital, his adoptive daughter Haruka (Rie Kugimiya) leaves the pop idol limelight to dedicate herself to Kiryu's orphanage, Morning Glory. But things don't end up well when the tabloids start speculating in her moral fiber, after coming clear on her own Yakuza connections. She has to retreat to an undisclosed location to avoid tainting the future lives of the Morning Glory kids.

Meanwhile, Kiryu's health improves and he awakens, only to learn he's under arrest, mainly for sketchy, political reasons. To protect those around him from repercussions, he accepts a few years behind bars. Cut to a few years later, and he's no longer in the public eye. As he leaves imprisonment, he travels back to Morning Glory in Okinawa, and finds out Haruka is missing. The fist chapter of the game sees Kiryu going back to Kamurocho, Tokyo, to find out what happened to her. The trail later also takes him to a small, seaside part of Hiroshima, which is the most picturesque exterior the series has produced.

I'm not sure how much of the plot I should spoil. The story is about patriarchal duties, and the impact your choices might have on those you love. What's a family, really? Can you have several, and are they possible to combine? What will happen to those you neglect? To me, the "Song of Life" in the title refers to the entire series, and Yakuza 6 is its final verse. It has some of the best cutscene direction, but the writing cannot avoid the usual plot holes and questionable character motivations, particularly when it comes to the villains.

The game truly shines in character design, acting and dialogue, with some of the most fleshed-out new side characters we've seen so far. The dynamic within the Hiroshima Yakuza is a delight to see, and they are integral in connecting the player to the story events. Also, everyone's favorite loan shark Shun Akiyama (Kôichi Yamadera) is back. He is such a good character, he could very well star in his own game one day.

For obvious reasons, Ryu ga Gotoku put most of their efforts into story this time, and it is a gripping, thrilling end to the saga. Even as I sense the drama going for effect over a natural plot development, the upcoming grand finale feels exciting every step of the way. Kiryu's fate feels uncertain; he might end up dead as well as alive.

And I confess that my jaw dropped as I saw Takeshi Kitano's name in the opening credits. In the west, he is probably best known for portraying the school teacher in the great action drama Battle Royale, the movie (adapted from a book) that inspired the popular online game mode of the same name. He's also written and directed a lot of excellent movies like Zatoichi and Kikujiro. Here, he portrays the idiosyncratic boss of a small Yakuza family in Hiroshima.

This entry obviously cannot quite shake the anxiety of saying goodbye, but tries hard to stay true to the zaniness that gave the brand its unique flavor. The substories are great, albeit hard to find since they aren't marked on the map. The funniest one involves chasing after an escaped cleaning robot, that gets into trouble because it dares to call some hoodlums "dirt". Some of the other good ones lead to unlocking brand new mini-games, like a hilarious live chat (rejoice in observing Kiryu's typing technique) and a cat-feeding pastime.

Most Yakuza games have major sidequests with their own self-contained storylines and leveling mechanics. The ones introduced in Yakuza 6 are unfortunately very dull from a gameplay standpoint. We get an uninteresting baseball coaching simulator and a simplistic gang-war strategy game, which is near impossible to fail. Because of general disinterest, I never bothered much with the baseball (I don't even know baseball rules), but the gang war at least had an interesting storyline. 

The best new addition is, without a doubt, the underwater harpoon-fishing rail shooter. It's hard, but it's got its own leveling mechanic, making it easier the more you play. All of the levels end in amazing boss battles against legendary creatures of the sea. This is the closest the series has come to the realm of fantasy, and I bloody love it. I also enjoy the new workout mini-game, which makes Kiryu scout eateries like a food detective, and chatting in bars, which makes Kiryu part of a sitcom-esque cast of bar patrons.

The relative lack of side activities finally motivated me to attempt to learn Mahjong. And lo and behold, I won my very first serious game! I'd won before, in previous entries, but only by using blessed tiles, which is basically cheating. Playing Mahjong is similar to poker in that you need to collect a bunch of identical tiles. Either a straight, or a collection of exactly identical tiles, or a few special combinations will do. Now that I understand the basics, I swear I'll dig into this stuff in upcoming entries. Believe it or not, it's actually fun, and not as complicated as it might seem.

My favorite classic mini-games remain, but are a bit stifled for different reasons. Darts now has a timing-based aiming meter. Karaoke contains fewer songs than ever, and the engine makes them laggy. The visual and audio cues don't exactly match, which initially screws up the timing. The songs are good, though, especially Fork in the Road, which is dedicated to my personal choice of the dateable hostesses.

This dating sim, another favorite activity of mine, is also trimmed down. You choose conversation topics from a deck of random cards at the bottom of the screen. By spending experience points in the charisma skill tree you can obtain new topics. I like the varied selection of girls, though, and some of their substory conclusions could lead to Kiryu finally finding someone to love - at least in the hearts and minds of players who want to imagine him happily settling down with someone.

If you don't delve into this, or any substory for that matter, Kiryu might be come off as one-note. The main story makes him heroic and flawless, whereas the side distractions allow him to develop an everyman's appeal. Through the substories he displays wit, humor, lust, vanity and even signs of nerd hobbies. He converses with odd people and learns valuable life lessons. And he uses his virtues and skills to become even more sympathetic; a defender of the downtrodden.

Remember the Pocket Circuit racing in Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami? Or the Disco Dancing? Or the card-battle game with voluptuous, scantily clad, wrestling insect-girls? Niche activities like these develop Kiryu's more playful sides, opening him up and making him more relatable on a human level, which is always more interesting to me than predictable and idealistic superhero stuff. Whenever the leveling mechanic in a Yakuza game lets you down, remember that you can always role-play by exploring all these avenues.

Even more impressive is the way Ryu ga Gotoku Studio balances all the tonal changes and makes them fit so well together. A good Yakuza-game is like a tightly assembled machine, with all the different parts in the exact right spot to make them part of a greater whole.

In Yakuza 6 some of these parts might be somewhat flawed, but they're in the right place nonetheless. Some might be missing, but new ones have taken their place. The new Dragon Engine makes it look a whole lot nicer than its predecessors. And if it's the visions that linger in the player's mind, that update couldn't have come at a better time.