All this is in Japanese. This is a game from Japan! If you can remember those. I don't speak Japanese. It has subtitles and menus are English so it is more playable than the Japanese copy. For that I'm happy. I can read what people say and follow along as much as I can, despite my dislike of subtitles.

The game itself is a mashing of many genres. If I had to say it was anything, it's an RPG. Although all the combat is done as a beat em up and the storyline presents itself as an action film. There was always so much to do and so much going on, that it never stuck with one single thing long. Yakuza 3 might be one of the better games I've played in many years.

I'll give my review after the jump.



Yakuza 3 (PlayStation 3)
Developer: CS1 Team
Publisher: Sega
Released: March 9, 2010
MSRP: $59.99

The basic premise has you, Kazuma Kiryu, going with your adopted daughter to Okinawa and starting an orphanage. A far cry from the skull cracking and ten years your character served in prison. Some people start threatening closing the orphanage, of course, and slowly you're pulled back into a world of beating people. The storyline goes off on tangents that I don't care to spoil for you. The journey through the game is partially why you would want to play it anyway.



There are some really funny cut scenes, such as one where a yakuza boss slaps a bunch of his goons yelling! Some that are just genuinely cool action movie introduction scenes. The walk on of the viper character, a man with a comparable tattoo to the player character's dragon, was very well done. I thought the early focus on more sentimental scenes wasn't what I wanted, but it ended up making me care about the orphans and helping them. If only enough to justify the severe violence Kiryu inflicts!

Occasionally subtitles blend togther. This isn't a major hindrance at all for me. The meat of the story is presented in text boxes like traditional action RPGs. All the scenes usually have enough visual cues to figure out what's going on. Still, not being able to read certain text is annoying. Even if it isn't anything of real substance, it can grate my nerves yelling out "what does that say?" at the game.

You cannot skip cut scenes unless you go to the options and set this to on. You had to do that in the previous games as well, so that's no surprise, but still. That's really stupid. Stupid is knowing better and doing it anyway. Sega's made some games. They know I can't sit through all these scenes. I'll watch most of them, but I can't stick with them all. Skipping is a part of it. Some scene's just drag on, like an early story arc about the orphanage that just goes on and on. It has almost nothing to do with whooping people. When I finally did get to the parts with fighting, I appreciated it so much more.



As I said, you beat people up. Occasionally cringe worthy, yell out "ooooooooh" beatings are delivered. Now you no longer go to a loading screen before each battle like the previous two. Battles happen anywhere and can start when you just walk down the street exploring. For standard attacks, you press the square button and for any special moves you press triangle. Once again you have the HEAT system in once filled, you can unleash devastating attacks on your opponents. Also worth noting is that you can press circle to grab enemies, now going so far as to grab a downed enemy by the ankle!

That's not to say all you do is beat people. There are many elements that make this feel like an RPG. You level up four seperate bars that each increase different attributes. Soul for you HEAT gauge, tech for special moves, body for your health, and essence for exotic attacks. One early essence move the "Essence of Slamming" got used quite a bit. When you grab an enemy and press triangle near a guy on the ground, you slam one into the other. The attacks like this are why this game is so fun.



Besides just punches, kicks, and grabs you can also wield weapons. In most fights there are things lying around to wang people on the head with. Bicycles, sign posts, chairs, tables, or just about anything else. You can even buy weapons for your inventory, in case you feel the need to have several pairs of nun chucks at any time like I did. Each weapon has a set amount of hits before breaking. That ensures that you won't depend on the weapons completely, but they are some of the more humorous attacks in the game.

The weapons system is fairly wonderful in that you have a master who can "teach" you how to use new weapons like the tonfa or nun chucks. Then you go and purchase these weapons from a certain store. Unlike previous games, your bought weapons once broken can be repaired. You can also mod weapons upgrading them, as well as the defensive items. I still felt it necessary to have several pairs of nun chucks at all times.

Not only can you buy weapons, but a fairly diverse selection of Japanese items. I walked into a convenience store and purchased an Umbrella and a blow up doll. Just some regular store on the corner of Okinawa had these items. Healing items are easily purchased as well, meaning I stocked up at every chance. At any time I had several strange items, several bottle sof liquor, and several health potions to help me play the game.



There are a multitude of side quests in the game. You can walk down the street and see someone to talk to. Strike up a conversation and they might need help. An early one involves a woman talking about someone being kidnapped. You and her go off to an area to confront the kidnapper. This isn't as simple as you think, the kidnapper has stolen something less important than the woman let on. All the side quests or "sub stories" as the game calls them are nice little diversions to go off on.

The other major diversion are the mini games. You can shoot pool, you can go play golf, or just chill on the beach fishing. These are merely three of the many games found in Yakuza 3. I discovered several women to "date" in the game and took them to these mini games regularly. You ever see those claw machines with stuffed animals? Those are represented once again with hilarious accuracy to real life. Winning a plush doll for your video game girlfriend is a feature!

I'm unhappy knowing that certain content has been cut. Hostess bars and many sidequests were taken out. It's not changing my opinion because I don't know exactly what was cut out and what wasn't. I'm only judging what is in the game. It is something negative that bothers me. To release something like this completely frustrates me. All I can do is moan about it and yell at SEGA. At the end of the day, this game is English. The previous game, Yakuza Kenzen isn't, and I can't play it easily in Japanese. The fact is, wouldn't you rather have most of a game than none of it?

Chances are you didn't play the first two games. Not a problem! You don't need to have played either Yakuza or Yakuza 2 to enjoy this game or follow the storyline. Just like Yakuza 2, the storyline is recapped in an ingenious way at the start of the game. A scene takes place at a cemetery, where your character can inspect graves and is asked to reminisce about things. This means he recaps and shows most of the scenes from the first two games. In case you're the type to pass over things, both of these options are on the front menu of the game as well. If you own a Playstation 3 and are looking for something a little different than most games that hearkens back to an older style like River City Ransom.



It's that combination of things that makes Yakuza 3 a fun game. So much diversity of things to do. I found that if I needed a break from storyline or I wanted to explore Japan, it was usually an option. The game is a long adventure, be prepared for an upwards of twenty hours worth of content. It's a good long ride that I never wanted to end. At no point did I stop enjoying playing the game. A few sour tastes where left in my mouth knowing things were missing, that cut scene skipping was disabled by default, and the storyline is something of a slower burn than most action games. Other than those minor gripes, this is probably one of the better games released this March.

Score: 9 -- Superb (9s are a hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage to what is a supreme title.)