YAKUZA 3 REVIEW Posted by PlayDevil.com Staff on Jun 29, 2010 15:07 (Jun 29, 2010 15:07) |
Written by: Alex
 Will they, won't they?
"Yakuza 3", Sega's latest Japanese organized crime game, finally made it to the West in march, a full year after its release in Japan. For a long time it was uncertain if the game would ever be seen outside Asia, with poor sales of the previous two games and high costs of translations cited a the reason for the developers reluctance to give the game a wider release.
Fortunately in the end the dedication of a small group of vocal fans convinced Sega to bring the game to America and Europe.
Miss understandings:
Appearances can be deceptive. Thanks to the Yakuza 3's theme and visual style many people assume that it is an open world game akin to Grand Theft Auto. It is a false assumption, as Yakuza has far more in common with a traditional Japanese role-play game than any of the western titles it's has seen comparisons with.
Like a Final Fantasy game the structure of Yakuza’s gameplay is clearly divided into a several distinct sections. Story, world exploration, combat and 'dungeons' are all present and the hard cut between each offers a familiar feel for aficionados of Japanese gaming. None of this affects the unique feel of the game however, courtesy of it the perspective and setting being rarely seen within the JRPG genre.
Story:
Yakuza 3's story follows on directly to the previous two PS2 titles. Within the first few minutes of the game this issue is directly addressed with the option to watch the earlier games cinemas to get up to speed. It fails to form the bond with characters that players familiar with the series may have, but nonetheless fills in he many gaps newcomers would otherwise have.
 Jumping straight into Yakuza 3 story is somewhat disorientating, even with knowledge of the previous games. Starting half way through the game for the initial cinematic, events then unceremoniously leap to past events as the gameplay begins picking up soon after Yakuza 2. Honestly it took me around an hour to realize the jump in time frame, leaving me bemused at previously encountered characters being introduced to me for the first time, and dead characters being reanimated.
The Culture:
Framing the Yakuza as a powerful righteous organization is nothing new to Japanese fiction based in their underground world. Many residents of Japan idolize the gangsters, even some within the police, and they are elevated far beyond the random street urchins with attitude. To many these low level members are disregarded by the population, disassociated from their bosses who represent far more legitimate entities within the business world of Japan.
It was one of these higher ups that I took control of in Yakuza 3, Kazuma Kiryu, the retired chairman of the Tojo Yakuza family. There is the standard assumption in Japan, the seniority and position of an individual within an organization related directly to their strength and ability. True to this theory Kazuma is capable of destroying anything that stands in his path with relative ease, at least until he runs into a member of similar standing.
The World:
Yakuza's crime story does a much to glamorize the mythos surrounding Japanese organized crime. But while it is spins a fanciful fiction the environments of the world, and it many side quests, feel far more grounded in Japanese life. Stores Kazuma can visit are licensed real world franchises, and while the name of each district is fictional, they feel authentic to the real world counterparts.
Unfortunately the districts the game takes place in are fairly small, and travelling between them (and building interiors) can be a frustration during search missions because of the load times that accompany the transitions.
Compounding my issues with the small environments is the fact the world feels empty. With no ambient voices the crowds of people who mill around the areas only communicate through black text bubbles that fill the screen as you explore the world. It's creepy, and does nothing to help the atmosphere of the games faux Japan.
 The issue of the text bubbles is not limited to incidental dialogue. Yakuza 3's fantastic Japanese voice cast does a fantastic job in cut scenes, but outside of these key moments the story is revealed though text. Considering the quality of acting it came as a disappointment that their contribution to the game was so small. Evidently Sega had felt voicing the entire game would be too costly, but, as a modern western RPG fan, it still comes as a surprise in such a linear story with no branching dialogued.
The plus side of the heavy reliance on text conversations freed the designers to create a seemingly endless amount of incidental conversations and side quests. While many of these are simple fetch quests or mini games it still goes a considerable distance to fleshing out the world and creating a far more engrossing experience.
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