Greetings everyone, hope you're all doing well, and welcome to my review and discussion of Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life! A while back a friend of mine recommended that I try out the Yakuza series. I've always been drawn to Japanese culture, something that's a big part of these games, so I knew I'd probably enjoy them. The epic story of this series spans across seven games, beginning at Yakuza 0, and ending with the most recent, Yakuza 6. They're notoriously plot heavy titles, with loads of characters, different opposing factions, and they follow the same protagonist throughout each one. Playing through that many games was just too much to take on right now. Luckily, I've been told that six is actually a good place to jump in if you're a newcomer which convinced me to finally pick it up . So let's begin, and I'll tell you all about it.
Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life is an action-adventure game developed by Sega as a PlayStation exclusive. This series has been hugely successful over in Japan since the PlayStation 2 era, but it didn't have the same impact in other regions of the world. In recent years the franchise has finally started to catch on in North America, partly due to some of the older games receiving remakes, and of course the new releases. There are now seven mainline entries in the Yakuza series that all go together to tell one large story spanning many years. Throughout each of these games you play as Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima, and you experience his dangerous life as a member of the Japanese mafia.
The game begins with a lengthy cut scene that picks up right after the events of Yakuza 5. Since this is my first time playing one of these games I was a little confused, but it all started to make sense fairly quickly. Kiryu is in the hospital recovering from some serious injuries he sustained at the end of 5. Some police officers enter the room and plan on arresting him for some past crimes he apparently committed. Instead of putting up a fight Kiryu decides to go peacefully, knowing this will be best for the people he cares about. Now he will spend the next three years in jail.
Meanwhile, we are introduced to Haruka, a young girl who lives in an orphanage that Kiryu watches over. Haruka is like a daughter to Kiryu, which is why he agreed to go to jail. He knows if he tried to run, or put up a fight, it would have negative consequences for the children at his orphanage. Once Haruka learns about Kiryu going to prison she decides to leave the orphanage, and tells the rest of the kids she's moving somewhere near the jail so she can be closer to Kiryu. That's the last time any of the kids hear from Haruka.
Three years pass and Kiryu is released from prison. The first thing he does is leave the city to check on his kids at the orphanage. Once he arrives they are all very happy to see him, but they wonder why Haruka didn't come back as well. The kids tell Kiryu that Haruka moved to the city three years ago so she could visit him more frequently, but Kiryu never saw her. The whole time he was in there she never visited, and now they know something must have happened to her. Kiryu decides to go back to the city of Kamurocho to search for her. This is where the game finally begins as you look for clues to find out what happened to Haruka. It's a very long intro sequnce, but the entire game has long cut scenes like this and is very narrative driven in general.
When you first start exploring Kamurocho there's a lot to take in. It's an open world area, full of various locations and activities, that you can partake in any way you like. You can go straight to the main quest marker, focusing on finding clues to locate Haruka, or you can just free roam around. There are loads of side quests and mini games to keep you occupied, and pretty much everything you do earns you experience points that you can use to make Kiryu stronger. Whether you're hitting balls at the batting cage, singing karaoke, working out at the gym, playing arcade games, or just eating some lunch, you always earn experience. This gives you an incentive to interact with the world in every way possible. I really enjoyed this aspect of the game, getting lost for hours just doing side activities.
The game is what I would call, a modern day version of a beat em up. Very similar to Double Dragon, or Streets Of Rage in terms of gameplay, except in an open world setting that you can freely explore. As a Yakuza you are loyal to a particular group, which means there are other opposing groups all over the place that want to fight you. As you walk around the city you'll come across these gangs and you will enter into a brawl with them wherever you are. The combat is fast and fluid, making it really easy to get the hang of. You start off with some basic moves, but can unlock all kinds of over the top combos through leveling up. You can attack, block, parry, and evade. There's also a heat gauge that fills, allowing you to perform special devastating attacks.
Fighting seems to be the main mechanic of the game, and it's something you'll be doing a lot of. Between random encounters on the street, scripted battles, and boss fights, there's no shortage of action to take part in. I never really got bored of this though, mainly because it's so satisfying and arcade like. Not only do you have all your combos and the heat gauge to play with, but you can pick up almost any random object laying around to use as a weapon. Everything from street cones, cement blocks, bicycles, street signs, or more conventional tools like, crowbars, machetes, hammers, and guns. The combat overall was a major highlight for me, and I always looked forward to the next fight. It was easy to understand and execute, making it accessible even for a newcomer like myself.
For as much fun as I had with Yakuza 6 there were also some problems that dampened my experience. You end up going to two open world areas. The first is Kamurocho which is a densely packed city, full of things to do. But then you travel to Onomichi, a sleepy little fishing town that seems a little empty by comparison. What made things worse was the fact that you suddenly have a baby for part of it that you carry around. There's even a minigame where you have to calm the baby down when it gets fussy, which started to drive me crazy after a while. On top of this the game is packed full of very long cut scenes that are loaded with dialog. At first I was on board, hanging on every word, but eventually that also began to wear on me. Especially since there are so many characters that I wasn't familiar with, and had no connection to.
This is the final game of Kazuma Kiryu's story that has spanned across seven titles. If you have been playing them all along then this will probably have a much bigger impact on you, but I had a hard time becoming invested in these characters. The story dragged on with mountains of dialog to climb over, when all I really wanted to do was go beat up some thugs. That was definitely the best part for me. All of the gameplay is very enjoyable, and you're provided with loads of side quests to keep things from getting stale. The two juxtaposing environments compliment each other well, but I preferred the big city with all it's visual spectacle. If you're new to the series this can be a lot to digest. The story is very interesting, and I loved playing as Kiryu, it's just a little overwhelming. I'm going to give Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life a grade of.......
B -
Thank you for reading my review of Yakuza 6: The Song Of Life, I hope you enjoyed it!
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Your post was upvoted by the @archdruid gaming curation team in partnership with @curie to support spreading the rewards to great content. Join the Archdruid Gaming Community at https://discord.gg/6yD2Emr. Good Game, Well Played!
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Thank you everyone, I appreciate the support!
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