The Dance of Dragons.
With the release of ‘0’ in the States and its subsequent breakout success, the landscape has changed for the Yakuza franchise in the west. In fact, when Yakuza: Kiwami 2 was announced for release in Japan, what came to mind was not “if” it was going to be localized, but rather, “when.”
As the second game with the moniker “Kiwami” in the series, this marks the remake of Yakuza 2 which was originally released on the PS2, and unlike its predecessor, it has the benefit of being built from the ground up for the PS4 using the dragon engine, which impressed in Kiryu’s final outing earlier this year. Kiwami 2 was also promised additional content in the form of new mini-games as well as a brand new story mode featuring everyone’s favorite psychopath, Majima Goro. With the stage set for what seemed like a very promising remake, it only remained to be seen how everything would come together.
Welcome back.MSRP: $49.99
Platforms: PS4
Played on: PS4 Pro
Length: 30~ hours
Following the events of Yakuza 1, Kazuma Kiryu is trying to wash his hands clean of the Yakuza business and look after his adopted daughter, Haruka. However, after the assassination of the head of the Tojo clan, he is reluctantly brought back into the fold in an attempt to stop an all out war and take responsibility for the explosion of chaos he caused on top of the Millennium Tower.
The overarching story of Kiwami 2 felt standard fare for the most part given I’ve played through so many Yakuza games at this point, but what stood out to me the most was the main antagonist of the story, Ryuji Goda- the Dragon of Kansai.
This guy packs a punch.WIth his intimidating presence and brutish strength, he felt like a match for the Dragon of Dojima in every sense of the word. What wasn’t so readily apparent was the depth of his character as well as his motivations, which made him relatable as well as a little admirable to some degree, and his contribution to the plot as well as the various contests of strength and will against him were the highlights of the experience. Also, thanks to Ryuji’s flair for the dramatic, I can now say that I’ve defeated a literal tiger by punching it in the face, which was somehow even more awesome than it sounds.
From a gameplay standpoint, just as it carries over the Dragon Engine from Yakuza 6, it carries over many of its mechanics. The combos and movement felt nearly identical, with the benefit of being more polished and felt a bit more fluid than before. Targeting and attacking an enemy behind in the middle of a flurry of punches felt natural as Kiryu swiftly kicked behind him to remind the thugs that it’s not a good idea to stand behind the Dragon of Dojima with malice intent. The leveling process with the categories of different experience types as well as eating giving experience made a return, and I made it a point to try every dish in each of the establishments I came across.
There was a great variety of ridiculous side-stories as usual, and it was quite easy to track them down as they were marked on the map. The mini games like UFO catcher, classic arcade machines, and cabaret club all made a return with some new additions like “Toylets”, a game you can only play with a full bladder- read into that as you will. As the main story is focused on life and death situations, the light hearted fun found in these side-stories and mini-games were a welcome respite from watching people making mean faces at each other.
How indeed?The much touted additional story episodes featuring Majima were unlocked as I progressed the game, but given how his presence was kept to a minimum in the original, it becomes apparent that this was just a little bit of fan service for the rabid Majima fans who are just dying to step foot inside the mad dog’s crocodile boots once more. The episodes are short and feature no side-stories, and while I could play some of the mini-games as Majima, it felt like an afterthought more than a big selling point for the game. Still, while I expected more from the mode, it’s worth playing through just to fight as Majima who is a joy to control as he dances on the graves of his enemies who were foolish enough to challenge him. The Majima construction tower defense mini-game was entertaining for a little while, but it certainly wasn’t my favorite of the side-activities as it become repetitive rather quickly.
Majima is crazy. Crazy for work safety!It’s an odd feeling to be back in Kamurocho after wishing a bittersweet farewell to the Dragon of Dojima. Even though Kiwami 2 doesn’t quite achieve the emotional highs of the “Song of Life”, the polished gameplay as well as one of the finest antagonists the series has to offer makes it a must play for Yakuza fans, whether they played the original on the PS2 or not.
Fun Tidbit – The demo for Yakuza creator’s all new IP “Judge Eyes” which takes place in the Yakuza universe looks absolutely fantastic and you can play the demo now by having a JPN PSN account.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.