Yakuza 3, known as Ryu ya Gotoku 3 (Like a Dragon 3), in Japan makes its Western appearance after two years following the second installment. Because the Yakuza are the Japanese mafia, more or less, Yakuza 3 has been described as Grand Theft Auto Japan, but the story, and many of the key gameplay elements, are very different from that successful title. The Yakuza franchise is also very popular in Japan with Yakuza 3 selling 500,000 units in that country alone, placing it second after Final Fantasy XIII and ahead of Capcom's Resident Evil 5 for sales.
Story: If you haven't played Yakuza 2 on the PlayStation 2, it will take a while to fully grasp the story. It is told from the perspective of Yakuza 3's main protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu, a Chairman of the Tojo clan in the Yakuza. After spending time in jail, and the events of Yakuza 1 and Yakuza 2, Kazuma chooses to raise children in an orphanage as he was. Kazuma moves from Tokyo and relocates to Okinawa near the beach. Shortly thereafter, the land the orphanage is on gets embroiled in various crime plots and politics. The government wants to establish a new military base there, but business leaders, including members of the Yakuza, want a resort on the land as well. Because Kazuma in currently residing on the property, and many in the Tojo clan do not want evict Kazuma, this sparks backroom dealings, assassination attempts, and outright extortion, to try and get him to leave. Yakuza 3 takes place in two locations, a fictional Tokyo district called Kamurocho which is modeled after the real Tokyo district of Kabukicho, and the fictional Okinawa district of Ryukyu which shares similarities to Naha's Ichiba Dori. The cast of characters is quite large and the story can be convoluted as it carries over from previous Yakuza installments. There are, mercifully, videos included with the game that details events from the previous games.
Yakuza 3 is about as Japanese as you can get without actually having to buy a ticket and go there. The characters speak in Japanese with English subtitles, the fashion and culture is paired very closely with modern-day trends in Tokyo and Okinawa, and many of the locations in the game are inspired by, or are direct copies of, real-world areas. To keep with the sense of realism, some Japanese brands have their stores or products on display in the game. These include Don Quijote, which has a store you can buy from, complete with the catchy song "Miracle Shopping" which plays in all their real stores, Club Sega which also has arcade games you can play, PRONTO Cafe which you can dine in, Vivi and Weekly Morning magazines, numerous items which can be bought in stores and restaurants that exist outside the game, and many ads plastered all over the Kamurocho depicting real companies. This is a very Japanese game complete with all the quirks that add to the atmosphere of recreating Japanese areas.
Gameplay: Many people see Yakuza 3 as Shenmue 3 in the West, but this is very inaccurate. This game takes elements from many different games, but also changes them. Shenmue was more of an adventure game in a kind of less-gritty Japanese town. Shenmue's developers, also Sega, wanted to immerse gamers in the story and location, just as Yakuza's developers did. Aside from this, Yakuza 3 and Shenmue are very different, with Shenmue being more of an adventure where many inane or pointless activities or items to be looked at or used. This game has also been compared with Grand Theft Auto. Yakuza does have the gritty adult nature of that franchise, but, unlike GTA, Yakuza 3 has a richer story and a world with much more to do, immersed in Japan. Yakuza 3 is a type of blending on Shenmue with GTA, combined with a dusting of a fighter game.
There are several modes to Yakuza 3. The main mode you will be spending plenty of time in is the adventure mode. This is the part of the game where you move around, at first like a tourist in Japan, in the various districts. Here is where you acquire the 100 side missions, called sub stories, which add character to the game and hitman contracts. You can also find hidden locker keys and go out on dates with people you meet, for some reason, always hanging out in burger joints and ice cream stores. You can also spend your Yen and buy items from healing drinks, to weapons, all the way down to frivolous items like rings and magazines. While exploring, you can also partake in the myriad of minigames, such as the rhythm-based karaoke, Club Sega arcade games, a bowling game, darts, golf, billiards, baseball, fishing, and a slew of other gambling games. You can also participate in two different fighting tournaments, one under West Park and the other in a back alley near the Champion District of Kamurocho, foot races, and the occasional drinking game. All of these minigames are well done with the golf game being as full featured as many retail games, only lacking other golfers and a larger number of courses. Kazuma can also acquire revelations by pulling out his cameraphone, and snapping pictures of an event. After the quick time event picture taking session, you have to choose from three options about what just happened. If you pick the correct option, you get a new skill. There is always plenty to do in this game.
Aside from the adventure mode and the full motion videos in the event mode, lies the battle mode for Yakuza 3. Not being a fan of fighting games, I was a little apprehensive about this part of the game, but the battle sequences are not that difficult to figure out and are not ridiculously hard. There is a button for punches, kicks, grabs, sidestepping, blocking, and locking on. Kazuma has a health meter and another called heat. The heat gauge allows for you to do special moves and can KO most standard enemies outright and heavily damage bosses. Heat moves are standard special moves, but, since this is Yakuza, you can pick up an enemy and slam him into another or face first into a car. Kazuma can increase his health, learn new moves, and increase the heat gauge by earning experience, Exp., and leveling up four different areas. Each of the four areas max out at level ten and require increasing amounts of experience. The battles are usually against a small party of enemies with some rare boss battles being one-on-one. The lock on feature is largely useless in most battles as you can only lock onto a single enemy. Maneuvering Kazuma around the battle arena can be a little tricky as you have to factor in the camera direction and getting lined up properly. In Yakuza 3, you can also use any item which isn't nailed down to fight with. Thus, trash cans can be effective at taking enemies out, as can couches, dropped stun guns, street signs, bikes, and any number of random objects. Every item, both random and actual weapons, can only be used a limited number of times before breakage. Because of this, it makes little sense to buy and upgrade weapons since they break so easily. Many opponents carry weapons into battle so you don't have to buy any. You can simply KO an enemy holding a baseball bat, pick the bat up, and swing away against the remaining enemies.
Misc.: I was a big fan of Shenmue for the Dreamcast and was eager to try Yakuza 3. This game captures the immersive nature of that previous game very well while fleshing out a very grown up, if not convoluted, story. Although the game is loaded with minigames, secondary stories, and even romance at love hotels, it is not the exact title released in Japan February 2009. To meet certain deadlines, and to make the game a little more relatable, and in some cases, less offensive, to Western audiences, certain content was cut. The Japanese trivia game was removed since few Americans or Europeans know contemporary Japanese trivia like "Which famous band played on which Japanese Sunday morning show?" along with other obscure questions. Another element taken out was the hostess clubs. The concept of these clubs are totally foreign to many audiences but there was a lengthy sub story surrounding these clubs which had to be removed. Strip clubs, however, still exist as does the two host clubs tied to the main story, Stardust and Canal Grande. The erotic massage parlor minigame was also cut, as were the Mahjong and Shogi games.
I really enjoyed this game, despite the barrier to entry, mainly not having played the first two Yakuza's and not knowing any of the characters or back story. Yakuza 3 caught me up fairly quickly and I at least had a vague idea as to what was going on with everyone. The sub stories do vary widely in quality and scale, but really add to making the game feel like a living world. Like every game, this one is not perfect. For me, the most irritating factor with this game is the random battles. At first, they were quite fun, once I learned how to handle Kazuma. However, as they dragged on, the battles became grating and I could only play the game for a short while because of them. The battles, which can take place in large public streets filled with pedestrians, police, and security cameras, are against the Japanese version of the white suburban rappers or pudgy daddy types in sweaters. These battles would be frequent, fighting on one street, then, three blocks later, fighting again. Occasionally, they would be against the slightly more difficult Yakuza but usually they were not. These battles are quite easy, more often than not, none would lay a finger on me or cause very little damage. When these battles are over, I usually got a worthless item, like comfy soles or charcoal, which can be used to upgrade weapons which, in turn, are totally unnecessary to buy. By chapter nine (Out of twelve) or so, the absurdity of these battles really set in. They were nothing but speed bumps keeping me from doing sub stories or other, more fun, activities. To recap, here you are racing through Kamurocho to your next date or sub story, run into some Eminem looking dude throwing signs, wait ten seconds or so for the battle arena to load, which, if you're becoming increasingly annoyed always takes too long, hit six buttons to take out one enemy then do it again over and over, finish the battle, get a stuffed toy, run a few blocks and do it over again. If these battles took place on side streets or back alleys, or were not as frequent, I would have no problems with them. By chapter eleven, I had enough and decided to complete the main story. I liked everything with the game, except this one thing.
On the more technical side of things, this game runs at 720p, and looks ever so slightly dated. It's not too bad, but it lacks at times. The full motion videos are well done and are highly detailed. The voice acting is top notch and I think it was a good idea not to have English voiceovers. Some people may not like reading subtitles, which can be turned off, but with a game so immersed in Japanese culture, anything other than the language in which the game is set, would be a serious blow. The music is also well done covering everything from standard orchestral, to rock, to Enka, to J-Pop, and J-Rock. The soundtrack is worth buying as many of the songs are quite good, even if you don't understand some of the lyrics in a few of them. I competed the game in 36 hours having leveled up all four areas to eight, finishing 68 sub stories, and playing, not high scoring, all minigames. Even after all that, I still only had 30 percent completion. As for trophies, get ready to play this game for many, many hours. Trophies favor completion, you have to perform all 100 sub stories, some sub stories go away as you complete chapters, get the high score in all minigames, find keys to the coin lockers, and beat the game on the highest difficulty setting in addition to other equally involved tasks. Most trophies are bronze and expect to spend over 100 hours doing everything with multiple playthroughs. Only the most dedicated fans, or obsessive trophy hunters, should even think about getting platinum. This was a great game and is suggested for anyone who liked Shenmue, Japanese culture, or rich and lengthy games.
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Great quality. Like new condition. Good game!
Great quality. Like new condition. Good game!
Top reviews from other countries
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Great game, highly recommended if you played 1 & 2 before
Reviewed in Canada on January 23, 2015
