It doesn't take a genius to know that i love the yakuza games, but i'll try my best to write a informative review.
Story
The yakuza series has a central character in Kazuma Kiryu, he has been the sole playable character in the first 3 yakuza games (this will change in 4). The game does a decent job of retelling the plots for the first two games for those who haven't played them. Kazuma is an ex yakuza (currently a owner of an orphanage) who just loves to help people and there is a huge amount of side story to this game if your the kind of person who likes to explore a virtual world. The main plot revolves around a land deal, people being shot and you basically have to uncover the why and act vengeance on anyone who stepped out of line. The story is intereesting, but it is easy to just lose yourself in everything else you can do in this game, which is pretty much what i did before i bothered to forward the plot.
Gameplay
This is the reason your buying this game. The game has a great and brutal fighting engine, that uses a one versus many system. Attacks involve light/heavy attacks, throws, sidestepping, counters, weapons and heat actions. Heat actions are what make the game ridculously fun. You basically can do context dictated finishing moves, the game lists 88 but theres normally at least one variation on each heat action so theres well over 100 to see. You can only unleash a finishing move if you have build up enough of your heat gauge, and the reward is well worth it not only are the attacks devastatingly powerful, there also brutal to the point that you feel sympathy on the person who you inflicted them on, but that soon passes and you want to do another on the next guy. The weapon based combat has been upped significantly and and easy to change between 3 weapons on the fly mid combat, you can also pick up and use literally anything as a weapon.
Outside of the fighting you run around and help ppl in the streets live there lives theres 101 side missions in all and unlocking mission 101 can be extremely time consuming, but fun. There is also an additional 20 missions in the form of hitman missions these are essentially 20 boss fights and IMO the 20th mission was the hardest fight in the game and was an absolute joy to do.
So you hear the game has 121 missions and a decent and lengthy story that sounds like more then enough game right? Well actually there is still plenty more to do. There is a long list of minigames that by completing you can unlock numerous extra items. These include golf, pool, darts, bowling, baseball, UFO catcher, arcade shooter game, black jack, poker, roulette, a fighting coliseum (50 single and 20 tag team opponents), fishing, karaoke (basically a rhythm game) and various japanese games who's names i can't remember.
There are even more modes to unlock post completion, there was some content cut on the western release but i think the free DLC more then makes up for this. There is also a ultimate fighting mode which getting 100% clear unlocks the best item in the game, but that would take some amazing level of skill to do.
To complete this game 100% should take you over 100 hours. Once you complete the game you get options of New game+ and adventure mode which essentially helps you complete the last few bits for 100% and it can be used to create new game+ save data.
Graphics
The graphics in this game appeared great, something you should keep in mind is this game took over a year to get to us, so there hardly cutting edge. The game has no signs of slow down and no screen tearing and there is lots going on in this game, the streets are crowded as you walk around to living cities. The amount of effort put into creating the city is amazing, it may not be as beautiful as some games but the sheer detail of putting in minor things more then makes up for this. The only thing that bugged me slightly was the fact alot of ppl seem to have back problems i assume this is after a kazuma encounter.
Overall
There is no doubt this is the best game of this generation to date, the sheer volume of things to do the variety, the level of exploration and the reward for putting more time in. These are all just small parts to what makes a truly great game.
Subject: Superbuu3's Review: Yakuza 3 
Sat Apr 24, 2010 12:39 pm
