First Impressions: Yakuza 3

So before I get back to playing I think I will say a couple words about Yakuza 3. This game is amazing. It does have a few issues here and there but overall there is a lot in this package. For those who don't know this game is a continuation of the Yakuza series from the PS2. Essentially a Yakuza crime drama in video game form. However in this game you start out as Kazuma Kiryu who is the former 4th Chairman of one of the Yakuza families. In the beginning of the game you see that he has retired from his old life and has taken into his care an orphanage and 8 orphans. This is where the story really pulls at the heart. It does a good job at it however and some of the scenes are trying to get the tears flowing. From this point you see one of the other Yakuza bosses murdered and it seems you may have to enter back into the fray. This is as far as I am at the moment and I don't want to ruins any sub-plots for anyone who may want to play the game.

The game-play is sandbox style but it has a few more limitations than most standard sandbox games do. You cannot jump and are limited where you can run and the game makes sure you know this. This doesn't hinder the game as it is still very large and the pure amount of things to do is astounding. I haven't made it too far in just now making it part way into chapter 4. I can say that I love all the mini games and things to do and my only complaint is there is no real easy way to mark these places than by going to them. This also becomes an issue when not everything is open at night or during the day making a large part of the game trial and error. While none of these are deal breakers I just wanted to get that out there.

The fighting game-play in Yakuza is amazing. The controls, while very simple, can be chained to do some pretty neat combos along with a lot of cool weapon based finishers. As you upgrade your character you can also put more experience towards one technique if you like how they work, similar to a skill tree. Another neat thing about Yakuza is the pure amount of things to collect. It is very reminiscent of Shenmue and Badass Rumble in that aspect. The collecting alone in the Sega Arcade could eat up hours of playtime to get every item and the in-game games in the arcade are fun as well.

The last thing I want to mention is the fact that all the audio in the game is Japanese. They haven't dubbed any of the voices over and it makes for a very clean feel to the game. You honestly get pulled in more because there isn't a shitty dub done where the lips are off on the words. Everything flows very well and it all feels like it is supposed to be together. The game, overall in this still early stage I am at is already proving to me that the 4th game needs to come stateside and it's proving how good Sega is at telling a story. No score at this time as I want to get more into the game but keep an eye out later this week for updates.