The Stranger Than Heaven cast includes Snoop Dogg and Snoop Dogg's son, along with some other celebrity names, who have surprisingly meaty roles in the new game from the studio behind the Yakuza series.

Xbox and developer RGG Studio last night lifted the curtain on Stranger Than Heaven, a new action game that looks like it's borrowing the Yakuza (or Like A Dragon) series' knack for violent stakes and over-the-top zaniness, in a half-hour stream embedded below.

Executive director and studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama reveals the game is set to launch this winter for PC, Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass, and PS5. But perhaps the more unexpected news is that hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg is leading the game's celebrity cast.

The rap icon plays Orpheus, "an international smuggler who only has one rule: Taking what's meant to be, where it's meant to be," he says. "If you want it, I can get it for you." Orpheus catches our main protagonist Makoto Daito, a US-born American-Japanese orphan, trying to hitch a ride to mainland Japan as a stowaway on his smuggling ship.

Snoop Dogg's son, Cordell Broadus, is also part of the Stranger Than Heaven cast, though the developers are remaining tight-lipped about his unnamed and unseen character.

The rest of the celeb ensemble is rounded out by actor and singer Dean Fujioka, Shogun's Moeka Hoshi and Tokuma Nishioka, J-pop star Ado, singer-songwriter Tori Kelly, the late Bunta Sugawara, and the long-time Japanese voice of Solid Snake and Big Boss in Metal Gear Solid, Akio Otsuka, per a Sega blog post.

Stranger Than Heaven itself looks lush, too. Set across 50 years and five cities from 1915 onward, the game sees Makoto carve a path through the cutthroat showbiz business via bloody combat and an ear for music. RGG Studio also detailed a really interesting system that has Makoto collecting sounds around the world before assembling them into a full composition, as well as recruiting and managing entire bands to play in your shows.

Interestingly, the livestream makes mention of the Yakuza series' Tojo Clan. Make of that information what you will, but this being a Yakuza-adjacent game means, yes, of course, there will apparently be plenty of mini-games. It's tradition.

For now, check out the upcoming Xbox Series X games and upcoming PS5 games to not miss a single release.

As I bask in the evening sun and gaze upon the ocean, I feel at peace. Behind me is the orphanage I run in Okinawa, Japan, where I grow crops, tend animals, catch bugs, fish, and play games with the children. This idyllic world may sound like the latest Stardew Valley or Animal Crossing-like life sim, but it actually takes place in the gritty and dramatic realm of Yakuza Kiwami 3 – and I couldn't ask for a more wholesome cozy game experience.

The Yakuza / Like a Dragon series is no stranger to variety. While the narratives of the series' many games deliver drama and tragedy, they always come with a veritable buffet of spirit-lifting side dishes. Minigames range from singing karaoke and putting wood to leather in batting cages, to loading up classics from Sega's abundant back catalog like Virtua Fighter 3 and The Ocean Hunter.

But in developer RGG Studio's latest title, Yakuza Kiwami 3, which our own Oscar Taylor-Kent gave 4 stars in his Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Tides review, the most alluring distraction goes beyond such delicacies. Its life sim elements at Kazuma Kiryu's homestead are a sumptuous main course in their own right , and I have no qualms admitting it's my favorite element of the entire game, even if I do enjoy leading a motorcycle gang of predominantly tough-as-nails women. (Yes, this is real, and no, I won't elaborate further.)

Doing it for the kids

This isn't the first time Like A Dragon has delved into life sim territory. 2024's Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth – the best in the series, some would say – took this idea to an impressive scale with its Dondoko Island feature, allowing players to develop what is essentially a miniature holiday town from scratch.

As wonderful as Dondoko Island is, Yakuza Kiwami 3's smaller offering feels more soothing. Instead of developing an island for holidaymakers, you're tending a vegetable garden for your kids. It's giving daddy, and I mean that in more than one sense, as YK3 literally bestows a Daddy Rank upon Kiryu. The more you cook, harvest, do homework and play Reversi with the little ones, the more recognized as a daddy our protagonist becomes. And no, I won't stop saying daddy.

What we have here is an easygoing life sim where you can carry out wholesome tasks in a gorgeous location, while reaping rewards for your effort in the form of a measured stat, and the various other prizes (most often money) that come with completing each activity. Being a daddy is, according to Yakuza Kiwami 3, a rewarding and satisfying experience, and I agree – I don't want kids in the real world, but I'll help Taichi with his studies at the drop of a hat.

Daddy issues

Despite my affection for the series on the whole, I was hesitant to dive into Yakuza Kiwami 3. From the game's promotional material, I was wary of apparent changes, specifically the involvement of actor Teruyuki Kagawa, who faced sexual harassment allegations in 2022, and plays Hamazaki in the remake. Upon playing it I also don't appreciate the removal of some side content, including the cutting of Ayaka, a character featured in Yakuza 3 Remastered.

However, despite my initial concern and subsequent unease, I've still found myself utterly besotted with YK3's lowest-stakes offering. Kiryu's life at Morning Glory orphanage is always delightful thanks to its many minigames and wholesome moments, and engaging in each activity is rewarding enough thanks to it all being easy to learn yet satisfying to master. A special shout out to the fishing mode, where Kiryu launches a harpoon at swimming prey with the goal of catching as many as possible before the timer runs out. It's high octane yet lighthearted, and is almost impossible to stop playing unless you run out of the bait required for each run

With so many dauntingly massive life sims out there, I'm grateful Yakuza Kiwami 3 sets out this varied range of things to do within a relatively limited sandbox, and I've no doubt I'll revisit Okinawa throughout 2026 because no game has quite hooked me like this in a long time.

Did Yakuza just turn this fan favorite villain into Aerith, creating a Final Fantasy 7 Remake situation for its Kiwami re-releases?

Yakuza / Like a Dragon series producer Masayoshi Yokoyama says the thing he's most proud of is that people can openly enjoy the series now. Hm.

The Yakuza series is 20 years old now, with the first game releasing in Japan on December 8, 2005. Compared to its humble beginnings, the series is somewhat of a powerhouse now, with a new release coming pretty much every year (or three in a year in the case of Feb 2023 – Feb 2024) and a massive worldwide fanbase for a series that didn't even bother releasing in English for a number of entries.

Speaking to PlayStation Blog, Yokoyama was asked what he is most proud of about the series compared to 20 years ago, and he says that it's that "people can finally say they enjoy the Like a Dragon series more openly." He explains, "In the past, it wasn’t something you could really say out loud; its reputation and brand image made it hard to talk about publicly. Back in the early days, even some of the studio developers kept their involvement a secret from their parents or girlfriends."

However, that eventually changed; Yokoyama recalls, "about ten years in, more staff began proudly acknowledging their work on the series," adding, "there was even a case where being part of the project helped someone gain approval for marriage from their partner’s parents. That’s when it really sank in how much the series’ presence and perception in the world had evolved."

Yokoyama didn't specify what exactly made it such a touchy subject, but presumably – based on the brand image comment – it was more to do with the idea of a game where you play as a member of the Japanese Yakuza rather than the wild things that happen in the game, like brawling with a group of men in diapers pretending to be babies. Even if Kiryu is incredibly virtuous and really doesn't commit crimes very often, I can understand why someone playing as a character involved in organized crime would be a hard sell, especially given the reaction to the name of Rockstar's Bully the very next year.

Check out our list of The best Yakuza games, ranked, I have it on good authority some of the Like a Dragon games are on there.

Sega is delisting the original version of Yakuza 0 from console and PC upon the release of the previously Switch 2-exclusive "Yakuza 0 Director's Cut" on new platforms, which is a huge shame.

During the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal direct back in April, Sega and RGG Studio surprised fans by announcing that not only was Yakuza 0 finally coming to Nintendo, but it would be in the form of a new Director's Cut that implements new content like a multiplayer mode, English voice acting, and – most notably – new cutscenes. Everyone was quite excited to have a new version of what many still consider the absolute peak of the franchise… until they played it.

Without giving overt spoilers, the additional cutscenes included in Yakuza 0 Director's Cut are mostly retcons. For a series that already has trouble killing anyone off, the game brings back characters that are ultimately inconsequential, considering the game is a prequel, and their living has had zero impact on the 40-year timeframe since then, and robs their deaths of any emotional power they may have had.

And now with the Director's Cut release coming to other platforms, Sega has announced that as of December 8, when it releases, you will no longer be able to buy the original – and far cheaper – version of Yakuza 0 on PlayStation, Xbox, or Steam. Which not only means you only have access to the more expensive and retconned version, but PS4 and Xbox One-only users will have no way to get the game, as the new release is exclusively coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S… oh, and your saves won't transfer between the two either.

However, if you already have Yakuza 0, you are able to upgrade to the Director's Cut for $14.99 (as opposed to $49.99). Meanwhile, Yakuza Kiwami 1 will have a $1.99 upgrade fee, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 upgrades will be totally free. But, you only have a week and change to pick up the original version of Yakuza 0 before it's gone forever.

Sega has previously delisted titles for new editions, with the original Sonic releases being wiped before Sonic Origins, released and last year removing Sonic Generations from sale ahead of Sonic X Shadow Generations; although the original Generations is still available through a bundle only on Steam, presumably as a favor to that game's rampant modding community (which would be ideal for this one too).

But for one of the best games of all time to get taken away from a console generation and only a version many consider inferior to remain is a big blow to preservation.

Rapid-release "Definitive" editions like Persona 5 Royal could put people off buying games at launch, Sega worries, with players "hesitant to make purchases" when their version could become outdated

After leaking the title last week, Sega has confirmed that Yakuza Kiwami 3 is real, and the remake is coming with a brand new expansion focusing on the game's antagonist.

RGG Studio held its RGG Summit stream for Tokyo Game Show 2025 earlier today, and during the event it was revealed that yes, Yakuza Kiwami 3 is happening. It's coming out on February 11, 2026 and to make things more confusing, the series is back to using the Yakuza name for this one instead of "Like a Dragon". This remake follows the Kiwami way by remaking the game from scratch while introducing new scenes to flesh out the story with new minigames (including actually letting you do tasks at the orphanage) and fighting styles for good measure.

This remake also introduces an English dub to the game with Yong Yea returning as Kiryu and Goofy himself, Bill Farmer, returning as Makoto Date. However, due to some of the recastings, there are some new looks for the characters. My boy Rikiya looks like he got hit with the Spider-Man Remastered treatment making him into a pretty boy, while Nakahara has de-aged about 20 years.

While Kiwami 3 wasn't a surprise thanks to Sega's leak, we were surprised by Sega pulling a Sonic x Shadow Generations and announcing Dark Ties – a story expansion following the game's antagonist Yoshitaka Mine. Dark Ties seemingly follows the character's fall from a successful business man to when he makes a name for himself in the underworld and eventual turns into who we see in Yakuza 3, while exploring his relationship with Daigo Dojima.

This marks the first time you'll be able to play as a main antagonist in a mainline Yakuza game (Dead Souls isn't mainline and Majima isn't a main antagonist, don't start). Mine is a popular character despite only appearing in one game, and while truthfully I wasn't bothered about the prospect of a Kiwami 3, I'm certainly interested now.

Giving that Elden Ring co-op modder a run for their money, there's now a Yakuza 5 mod that lets you play with a friend or AI-controlled Ichiban.

RGG Studio may have leaked an upcoming Yakuza remake on its website ahead of the RRG Summit showcase next week.

In the pantheon of Yakuza / Like a Dragon, there is one game that everyone almost unanimously calls the worst mainline game, and that is 2009's Yakuza 3. The original PS3 release took out a number of minigames and side stories in the western releases, but even at its current best form as Yakuza 3 Remastered, it still leaves a bit to be desired. The story is good, but spends a lot of time and focus at Kiryu's orphanage and the kids there, which puts a bunch of people off, and the combat is often referred to as "Blockuza 3" due to how much the enemies defend themselves.

As such, a remake in the style of Yakuza Kiwami 1 and 2 has been one of most highly requested games within the Like a Dragon community. And from the looks of things, eight years on from Kiwami 2 we may finally be getting a Yakuza Kiwami 3.

As spotted by users on Twitter, the Japanese RGG Studio website has a categories section with buttons for Ryu ga Gotoku Kiwami and Kiwami 2, the Japanese titles of the first two remakes, presumably ahead of the Nintendo Switch 2 releases this November. Then there was a third button labelled Ryu ga Gotoku Kiwami 3. However, the button has since been deleted from the website.

RGG Studio is hosting the RGG Summit 2025 showcase next week on September 24, so presumably this was meant to be a surprise for next week's show before it leaked. Of course you can't say until it's officially announced, but considering the rate that RGG Studio put out games and how requested Kiwami 3 is, I can definitely see it happening.

Hopefully a Yakuza 3 remake could propel the disliked entry into the list of the best Yakuza games, do it for my boy Rikiya.

Co-op mods are all the rage these days, partly thanks to that FromSoft modder who's added seamless multiplayer to everything from Elden Ring to Sekiro to Dark Souls Remastered. And now, Yakuza sickos can get the same treatment.

The Intertwined Fates mod for Yakuza 5 lets you play almost the entire game in co-op or with an AI-controlled partner. Obviously, for most of the criminal adventure, main man Kazuma Kiryu is entirely alone, so modder Jhrino simply inserted everyone's favorite goof Ichiban Kasuga where he doesn't belong.

It doesn't make much canonical sense since Ichiban, the hero of the seventh and eighth mainline Like a Dragon games, isn't even in Yakuza 5, but that's the magic of modding, eh?

The only place where the mod doesn't quite work with an AI-controlled Ichiban is in free-roam. That aside, dance battles with Haruka are now fully playable in co-op, as is hunting, the taxi minigame, and idol battles. It wouldn't be functional Yakuza co-op unless the minigames were also playable with a friend, I guess.

Ichiban also had his own moveset and even appears in cutscenes, though if you find his silent presence in the background of the drama distracting, you can remove him by following the instructions on the NexusMods page. There's even an option to have him in cutscenes but not gameplay, if you like. While the mod is also designed as a local co-op experience, there is some software detailed on the page that'll let you play online, too.

Years before we learned of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Majima's voice actor pitched a JRPG about the fan-favorite anti-hero and was told "that's not going to happen"

Up until the seventh game in the series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the crime caper series was the domain of one man: Kazuma Kiryu. A man out of time thanks to wrongly serving jail time, a stoic ally to the downtrodden, decked out in an always sharp grey suit – he's rightly an icon that stood rock solid like he was guarding in Beast Style from 2005-2016. Even so, prequel Yakuza 0, released toward the end of that era, one of the best Yakuza games, finally let us play once-antagonist Goro Majima, and boy did he change the game.

Which is all to say that his long-awaited return to the true spotlight in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is very much appreciated, even if this time around it's an obviously smaller budget, fanservice-targeted spin-off release. Not only did we have to wait around a decade for him to swagger back into a leading role, in-universe time it's been far longer, seeing as Yakuza 0 took place during Japan's 80s economic boom. He was 24 in Yakuza 0, and now 60 in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Don't think too hard about how he does all those spin attacks and air combos.

Dog eat dog

Seriously, don't think about it too hard. At the start of the game he's shipwrecked and amnesiac, meaning for the most part we don't have to worry too much about the time in between. Yet, memories missing, Majima, importantly, is still Majima – the 'Mad Dog of Shimano', a chaotic force of nature with a moral compass very much his own. He's a smidge grounded here thanks to Noah, the young child who saves his life in the game's opening minutes, and is taken under Majima's wing during his treasure hunting journey. But he's still the same character. Becoming a pirate captain in the right circumstances is about as Majima a move as they come.

Yakuza 0 didn't just thrust a fan favorite rival character into the co-lead spotlight, it also greatly revised Goro Majima's characterization, attempting to square away his turn from hyper-violent criminal in the very first Yakuza through to a more respected rival in subsequent ones. The series never interrogated it much until that point, often keeping him as more of a bit-player. Yakuza 0 makes him more sympathetic, recontextualizing his journey throughout the saga.

Through play, it also gave justification for his terrifying reputation, giving you greater appreciation for his slugger baseball fighting style and swift knife work by putting the combos that had once ground you to dust in boss battles into your own hands. These fighting styles have remained exclusive to Majima over the years – he's the only one who can do what he can do.

Which is great, but, as I said, the recontextualization does create a weird gap when you look at the series chronologically where one of the most important characters in the earliest game takes a back seat in the ones set later. Yakuza Kiwami and Yakuza Kiwami 2, remakes of the first two PS2 games, retroactively give him larger roles because of this, the latter even giving him a short playable epilogue that ties into Yakuza 0. But it's still somewhat thin on the ground. That is, until now, with Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

While the story in the latest game can work as a clean slate for those who want a lightweight seafaring voyage, the situation does still manage to interrogate Majima's place in it all – especially as events draw to their conclusion and he begins to put things together. We, along with Majima, are outsiders in exactly how he's been feeling about the tumultuous state of the yakuza crime families, and as we re-examine their dissolution, and how former gang members have tried to build new lives within the law, we firm up the glimpses we've gotten from him during recent games.

We're both on a journey to learn about a life once led. He's puzzling out the details of his life which, ironically, reveals more jigsaw pieces about his place in the world – what do you keep dreaming of when you reach the top and it all crumbles? Every voyage has an end.

But Majima has also evolved. Combat-wise, his Mad Dog style combines many of the tricks we've come to love from across the years (absent a baseball bat, mind – though it's referenced in conversations). The Sea Dog style, meanwhile, represents a fighter animal who can learn new tricks, juggling dual cutlasses, a flintlock pistol, and a grapple hook with plenty of flips to keep big groups of enemies in line. Naturally, you can swap between them as you wish. It gives Majima his own twist on larger scale encounters than the Yakuza scraps of old, without needing the super spy gadgets Kazuma Kiryu wielded in Like a Dragon Gaiden. And a bit of piracy just suits Majima better.

So too is it nice to just kick back and spend time with Majima in the modern day. All Yakuza protagonists have been a bit out of touch (thanks to all the jail time), but while Majima brings a similar level of unfamiliarity when he meets the likes of cosplayers or idol culture, he's almost overzealous in his eagerness to get involved. While he still has a heart of gold, the options he has for dealing with substories have him leaning into being more, erm, hands-on – ready to throw down or cuss out those doing wrong at the drop of a tricorn. Throwing Majima into the same sorts of escapades Kiryu or Kasuga might tackle, they take on a new flavor from his presence alone.

While, to many, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii may seem like just a divergent spin-off to fill a gap, to those charmed by Goro Majima in Yakuza 0, any amount of time with the returning star isn't just appreciated, but necessary for threading the needle that's been hanging loose all these years. And, by the end, when Majima reflects on it all and the relationships he's built along those many years, he's also looking ahead. The tide may ebb and flow, but in that push and pull we always stay moving.

It's not just the fans that have wanted him to return, but the actor as well. Before we learned of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Majima's voice actor pitched a JRPG about the fan-favorite anti-hero and was told "that's not going to happen".

The delightfully-named Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is set to be a little bigger than the last spin-off in the series, but it's not the developer's fault. Adding more stuff to Yakuza games is just too irresistible. 

RGG Studios director Masayoshi Yokoyama has acknowledged that Like A Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name was acclaimed partly because of its more compact structure and focused story, but despite the team's best efforts, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is breaking that streak.

"It's more like the volume ended up increasing due to the story," Yokoyama said in an interview with Automaton, referring to the length of the main story, which is purportedly 30% longer than The Man Who Erased His Name's 13-ish hour playthrough. In true Yakuza fashion, the upcoming pirate-themed entry is also stuffed with zany side activities and mini-games - including one arcade classic's first ever port, returning pizza delivery runs, and what looks like another all-too-realistic dating sim - so running through everything could easily take us over 30 hours or so. 

Yokoyama also explained that the developer could have padded out the playtime even more by adding fetch quests or other time-sinking detours, but Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is already big enough without any such tactics. "The map is huge, there's a bunch of places to visit, and there are still features we haven’t announced yet. The volume increased by itself."

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii reuses some parts of Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth's humungous summery map, and adds all new areas from the surrounding islands we never got to see, so its inflated size is no surprise here. 

The next Yakuza game is the most newcomer-friendly and “least shackled to past events in the Like A Dragon series” - all because main man Majima has dementia this time around. 

A Yakuza player has discovered a wild new technique that allows Kiryu to strut.

The new earth-shattering speedrunning discovery renders all previously set records obsolete. We're sorry to all the speedrunners that are about to see their hard work utterly obliterated by Kiryu Kazuma strutting like a peacock around Kamurocho in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.

If you were wondering whether this is a mod, it isn't. The player in question has uncovered this with some whacky analogue stick movements combined with Kiryu's dedicated sprint button, so everything you're seeing here is above board for future speedrunners.

Jokes aside, we would watch a full speedrun of Kiryu strutting around Kamurocho and Onomichi to complete Yakuza 6. Then again, the thought of making Kiryu strut around the latter location with baby Haruto in the earlier hours of the game sound pretty painstaking. 

If you've never tried out the Yakuza saga, there's never been a better time to start than now. As PlayStation announced last month in July, every single Yakuza game is now available on PlayStation Plus, totalling eight fantastic games for subscribers at every level of the service to play. Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza Kiwami 2, and Yakuza: Like a Dragon are available right now, whereas the Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 remasters, as well as Yakuza 6, are arriving at some point later this year.

Head over to our PS Plus tiers explained guide to see which level of PlayStation's revamped subscription service is the best fit for your gaming needs. 

Three Yakuza games are suddenly back on Xbox Game Pass.

Xbox has announced that Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 are all coming back to Xbox Game Pass for both consoles and PC alike later today (July 5). That's three of the best action games ever made back on Xbox Game Pass, just like that.

When Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2 all arrive on Xbox Game Pass, they'll also be available to play via cloud gaming. That means you can take the chronological first three adventures of Kiryu Kazuma and Goro Majima on the go with you wherever you want, whether it's via phone or laptop.

Phwoar, what an absolutely cracking announcement. The three Yakuza games were pulled from Xbox Game Pass late last year in 2021, and just as ever, neither Xbox nor Sega ever commented on why they were going away. Just like then, neither company has commented on why the three games have suddenly reappeared on the subscription service.

If you play the Yakuza games on Xbox Game Pass, you'll get the added bonus of a serotonin rush every time Friday rolls around and you see the Twitter account just below belt out another clip of Kiryu and Majima rocking out in Kamurocho. Trust me, it's just about the best way to round out a week there is.

Oh, and there's also DJMAX Respect V, Matchpoint, Road 96, Escape Academy, and Power Wash Simulator coming to Xbox Game Pass too. I think my editor wants me to mention those too. 

Check out our guide to the best games on Xbox Game Pass right now for other smash-hit success titles like the Yakuza series. 

Given Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio just won't stop releasing them, it's no easy task to rank the best Yakuza games. Between the original Yakuza games and the Like a Dragon entries, every adventure is fantastic. I mean, with stellar localization, great writing, and modern versions of classic games finding new life on PC and the Switch 2 recently, the popularity of the ongoing Japanese franchise is very well deserved here.

Not to mention how different each Yakuza game is, with minigames, quirky side stories, and pop culture references guiding you through gripping and emotional crime drama. With Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties having recently released as well (read our Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties review for more on that gem) and plenty more new games to keep track of, there's never been a better time to hop into the glorious world of Yakuza. And that is where we come in.

This list highlights the must-plays of the series. While I love all the Yakuza outings, I'm limiting myself to just 10 entries here, and it's been almost as challenging as trying to go fist-to-fist with a boss fight when you've forgotten to stock up on Staminan X. So, read on to find my ranking of the best Yakuza games of all time, so far at least.

The best Yakuza games to play right now, starting with...

10.  Yakuza 4

Before you break a bicycle in two, clobbering me, yes, this is the only entry from the games that were PS3 gen-exclusive on this list. Where Yakuza 3 told an incredibly heartfelt story centering Kiryu, and Yakuza 5 explosively layered together a massive, multi-POV narrative, Yakuza 4 sits squarely in between. Which is all to say its ambition is well-judged, and it wrangles its various heroes – a first for the series – very well. Kiryu is joined by an oddly selfless loan shark called Shun Akiyama, an ill-tempered ex-con called Taiga Saejima, and a dirty cop called Masayoshi Tanimura. Firing on all cylinders, this well-honed sword of a game deserves more recognition.

Learn more in our Yakuza 4 review, where we said: "it drastically bucks tradition".

9. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii

There's no secret about it, I love Goro Majima. It speaks to the high quality of all Yakuza games that having him drift his pirate ship up to our door to whisk us away on a swashbuckling adventure still only lands here. Suffering from amnesia, Majima is hunting down treasure, the crew system breathing new life into side activities from which you recruit them, and evolving on Like A Dragon Gaiden's large-scale battles massively in the process. Though this ultimately feels like a spinoff full of fan service, it's great at delivering that, while Yakuza's emotional core still shines through in key moments.

Read more in our Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii review, where we called it the "most worthwhile spinoff game to date."

8. Like a Dragon: Ishin! (Remake)

Almost like a TV drama, this historical fiction period piece casts fan favorite Yakuza characters as figures from Japan's Bakamatsu period. Kiryu 'plays' Sakamoto Ryoma, who joins up with the Shinsengumi in order to covertly track down his adoptive father's killer. Style switching for the real-time brawls here are fantastic, with Swordsman, Gunman, Brawler, and Wild Dancer twisting the Yakuza combat into something that manages to feel fresh. It's only let down by an odd structure and the occasional moment that makes this loving remaster's PS3 origins clear.

"A kick-ass Yakuza game in samurai clothes" – we loved this one in our Like a Dragon: Ishin review, and I fully agree with our rating even today.

7. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth

A direct sequel to the softly rebooted seventh game, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, this Hawaiian-set epic quest builds on the switch from real-time brawl to turn-based RPG combat. New star Ichiban Kasuga just loves Dragon Quest that much, you see. More dynamic than ever, at times, it now manages to feel just as slick as the series' previous combat systems. The new setting is fantastic, the sunny vibes of Honolulu palpable, and features some of the best sidequests to date. Kiryu returns to co-star, eventually splitting the plot threads into something of a muddle, while also acting as yet another goodbye as he potentially hands the series over to Kasuga, just as he did in Yakuza: LAD, and LAD: Gaiden.

We also called this "one of the best RPGs [we've] played in years" in our Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth review.

6. Judgment

That's right, one of the best Yakuza games… isn't even a Yakuza game? Set in the same universe and even sharing the same Kamurucho map to explore, Judgment shifts your perspective of Yakuza by having you play disgraced lawyer turned private detective Takayuki Yagami. Operating in the grey area of the law, he still has to deal with yakuza aplenty, and this fresh take manages to shift gears to truly embrace crime mystery dramas with a twisting, turning, and truly devastating plot. This also allowed the games to return to real-time combat, Tak's mastery of multiple martial arts allowing him to echo Yakuza 0's swathe of styles.

For more on this game, you can read our full Judgment review, which highlights one of my personal favorite features: all the great side content as well.

5. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

Tragedy can strike unexpectedly, and here it does, reeling in the unspooling Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5 back into a story that focuses deeply on Kazuma Kiryu once again, and his relationship with his found family. This time, when Haruka is injured in a grim hit-and-run, he finds himself thrust into caring for his new grandson, Haruto, while juggling tracking down the baby's father and on the hunt for revenge. The Dragon Engine here completely overhauls combat into something I feel is much more dynamic, which does mean some options are stripped back from previous games. What results, though, is one of the series' most focused, memorable, and emotional adventures to date, closing the book on many chapters that came before.

Learn more in our Yakuza 6 review, where we called it "a much more sedated and restrained chapter".

4. Yakuza Kiwami

Leveraging Yakuza 0's engine and assets to revisit the very first game in the series is a smart choice, and many smart tweaks and additions make this one of the most impressive and ambitious remakes we've ever seen. Building on the success of Yakuza 0, a ton of elements have been adjusted just so in order to retroactively make this feel like a follow-up to that prequel, while still retaining what made the original so memorable in the first place. Majima, for instance, really comes into his own here, whereas originally he was a much simpler antagonist, and even the Yakuza 0 pocket racer minigame gets a continuation. Full of heart, you can see how it spawned the enduring Yakuza phenomenon that followed. It's now on the Switch 2 system!

3. Yakuza Kiwami 2

A Dragon Engine remake of the original PS2 sequel, this applies and builds on the combat refresh introduced in Yakuza 6, refining and deepening what felt perhaps a tad barebones there. Likewise, the story itself remains one of the series' best of all time. Where the original Yakuza set the stage, this follow-up is allowed to take those pieces and run with them, thrusting Kiryu into another crime caper while having him buttheads with a rival 'dragon' in Ryuji Goda. A villain more complex than he first appears, he becomes a true nemesis and rival to Kiryu, made all the more powerful in that he has never returned. Some may have quibbles about the port, which does strip back the odd thing from the PS2 original. My personal opinion? Play both – you deserve it.

2. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

After seven games and following Kazuma Kiryu it was time for a change. What if this time, in Yakuza: Like a Dragon (given the number '7' in Japan), a brand new character took the lead? Enter Ichiban Kasuga – a yakuza with a heart of gold, removed from time after falsely serving many years in prison. In all seriousness, he's a world apart from the stoic Kiryu, always running his mouth while earnestly making unlikely friends. Which is why a shift to turn-based combat and a party system oddly feels perfectly natural. Kasuga's story, as he explores a new location, ends up feeling like one of the most epic and moving ones that I've experienced in the series to date, let down only by how, towards the end, it becomes tangled with a few too many returning plot elements. Even so, Kasuga manages the unlikely accomplishment of outshining a previously beloved former protagonist. We need more Kasuga!

Check out our Yakuza: Like a Dragon review for more details.

1. Yakuza 0

Once again, we're ending at the beginning. Few prequels manage to feel as vital as Yakuza 0. Set amidst the backdrop of Japan's '80s economic boom, the plot manages to make even real estate feel gripping, while giving a reason for cash to fly out of pummelled foes. A younger Kiryu is joined here by an equally young Majima, who play out an interconnected storyline in different cities without ever meeting. A lengthy adventure, incredible dungeon-style sequences meet the most in-depth real-time fighting in the series as both heroes juggle multiple fighting styles they can swap between as they please, including, of course, breakdancing. You could ask for no better introduction into the world and tone of Yakuza as a whole than in this campy, emotional, and dramatic '80s romp.

You can learn more in our Yakuza 0 review, where we called it "The best and most accessible story in the series yet".

Yakuza star Kazuma Kiryu would easily beat John Wick in a fight according to the series director.

In a recent interview with The Gamer, Kazuki Hosokawa - who worked on Yakuza 0, Yakuza 5, Judgment, Lost Judgement, and more - explained who he thought would win in a fight between Yakuza protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and legendary assassin John Wick. 

"So [Kazuma Kiryu] isn’t really a human, so it’s hard to have an equal battle with John Wick," Hosokawa considers, "I think Kiryu is probably stronger than John Wick because you can’t kill him even after shooting him with a gun" he answers. 

Not wanting to leave anyone out, Hosokawa also brings Lost Judgement protagonist Takayuki Yagami into the scenario adding "on the other hand, Yagami is human, he isn’t superhuman like Kiryu, and since John Wick is pretty good with knives and guns, I don’t think he’ll have a chance against him" so, now you know. 

Elsewhere in the interview, Hosokawa talks about the future of Yakuza and Lost Judgement developer, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, noting that he hopes to continue with worldwide releases for future games. He also brings up the idea of exploring new games in the Yakuza series that take place outside of Japan, bringing familiar characters to new countries for more Yakuza-style shenanigans. 

Lost Judgement is due to release on September 24, 2021, on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The latest game in the Yakuza series, however, Yakuza: Like A Dragon, was released last year and was such a success that it has shaped the future of the series according to the series creator. 

Looking to get into the Yakuza series but have no idea where to start? Take a look at our list of the best Yakuza games, ranked list. 

Yakuza players are discovering that you can see ghosts of deceased characters while taking photos.

The discovery appears to have come about over the past weekend, when the post below surfaced on the official Yakuza subreddit. In the post itself, a player notices that in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, a mysterious figure haunts all the selfies they take within the New Serena bar.

While some players are bewildered at this figure, others are quick to point out that it's actually the ghost of Akira Nishikiyama, deceased former friend-turned-enemy of Kazuma Kiryu. It turns out that there are actually plenty of ghosts you can see in Yakuza 6 through taking selfies in certain areas of the game.

But if you want to capture them with a photo, you need to have a photo corresponding to a deceased character. There are actually photos of 10 deceased characters scattered throughout Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, in the Kamurocho and Ono Michi areas of the game. If you can find a photo of a particular character, you can head to a certain location and capture their ghost through your camera (and you can head over to this handy fan-made guide on every photo location for more).

This is a bizarre detail from developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, and it's one that's seriously easy to miss. You might assume that the photos are merely mementos of deceased allies and enemies of Kiryu, but perhaps they hold a more sinister purpose in Yakuza 6. Is it a creepy easter egg for players to uncover, or a stark reminder of just how many people Kiryu's lost in his life? 

If you're also a veteran of the Yakuza series, why not read up on our of how Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Cyberpunk 2077, and Yakuza set new standards for in-game tattoos.

SEGA has revealed how it intends to celebrate 15 years of the Yakuza series, which includes a special livestream, interviews with its original voice cast, and announces what plans it has for the "future developments" of the fan-favourite franchise. 

Shared via the company's Japanese social media channels, SEGA confirmed that on December 8, 2020 at 8pm local time (3am PT / 6am ET / 11am UK), it will deliver a "live broadcast program commemorating the 15th anniversary of Yakuza", including appearances from Japanese voice actors Takaya Kuroda and Kazuhiro Nakaya (thanks, PCGN).

The description also teases that the celebrations will not only "look back on the history of 15 years", but will also "announce future developments", too.

ICYMI, one of the producers behind the hugely-successful Yakuza games has teased what SEGA series he might like to get involved with next… and his answer probably isn't what you expected it to be.

Appearing in an interview as part of a series marking SEGA's 60th - 60th! - anniversary, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio producer Daisuke Sato was asked which game from the Japanese company's extensive catalogue he might like to work on, and immediately answered that he'd "like to get involved" with a Sonic the Hedgehog "once at least".

"It's an IP that I haven't come to before. In the sense that I want to try it... well, Sonic," Sato said at the time. "After all, when you hear SEGA you think Sonic. I'd like to get involved once at least."

"Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a confident step in a different direction for Ryu Ga Gotoku’s series," we said in the GamesRadar+ Yakuza: Like a Dragon review. "An impactful combat system filled with whacky abilities stands tall against the action-based formula RGG perfected over nearly two decades, and newcomer Ichiban Kasuga and his friends come together as an excellent cast to leave a lasting impression." 

There's still a lot to get excited about in gaming this year. Here are the upcoming games of 2020 and beyond.

A new entry in the Yakuza series will be announced during Tokyo Game Show 2020 Online this Sunday, September 27, co-host Ayana Tsubaki has revealed (thanks, Gematsu).

The reveal will take place during the Sega Nama broadcast on Sunday at 8pm JST, which means those in the US west coast will need to tune in at 4am if they want to be among the first to see it. For the lucky folks in the UK, that's a much more reasonable 12pm.

We've known that something Yakuza-related would be shown during Tokyo Game Show, but it's a surprise that it's a brand new title. Sadly, we don't have any information to tease regarding the reveal, so you'll just have to wait a few more days to see what's next for the long-running open-world beat-em-up series.

The most recent entry in the series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, just released in Japan in January and won't make its way to the West until November 10. Like a Dragon introduces a massive change to the series' traditional real-time brawling with a new turn-based combat system. Whether that's a welcome change for you depends on how much of a Yakuza-faithful you are and how much you enjoy JRPGs. 

Though, GamesRadar's Connor Sheridan is a massive Yakuza fan and self-proclaimed "JRPG hater," and his impressions from our Yakuza: Like a Dragon preview should give some hope to likeminded Yakuza fans. "I don't know if I'll ever get to the point where I prefer waiting my turn then picking a move off of a menu to the satisfaction of building that heat bar in real time, picking up a giant traffic cone, and then just wrecking somebody with it. But I do know this game is still the Yakuza I love, the Yakuza I've already put hundreds of hours into and plan to spend hundreds more catching up with," Connor wrote.

For more games to get lost in, don't miss our ranking of the best open-world games ever.

The Yakuza series will soon be complete on PS4. Sega announced The Yakuza Remastered Collection today, a $59.99 all-in-one bundle of Yakuza 3, 4, and 5 that includes updated versions of the original games complete with improved visuals, revised localizations, and restored content that was previously cut from their Western versions. You can even play Yakuza 3 right now, as the first part of the collection is live on the PlayStation Store.

Yakuza 4 will follow via an update on October 29, 2019 and then Yakuza 5 will complete the collection on February 11, 2020. Think of it like an episodic game with 30-hour-plus episodes. If you prefer to buy the whole thing physically, you can wait until February 11 to pick up The Yakuza Remastered Collection: Day One Edition, which includes all three games for PS4 on two discs. As a belated apology to collectors with a gap on their shelves, it even includes an authentic PS3 case for Yakuza 5 (it was never released physically in the West).

When Yakuza 0 came to Western audiences in 2017, it was a perfect entry point that helped spark an international revival for the then 12-year-old franchise. Players who wanted to continue with protagonist Kazuma Kiryu's story on PS4 would then get Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza Kiwami 2, and Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, but that still left a roughly ten-year gap in the narrative. With The Yakuza Remastered Collection, players will be able to play every chapter of Kiryu's tale all on one platform.

I'm currently playing through Yakuza Kiwami 2 and was starting to resign myself to the notion of skipping straight to Yakuza 6 (since I didn't really want to go through the hassle of playing older versions on PS Now or PS3). Now I can play the whole thing! If I keep progressing through them at my current pace, I should finally see the credits roll on Yakuza 6 sometime around... 2022.

If you love exploring Kamurocho, check out our list of the best open world games. 

It was hardly a secret that Yakuza Kiwami 2 is headed to PC, but now we have an official release date: May 9. Just like how the first Yakuza Kiwami revisited our original introduction to Kamurocho, Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a ground-up remake of Yakuza 2's tale of clashing Dragons. They're not literal, fire-breathing, winged reptiles, mind you, but they are really tough mobsters. The Yakuza series has so many entries and re-releases and ports these days that I should probably lay out some relevant dates real quick.

• December 2006: Yakuza 2 comes out for PlayStation 2
• December 2016: Yakuza 6 comes out for PS4, introducing the new Dragon Engine
• December 2017: Yakuza Kiwami 2 comes out for PS4, using Yakuza 6's new Dragon Engine
• May 2019: Yakuza Kiwami 2 comes out for PC

The game follows the same story beats as the original Yakuza 2, bringing Kazuma Kiryu back into the fold of the Tojo Clan after the assassination of its chairman and setting him up for repeated clashes with the Omi Alliance's Ryuji Goda (who you may remember as the weirdly strong, tall, and blonde kid from Yakuza 0). I promise all of these proper nouns start making sense when you play the game.

On top of retelling the old narrative, Kiwami 2 also adds a new side story that traces Majima Goro's arc from Tojo enforcer to legitimate-ish businessman (because everybody loves Majima), the cabaret club minigame from Yakuza 0, the clan creator minigame from Yakuza 6, and even full arcade games like Virtual On. PC players will also get to enjoy unlocked frame rates, 4K resolution support, and customizable controls. The PC ports for Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami were both very good as well, so it should be smooth sailing for the continued PC adventures of Kazuma Kiryu.

Find more to play while you wait for Yakuza Kiwami 2 to arrive on our list of the best PC games. Or see what's coming up this week in our latest Release Radar video.

Yakuza 0 takes the series back to its roots, and oh boy what a wise decision that was. For anyone new to the series, it provides the perfect opportunity to jump right in without having to catch up on all the other games, and a wonderful origins story for those that have.

If you were thinking of dipping your toe into the wonderful world of Japanese gangster life, there has never been a better time, and I’m here to offer a guiding hand with some Yakuza 0 tips. Just because Yakuza 0 is an origin story doesn’t mean it comes without baggage both of the cultural sort – the Yakuza games are made principally for a Japanese audience after all – and of a gaming heritage that stretches back to 2005. I’ve thrown together some handy Yakuza 0 tips to see you through some of the sterner challenges you’ll face along the way.

1. Don't expect GTA: Tokyo

While Yakuza 0 shares similar themes and an open-world setting, this is where its comparison with Grand Theft Auto ends. There’s no driving, very little shooting and while Kamurocho and Sotenbori are well-realised open world environments, they are only city prefectures as opposed to the state-sized land masses. That said, both areas in Yakuza 0 are brilliantly realised and well worth getting lost in, especially if you’ve ever fancied a trip to Tokyo yourself. From the hot coffee vending machines, the pokey Don Quiote corner shops (complete with incessant instore jingles) to the neon-bathed pachinko parlours and wavey-armed street hawkers desperate for you to come and sample their ‘world famous’ ramen soup.

Yakuza 0’s DNA has more to do with the Shenmue games than Grand Theft Auto, both having been developed by Sega. While some may be disappointed that Yakuza 0 is not a true open-world adventure, that shouldn’t put you off. Yakuza 0 has a brooding storyline concerning rival factions locked in a brutal power struggle and is told from two perspectives, long-running protagonist Kazuma Kiryu and wild card cabaret club owner, not to mention borderline psychopath, Goro Maijima. Murder, embezzlement, intrigue, curb stomps and a decent helping of heart, Yakuza 0 has carved its own niche in the action game landscape, so don’t ruin the experience by expecting it to be something it’s not.

2. Know your Yakuza

If you’ve never heard of the Yakuza before, think Goodfellas with samurai swords and you’re almost there. Japan’s organised crime syndicates began life in Edo period Japan formed from the members of two distinct social classes, the tekiya, who made a brisk trade in flogging dodgy merchandise at markets, and the bakuto, who ran illegal gambling dens and operated as load sharks. Through the years both groups grew and modernised, but the traditions of both are still evident in modern day yakuza culture seen in their intricate tattoos and hierarchical structure.

Modern day Yakuza follow a strict code of practice (generally not bothering people unaffiliated with yakuza activities), and steering clear of theft, armed robbery and other violent crime. Since the turn of the millennium, many yakuza families have evolved into semi-legitimate organisations, taking part in local festivals and even helping provide relief following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. Yakuza 0 is, however, set in 1988, when the whole operation had a bit more bite to it. You may find that, while diplomacy may not be entirely out of the window, more arguments get settled with street furniture and the pavement than a frank discussion over a glass of single malt.

3. Sidequests are essential (and mad)

For some, the side quests in Yakuza 0 are the main attraction. While the main story thread is compelling and beautifully scripted, it’s all rather serious. The side quests, and there’s over 100 of them in total, are Yakuza 0’s comic relief. Be it organising an illicit rendezvous with a potential suitor on a toilet stall door (which ends in a brawl), winning a doll for a little girl from a grab machine (which ends in a brawl) or rescuing a mushroom dealer from a gang of thugs (you guessed it, brawl), Yakuza 0’s side quests offer a sideways view of Kamurocho and Sotenbori and the wacky people who live there. Before letting you fight them.

Perhaps more importantly, these side quests are a great source of money, which not only lets you buy stuff (duh) but is also used to progress your character and build your stats. And, seeing as most quests end with you not so delicately planting your heel in some fool’s forehead, taking the opportunity to test your mettle will serve you well in future fights.

4. Own the city (literally)

Hostess bars are a bit of a Japanese phenomenon, and have featured proudly in Yakuza games since the first entry in the series. At its core, a hostess bar provides a little female company for its patrons, although there are also host bars where the genders of host and patron are reversed. The patron pays for the hostess’ time and drinks (which are usually watered down and staggeringly over-priced) while the hostess laughs at jokes, listens to woes, light cigarettes and generally encourages him to buy more booze and keep coming back. Hostesses are generally considered a descendant of geisha and, while most bars employ a strict no touching policy, there are far less salubrious versions to be found in the darker corners of Japan’s major cities.

In past iterations the Yakuza games have only let you frequent hostess bars as patron, but Yakuza 0 lets you become the owner and operator of one such den of iniquity, the demurely titled Sunshine Cabaret Club. The hostess mini game becomes available once you reach chapter 7, and is a great way to pocket wads of Yen on the side. You are tasked with finding new hostesses on the street by completing tasks or offering them a gift. New hostess are rated between bronze and platinum (gross, I know) and once signed up to the club, it’s up to you as manager to train and choose appropriate outfits for them. It’s a far more in-depth experience than in previous games, but harbours greater reward. If your morals can withstand such a prolonged onslaught, it’s certainly worth checking out.

5. Share your stuff between characters

It’s not overtly obvious, but there is a way to transfer money and items between the two playable characters. This becomes useful later in the game if one character has raked in more than his fair share, and you feel it’s time to spread the wealth.

The ability to swap out items between Kiryu and Majima cannot be unlocked until chapter 6, which is when the real-estate mini game becomes available. During this chapter you’ll be instructed to head to the empty lot, where you’ll meet a man in a lime green suit. This less than dapper individual has a handful of optional interactions, one of which sends you to the Vincent Bar to speak to Fukushima, who will teach you how to make the exchanges. In the beginning you can only exchange certain things, but this broadens out the more you play. It’s only a small feature, but a lifeline if you find your characters are becoming unbalanced. 

6. Make friends and obliterate people

Kamurocho and Sotenbori are filled with all sorts of miscreants, wierdos and oddballs, many of whom you’ll end up throwing through plate-glass windows or slam their heads in taxi car doors. There are some, however, that can offer more than just a place to warm your knuckle duster. Yakuza 0 has a friend system, a collection of city dwellers you can meet up with, run errands for, and generally repent for all the harm you’ve caused during your reign of thuggery. There’s plenty of people to befriend, and they are well worth your time and effort, as the rewards they offer are some of the best in the game.

A personal favourite of mine is Mr Libido, a semi-nude thrusting bundle of testosterone, usually found wherever there’s an image of a semi-clad woman. Keep meeting him and your friendship will blossom resulting in prizes galore. 

7. You don’t have to fight EVERYBODY

Smashing fools in the face with bus signs can get you down. While it’s advisable in the early parts of the game to do as much fighting as possible (those stats aren’t going to rise on their own you know), towards the back end of the plot it can grow wearisome, especially if you’ve got a hot date with someone who’s being paid to hang out with you. Street thugs will approach you endlessly in Yakuza 0 (you must just have one of those faces) and there are multiple ways to avoid the confrontation. And before anyone asks, it’s pacifism – not spinelessness!

Once you’ve hit chapter 6 you’ll meet a character who teaches you the scatter money technique, whereby you’ll literally throw money at your problems. This is all fair and good if you’ve got the dosh to burn, but another good method of conflict avoidance is by taking taxis everywhere. While there is no fast travel in Yakuza 0, this is about as close as you can get and cuts out a huge amount of humping it past thugs. Lastly, and it’s not exactly the yakuza way, you can just sprint past any potential troublemakers. They’ll chase you for a bit but eventually give up. It seems obvious in hindsight, but it took me some time before I realised cowardly retreating was even an option. 

8. Don't forget to use holds and throws

If pacifism isn’t really your thing (you’ve bought a Yakuza game, so it’s a safe bet that you’re not against the idea of caving in someone’s skull with a traffic cone) then you’ll need a few fighting tips. Seeing as Yakuza 0 very rarely offers you a fair fight, 10 on 1 is a common occurrence, you should know that grabbing someone means you’re pretty much impossible to be knocked down. When the goons are getting too close for comfort, grab onto one, wait for the right moment and then throw them as hard as possible into their buddies. Going down is a sure-fire way for the pain to multiply, so keeping on your toes is a handy defence, especially as the fights get tougher in the second half of the game.

9. Drink your troubles away

Yeah. Not sure what kind of message this passes out, but drinking in Yakuza 0 – as in life – unlocks hidden abilities when it’s time to throw down. There are bars dotted all around the maps, each stocked to the rafters with every kind of whiskey you could imagine (complete with handy tasting notes). Smash a few of these and your heat meter will fill sooner and certain skills will become unlocked, which are apparently impossible to do while sober. So yeah, go nuts.

On the topic of drinking, it’s also worth keeping a fair stock of energy drinks (such as Stamina X etc.) in your inventory at all times, but especially when you’re about to head into a story mission. These can lead into protracted fights with multiple enemies set over numerous encounters, so the last thing you want to do is run out of sugary rocket fuel to help finish off those last remaining gangsters, which leads us nicely to…

10. Save like it’s 1998

Yakuza 0 doesn’t have an auto-save function, you need to do it manually from a phone booth. This is one of those things you’re only ever going to do once, but losing a couple of hours because you didn’t know is infuriating. Now you don’t need to go through such anguish, because you read ahead, well done you.

The Yakuza series won't remain PlayStation exclusive much longer. Sega confirmed at the PC Gaming Show that the cult favorite open-world organized crime series is finally coming to PC, starting with Yakuza 0 in August and continuing with Yakuza Kiwami after that. Also, you can pre-order Yakuza 0 on Steam right now at a very reasonable price of $17.99. That's a lot cheaper than you can typically find the PS4 version for, which is an extra bonus for patient PC gamers.

Sega has made various statements about wanting to bring the Yakuza games to PC in the past, but this is the first time we've gotten an official announcement. If you're not really sure what the deal is with this whole Yakuza thing, let me direct you to our Yakuza 6 review - the whole series is made from an unlikely mix of melodramatic cutscenes, endless thug beatdowns, and weird minigames (like recruiting for a hostess club). It's all set in a lovingly fictionalized recreation of Tokyo's Kabukicho district, and it works weirdly well.

Though the Yakuza series has been going for years, this is actually a great time to jump on board: Yakuza 0 is an origin story prequel for the cast of lovable gangsters, and Yakuza Kiwami is a complete overhaul of the original Yakuza. Though Yakuza Kiwami 2 wasn't confirmed for PC in this announcement, it's a pretty safe bet that it will grace the platform eventually - probably not for a while after it arrives on PS4 in August, though. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to see the whole series arrive on PC.

Check out these Yakuza 0 tips if you're finally playing the game.

Whether you’re a new recruit to the Yakuza family or a battle-tested chairman, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life can easily inundate you with all its sightseeing surprises and systemic subtleties. To make it in Japan’s criminal underworld, you need to stay on top of everything the game throws you, including the stuff that it doesn’t even tell you about. 

That’s right, despite being notably more accessible than previous Yakuza games, there’s still a lot to learn when it comes to navigating the nuanced mechanics and finer details of Yakuza 6, and not everything is laid out before you via your mobile phone’s tutorials. As it so happens, I’ve completed the game and am here to impart some advice before it releases in the West on April 17, just so you’re as ready as you can be on launch day. Here are the things I wish I knew before playing Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.  

You should play all the mini-games and eat all the food 

Not just because the mini-games are ridiculously fun and the food looks so mouthwatering in its detail that you can practically taste every order, but because all of it will earn you more XP to level up Kazuma Kiryu, no matter what you’re doing. That’s great, because there are tons of new skills and traits to unlock, and what could otherwise be a frivolous pastime (such as having a game of darts or chowing down on a burger) is now a meaningful way to keep progressing in Yakuza 6. 

Don’t think eating is a shortcut to endgame, mind. If your hunger meter is full, any further food you intake will stop awarding experience points until some time has passed and it’s back below the 100 point threshold, though other consumable items are able to offer certain bonuses and perks for fighting and so on. Also… don’t try the live chat mini-game. Trust me on this: don’t.

Getting drunk can make you a better fighter 

It’s not exactly sending out the most wholesome message, but alcohol can actually be an advantageous option for responsible drinkers in Yakuza 6, though there’s a fine line between getting tipsy and going overboard. For example, swig down enough liquid happiness, and your heat orbs will fill up faster during combat, meaning you can score those environmental takedowns much more quickly than if you were sober.

However, being inebriated also means mobs are more likely to pick a fight with you, which isn’t ideal if you’re just trying to get to the next story mission. The best way to sober up is to drink water or simply wait it out and let Kiryu stabilise over time. And maybe don’t go so heavy on the Muqi Shochu next time, aye?

It helps to join the gym

Just like in real life, the idea of regularly attending gym sessions and eating the right meals sounds like a bit of a chore, but it’s absolutely worthwhile if you want to make sure Kazuma is as fit and healthy as he can be. To begin your membership, just head over to the Rizap gym on the west side of Kamurocho and talk to the receptionist, who will set you up with a trainer. 

From there, it’s a matter of scheduling regular sessions to partake in a couple of exercise based minigames, before finding and eating the meal choices that the dieticians suggest for you. You’ll need to eat your advised meal before you can eat anything else, and you won’t be able to return for another gym session until you’ve been in at least one fight in the open world, but keep stick to the rules, and you’ll have more XP than you know what to do with.

You can catch up on all the previous Yakuza games (but don’t really need to) 

In case the giant number 6 on the front cover of the game didn’t give it away, The Song of Life is the sixth mainline Yakuza game in the franchise, and technically the final game for its main character; Kazuma Kiryu. While the story is a relatively isolated tale that can be followed without any foreknowledge of previous Yakuza games, it still draws from 13 years’ worth of lore that has been slowly cultivated since the original in 2005. 

Thankfully, Sega has found a quick workaround to help newcomers catch up with the series so far. ‘Memories’ can be accessed from the main menu, and is a text-based recap of the stories from every main Yakuza game so far, from the very first PlayStation 2 game to 2012’s Yakuza 5, allowing you to see what’s been going down with Kazuma Kiryu before jumping into his last adventure. It’s honestly not essential, though, as part of Yakuza 6’s brilliance is its accessibility as a narrative experience that doesn’t just cater to longtime loyalists.

Remember to carry cat food with you at all times 

Seriously. One of the first side-quests you’ll likely come across in Yakuza 6 involves an owner of a failed cat cafe asking you to bring him as many felines off the streets of Kamurocho as you can, namely by seducing them with cat food. But these little furballs aren’t easily pleased. Each cat will demand several tins of cat food before being domesticated enough to join you at the cafe, so it’s going to take more than one attempt to win them over. 

You’ll find them randomly lying in alleys and streets of the open world, so you’ll never know when you’ll need some cat food handy. You can buy the food in certain grocery stores, and I’d recommend stocking up early and heavily, to avoid repeat trips for purchasing any more and making sure you always have enough whenever you spot another hungry moggie. 

First person mode is more than just a gimmick 

Yakuza has had an optional first-person perspective setting across several of its games now, and The Song of Life is no different, allowing players to switch seamlessly between third and first person with the click of the R3 button, so long as you’re not in combat.

That means you can only use the mode when peacefully exploring the hubs of Kamurocho or Onomichi, which might seem kind of redundant, but it’s honestly a fantastic way to really dig your teeth into Yakuza 6’s sense of virtual tourism. You can read every restaurant menu, browse every shop window, peruse each individual items at the grocery store... it’s an experience unto itself that really shows just how attentive Sega has been in crafting an authentic simulation of Japanese urbanity.  

There’s local split-screen 

Well, to an extent. You’re not going to be able to run around the streets of Kamurocho as a Kiryu and Majima tag team (though I would pay good money for a game like that, Sega), since Yakuza 6’s main experience remains very much a single-player focused campaign. 

But some of the mini games outside of the story offer split-screen options for local play with a friend, so long as you have a spare Dualshock 4 controller nearby. This includes former Sega classics like Virtua Fighter 5 and the tile-matching game, Puyo Puyo. The best news is that you can play both these titles straight from the menus without jumping into the base game, making it easy to fire up a round without the hassle of finding the right machine in the Sega Arcade. 

You can send emojis to your mobile contacts 

Better yet, they’ll often react to them! It’s not exactly a game-changer of a feature, but being able to reply to your text chums with a variety of adorable cat emojis can be exactly the kind of pick-me-up you need after an intense cut-scene or tough boss battle. 

Your chosen e-pen pal will reply in different ways depending on which emoji you send, too. Fire off an angry cat face, and they’ll question your temper. Beam up a sad kitty, and they’ll ask you what’s wrong. N’awh, these Yakuza really are a caring bunch of people when it comes down it. 

If you're heading back through the series then we've got some Yakuza 0 tips you might like. 

It’s curious that what will be the first Yakuza game for many is also the last for longtime series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, making Yakuza 6: The Song of Life a new introduction and final farewell for the character all at the same time. But balancing these kind of contradictory tones has always been something Yakuza has excelled at, whether it’s juxtaposing serious storytelling with screwball side quests or interspersing its astute focus on virtual tourism with frequent bouts of theatrical fistfights.

Yakuza 6 handles these tonal and mechanical fluctuations as competently as any Yakuza game before it, but it also takes the series to new, memorable heights by providing the most accessible Yakuza experience yet while simultaneously authoring a heartfelt, satisfying send-off to its central star. 

While last year’s Yakuza 0 prequel provided an ideal access point for those unfamiliar with the franchise, Yakuza 6 takes place at the polar end of Kazuma Kiryu’s life, who is now reeling from the events of Yakuza 5 after a three year stint in jail.

If you’ve only played Yakuza 0, or not even that, the idea of jumping into the sixth game in the series might sound like a terrible idea, like hitting play on Breaking Bad’s season 5 finale having only just watched the pilot, but Sega has gone out of its way to make sure this is a story that will resonate with newcomers and Yakuza loyalists alike. 

It’s a mostly self-contained mystery caper that begins with the disappearance of Kiryu’s surrogate daughter, Haruka Sawamura, and spirals into something much bigger and richer, but loyal fans will still be able to appreciate the appearance of familiar faces and subtle callbacks to previous games. 

After Yakuza 0 indulged in the lavishes and opulence of 1980’s Japan during its economic boom, The Song of Life is a much more sedated and restrained chapter, as an older, world-weary Kiryu is a man out of time who just wants to save his family, even if that means tussling with a new generation of Yakuza that speak exclusively in the language of violence.

Big trouble in Little Asia

Sega has proven time and time again that it's capable of crafting electric crime thrillers with each Yakuza instalment, but the writers have admirably challenged themselves with The Song of Life to tell a more personal, intimate meditation on family, legacy, and love, as Kiryu’s quest for peace takes centre stage while the familiar themes of criminality and underworld politics take a supporting role to the narrative. I’ve laughed, cheered, and gasped with Yakuza games before, but I never expected Yakuza 6 to be so personally affecting in its understated profundity. 

It’s not just the story that’s been tastefully mellowed for Yakuza 6, either. Sega dials down the madness across the board, with only one playable character and battle style, fewer mini games and (slightly) more realistic substories. Don’t worry; this is still a Yakuza game with plenty of fun, hilarious things to see and do, but the deliberate focus on Kiryu’s sober valediction is felt across all aspects of Yakuza 6, and absolutely pays off for the player who sticks with this redirection.

While there are fewer mini games available than in Yakuza 0, for example, Sega makes up for that reduction with greater gameplay depth. The Clan Creator and Batting Cages side activities, in particular, are almost games unto themselves, requiring skill, concentration, and commitment to progress through their rewarding modes of play. Otherwise, arcade experiences like Virtua Fighter 5 Final Tuned, spearfishing, and - of course - the karaoke, all stand out as some of the best distractions Yakuza 6 has to offer. 

Side quests are also as delightful as ever, memorable for their inventive use of the contemporary setting and the fact that every conversation is now fully voice acted, which makes a world of difference for enhancing the production value of these micro narratives. What might have been a forgettable encounter with a young Haruka Sawamura fan, for instance, transcends into one of Yakuza 6’s most emotionally powerful scenes thanks to the performance of its actors, who are able to channel Sega’s sharp script with the same dramatic punch as the cutscenes found in the main story.  

The fictional Tokyo district of Kamurucho has been a key setting for Yakuza since 2005, but Sega’s urban hub still impresses as an exemplary use of compact space, and the new Dragon Engine makes the city shine as brightly as the detailed character models and rich tonal colour palettes. 

But Yakuza 6 also takes Kiryu to a rare, new setting for the series; the sleepy fishing town of Onomichi Jingaicho. It’s easily one of the best additions to the game, offering a welcome respite to the bustle and hustle of Kamurucho, with sun-kissed scenery perfect for capturing via your mobile phone’s neat new camera feature. 

Fighting talk

Meanwhile, Yakuza’s signature combat has been compressed into something purer and more streamlined for Yakuza 6, as the focus on Kiryu means there’s now only one Battle System to contend with, as opposed to the five featured in the game’s predecessor, Yakuza 5. That’s okay, though, because these cutbacks to variety are made for the sake of gameplay fluency.  

Despite being now in his mid 50s, Kiryu has never been better at brawling, capable of pulling off dozens of environmental takedowns and combos that showcase some of the best action choreography seen since Batman: Arkham Knight. The gameplay depth this time derives from the new and improved Heat Mode, which allows Kiryu to build up his energy before unleashing it to gain access to new moves and powers. 

It’s an enjoyable form of improvised resource management that really comes into its own as you continue to level up through the fast and straightforward progression system, and you’ll still never get tired of the ability to body slam a gangster with a bicycle.

All of this comes together brilliantly during the mini boss fights that frequently appear throughout the story, where the narrative scale, frenzied visuals, and gameplay excellence marry in an explosion of riotous action, making for some of Yakuza 6’s best moments. This is as close to a video game adaptation of The Raid as you’re ever going to get. 

Most games abide by the ‘bigger is better’ mantra when it comes to making a sequel, but Yakuza has never been one to follow the mould. Instead, The Song of Life reigns everything in for a leaner, more concentrated experience that’s welcoming to all kinds of players, even as it offers a sense of closure and satisfaction to longtime supporters of the series.

As a parting paean for its lead character, Yakuza 6 is sweet, sagely, and surprisingly subtle in its storytelling. As a culmination of over ten years of Yakuza games, it’s also just as crazy and comical as you’d expect. The fact that it successfully pulls off both of these ambitions is The Song of Life’s crowning achievement.

No one is more badass than Kazuma Kiryu. In Yakuza 5, when he confronts a mob boss while searching for an abducted friend, Kiryu turns down a drink of whisky by punching the bottle. In half. Directly into the offering mobster’s face.

Yet for all of his magnificent stoicism and uprightness, Kiryu still walks around in a gaudy white leisure suit with a silk red shirt underneath. The shirt’s collar is so wide that 1970s David Bowie would likely take one look at it and say, “Damn, man, dial it back.” It’s not like his suit is cool, either. When he puts it on in the first Yakuza, it’s ten years out of fashion. (He’s been wrongly imprisoned for a decade.) It would be like if a hero with a heart of gold walked out into 2015 dressed like one of the silhouettes in a classic iPod commercial. When Kiryu inevitably puts the suit on in each Yakuza game, though, I don’t hide my eyes in sympathetic shame. I stand up and cheer. Because that suit is amazing.

For starters, it’s the physical embodiment of Kiryu’s entire philosophy: just because something’s old fashioned, that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth preserving. He’s the classic cowboy, unafraid of bullies but only willing to use force if it’s the absolute last resort, making honest treatment of others the highest ideal. Kiryu wanders around in every game, hopelessly mystified when people are cruel to each other and totally devoid of irony.

Even when he’s surrounded by yakuza who behave like what you’d expect, career criminals using violence for personal gain, he adheres to a classic ideal of honor and protection that was never the reality of the Japanese mafia. “For me, being yakuza is a way to live,” he says in Yakuza 5, without a shred of self-awareness. The suit and the man wearing it are hopelessly anachronistic, not born out of any real era of fashion but a rose-colored idea of a better past.

The ridiculous wide collar and flash seams aren’t just brilliant for informing character but they make for a reliable visual storytelling beat in the series. When the suit inevitably appears in Yakuza, that’s when you know things are about to get serious, the graphic equivalent of Martin Lawrence pointedly saying, “S*!# just got real.” Like all hero criminals in fiction, Kiryu is in a perpetual state of trying to leave his past behind only to get sucked back into the thorny politics of the Tokyo underworld. In Yakuza 3, he’s off in Osaka running an ocean-side orphanage, a beach dad in a red button down t-shirt suited for nothing but barbecues and ice cream runs. In Yakuza 5, he’s living in Fukuoka trying to make ends meet working as a cab driver. When he’s working, he’s in the drab uniform of a paid driver and when he’s off he walks around in a dull rain coat.

Just when he thinks he’s out, he gets pulled back in. Kazuma Kiryu always spends the first half of his screen time in Yakuza games resisting that pull back into the criminal life. He doesn’t just want to live honorably, but simply. Something or someone always goes too far, though. The kidnapping of an old friend, unsavory characters that threaten his surrogate children; Kiryu’s always pushed past his limit. Does he declare to someone that he’s not going to take it anymore, that something has to be done? Hell, no. The game lets you know Kiryu’s answered the call to action when he busts out the silk and polyester.

Yakuza games are intoxicating because of their deep contradictions. Hilarious and totally serious, utterly cheesy and undeniably cool; every game is a twisting path through a world that feels both authentic and insane. One second, you’ll be watching an ex-con slowly smoking a cigarette while he delivers a soliloquy on lost honor. Then ten minutes later he’ll be beating up a room full of grown men in diapers and helping an Eddie Murphy lookalike take weird cellphone pictures. Kazuma Kiryu and the games he stars in shouldn’t work, but they do. Just like that suit.

Yakuza 5 is a story about the inner workings of the Japanese underworld, a tale of scheming villains and morally righteous heroes. It's also a taxicab simulator, video game emulator, two wildly different rhythm games, a hunting and fishing game, and so much more. And while no one part of Yakuza 5 is good enough to stand on its own, all of them combine to form a video game Voltron that's way better than the sum of its parts.

The story opens on Kazuma Kiryu, a gangster-turned-cab driver who is doing his best to escape the yakuza life and coexist with polite society. But like Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part 3, just when he thinks he's out he gets pulled back in, and Kazuma finds himself embroiled in a nationwide scandal that could destroy the fragile alliance between two rival yakuza families. Kazuma is only one piece to this convoluted puzzle, though, as Yakuza 5 tells the story of five seemingly disconnected characters who are all united by a series of tragic events. The narrative unspools slowly while grounding itself in its human drama, taking the time to focus on the minutiae of everyday Japanese life while punctuating its story beats with explosive moments of conflict.

Much of that conflict comes in the form of hand-to-hand combat, and it's easily the weakest aspect of the game, as fighting Yakuza 5's various gangsters hasn't changed a whole lot since the first game. You have access to a series of basic and strong attacks that can be strung into combos, and landing hits builds up your Heat gauge that can be activated to launch a variety of super-powered attacks. Combat is a violent, brutal ballet of fisticuffs and impromptu weaponry, and while it's a vastly improved experience over previous entries, it's still stiff, repetitive, and ill-equipped to handle the swarms of foes Yakuza loves to throw at you.

It's not that combat in Yakuza 5 is bad, exactly; it just feels ancient compared to many of its contemporaries. You'll often rely on the same handful of button presses, and watching the same animations play out each time gets old. It doesn't help that Yakuza 5 loves to thrust you into fight after fight, as its avenues are filled with random people who will accost you constantly. Getting into two or three back-to-back brawls as you make your way down an alleyway, each one filled with a half-dozen mobsters, is a surprisingly common experience on the streets of Yakuza 5’s Japan.

As you earn experience, you'll unlock a repertoire of new abilities, all of which help make combat more palatable. But as you complete each chapter, Yakuza 5 forces you to switch characters - which means starting all over at square one. It makes sense thematically, but it's still frustrating to finally get into a rhythm with one character then lose access to all of their upgrades when you move on to another chapter. Eventually you'll have access to every character in the game and can switch between them at will, but it takes dozens of hours to get to that point.

And Yakuza 5 is a game you will spend a lot of time with. It's a lengthy, engrossing tale, evoking strains of Mario Puzo by way of Takeshi Kitano, but it's a slow burn, often taking hours to build up to its bigger moments. For the most part, Yakuza 5's methodical pace is to its benefit, giving itself time to explore smaller character interactions and the highly-detailed replicas of Japanese towns, but conversations can drag on, and the length of its cut-scenes gives the Metal Gear Solid series a run for its money. Brevity is not Yakuza 5's strong suit, and playing it means committing to the long haul.

It's worth tucking in, though, as Yakuza 5 provides a fascinating facsimile of day-to-day life in Japan. Many of the game's shops, bars, and restaurants can be explored, the cities' many citizens milling about on their way to wherever. Convenience stores are filled with actual Japanese brands and fully-scanned Japanese-language issues of manga like Initial D or Ghost in the Shell. Where games like Grand Theft Auto offer a parody of real life, Yakuza is sincere in its recreation of modern Japanese culture and society, and its slice-of-life portrayal is one of its biggest draws.

That's not to say it's all serious business, as Yakuza 5 also loves to get really weird, cramming as many video game genres in one title as possibly it can. When you start the game, you'll have access to a variety of taxicab missions that require you to obey traffic laws, as well as a series of street races. Eventually, you'll find a fully-developed hunting game, stand-up comedy routines, snowball fights, recreations of Taiko Drum Master and Virtua Fighter 2, freakin' dance battles, and plenty of other stuff, too. Combining so many disparate genres and minigame types sounds incredibly jarring and unnecessary, but in Yakuza's case, it totally works because it embraces its own silliness with an earnest enthusiasm. Not only are finding and completing these side missions and activities fun in their own right, they often provide you with experience points, items, and cash that you can use to make your characters stronger.

It's worth putting up with Yakuza 5's flaws just to see where it goes - and Yakuza 5 goes to some magical places. It's a game that lets you order a CD of Out Run's 'Magical Sound Shower' from your cellphone; a game that lets you try to win a Hatsune Miku doll from a UFO catcher; a game that lets you play a sidescrolling beat-em-up on a virtual reality headset crafted by a Japanese Doc Brown. It's the kind of game that gives as much as you put in, and it has a hell of a lot to give.

This game was reviewed on PS3.

Never count Sega out. Whenever it starts to seem that the wild spirit of the publishers Japanese developers has disappeared for good, a game like Yakuza 5 appears. The new RPG for PlayStation 3 almost feels like a Sega greatest hits compilation. Not only is it a new chapter in the life of stoic mobster Kazuma Kiryu, but it's a collection of small games pulled from Sega's history. Fishing, racing, even a full version of Virtua Fighter 2 is in here. It's no easy task bringing a giant game like this to the US which is why we're joining Atlus' John Hardin and Sega's Sam Mullen for a stream of the game. How is Yakuza 5 localized? Find out live at 4:30PM ET/1:30PM PT.

Dig the show? We’re here four days a week, Monday through Thursday so make sure to follow our Twitch channel! When are we live? Here’s our schedule:

Monday: Caught Up 6:30PM – 8PM ET/3:30PM – 5PM PT Maxwell McGee and company take you inside the world of gaming this week, playing what's new and discussing everything that's happening in the news.

Tuesday: I Got Next 3:30PM – 5PM ET/12:30PM – 2PM PT Anthony John Agnello hangs out with fascinating folks from every walk of life, playing their favorite games. This is you chance to chat with creators from the world of music, film, comics, and everything else under the sun.

Wednesday: Departure Lounge 6:30PM – 8PM ET/3:30PM – 5PM PT Sometimes you just look at a game and wonder: what in the f*&% is that?! Hosts Ludwig Kietzmann, Ashley Reed, and the rest of the GR+ crew check out gaming's strangest treasures.

Thursday: How It’s Done 4:30PM – 6PM ET/1:30PM – 3PM PT Arthur C. Clarke said that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. Maybe that's why video games seem so remarkable. We meet with the creators of the best games to demystify the process.

Tokyo Game Show is different from most other industry trade events due to it often giving us a chance to play games we might never see outside of Japan. Take the next entry in the Yakuza series. A monstrous hit in the island nation, the dedicated US/UK fans of the franchise normally have to wait months--if not years--to find out if another entry will be localized. No matter how long it takes to get answers from Sega about Yakuza 5's possible overseas launch, watch as we play the PS3 game planned for December launch in Japan. And if you're wary of the game being too "Japanese," we promise you'll see some awesomely violent wrestling moves that translate into any language.

If you saw the All-American preorder trailer we posted last week, you'll know that if you pre-ordered Yakuza Dead Souls from Gamestop, you'd get a hefty amount of extra bonus items like weapons and bonus missions.

More excitingly, you'll get karaoke cut scenes and some awesome costumes for all four playable characters including some girly outfits for Haruka. These also include DLC costumes from Yakuza 4 and outfits seen from previous games. Unfortunately, you can only unlock these after you've beaten the game. So until then, check out this video as Kazuma & Co sing their hearts out. And you can find our review for Yakuza Dead Souls here.

With four games under its belt, Sega has taken a new approach to its beloved Yakuza series and added zombies and lots and lots of guns. Yakuza: Dead Souls is far more spin-off than typical Yakuza game. It’s an awkward transition that’s peppered with great fan service, but its obtuse control setup aims to hook longtime fans and fans of zombie action games and ultimately pleases neither. While it falls short of expectations, it’s still a game with some charm.

As last seen in 2011’s Yakuza 4, you play as four very versatile characters with intertwining stories. There's kind and charismatic loan shark Shun Akiyama from Yakuza 4, the one-eyed crazy series stalwart Goro Majima, Yakuza 2= nemesis Ryuji Goda (returning with an alternate back story) and series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu. The story is straightforward: a zombie outbreak has occurred in Tokyo’s fictional Kamurocho district (an homage to seedy Kabukicho). The army and Special Defense Forces are unable to control them, so they put up gigantic barricades to quarantine infected areas.

You soon find out that the rest of Tokyo isn’t sectioned off and fully functions just like it would normally. These zombie-free areas allow you to visit hostess bars, play pachinko, and reach out to arms dealers to mod weapons and buy supplies. In other words, it’s initially business as usual if you’re used to traditional Yakuza games. But as you play through Dead Souls, more and more of the city becomes infected and closed off, though you can still sneak out and complete side missions for people on the wrong side of the quarantine.

Unfortunately, Dead Souls shifts its mechanics away from the established series gameplay toward those of a 3rd-person action shooter, and that’s to its detriment. Because it still feels like Yakuza, but with unnatural gameplay stapled on, it’s hard to stave off hordes of zombies. The automatically shifting camera doesn’t do you any favors when you’re fighting in tight spaces against hordes of zombies. Your movements are just too slow to keep up with the pace of enemies, and it’s a frustrating combination.

Another puzzling design decision is Dead Souls’ lackluster auto-aim. You can’t move while aiming, and at times, it points at anything but the zombie that is charging toward you. By the time you get the target right, you may be avoiding a bite. You can pick up blunt objects around you to try and clear some space by bashing and swinging, but you still need to shoot those zombies full of holes. For more dramatic takedowns, a Snipe Gauge fills up as you fight; when full, it enables you to unleash a destructive Heat Snipe attack, in which you fire at a marked explosive barrel or fuel tank, via quicktime event. The catch is that your Snipe Gauge works as a combo, so if you’re attacked by zombies --not impossible, given the gameplay issues-- you lose your meter buildup. At certain points in the story, NPCs can help out if they're not incapacitated, but you'll find yourself trying to bail them out of zombies swarms quite often.

Traditionally, Sega’s Yakuza games have a unique hand-to-hand combat system that’s brutal and satisfying. Throughout the games, you learn new fighting techniques and takedown moves that can be ridiculously badass. Normally, you’re able to wander around Kamurocho between main missions, and random street punks or gang members will challenge you to a fight. The whole fun of willfully accepting these is the knowledge that you'll get to beat them over and over with anything laying nearby, from a trash can to a bicycle --and sometimes even a motorcycle if you're lucky. In Dead Souls, you still have the option to do this, but it takes more time than it would to just kill enemies, plus the satisfaction of Yakuza’s beatdowns are diluted by the fact that these zombies will just get up and take more punishment.

Despite the frustrating game design, the game has a great story and cut scenes filled with moments of humor and suspense. Kamurocho is still flourishes with a sense of freedom to roam, just like in prior games, though there’s something grim about the sense of decay and destruction amidst the zombie attacks, especially if you’re been invested in years of exploring this world as Kiryu. It’d be like revisiting Liberty City after a zombie invasion, if you’ve played dozens of hours of Grand Theft Auto games. Even with a spin-off story that could easily derail the series, it still manages to tie in the main clans and gangs from previous games. The feeling you get from watching the story unfold through enticing cut scenes is still there, and that signature narration lends the game its trademark charm.

In the end, Yakuza: Dead Souls occupies a peculiar space in the overall canon. As a third-person zombie action game, it’s awkward and clumsy, and therefore, a difficult recommendation for gamers looking for a post-Dead Rising quick fix. As a Yakuza sequel, the shooting mechanics don’t jibe with anything you’ve done in the series since 2006. Yet, there’s still some fun elements with big payoffs for gamers who’ve invested dozens of hours in Kamurocho. The sum of its parts don’t always add up, but there’s enough in Yakuza: Dead Souls for those who’ve visited this world to see how it all ends.

We're pretty sure that after watching this preorder trailer for Yakuza: Dead Souls, you'll automatically qualify as a proud American citizen – even if you've never even come here for so much as a visit. Is this an elaborate satire, cooked up to poke fun at the Western fondness for preorder bonuses – or is it just the best damn treat Uncle Sam ever saw fit to bestow upon loyal consumers? You're free to judge for yourself – and don't you ever forget it.

Above: You don't even have to be American to dig this clip. You just have to know awesome when you see it

Pre-ordering Yakuza: Dead Souls at GameStop will net you 8 bonus Super Weapons, 14 regular guns, over 20 extra items and 8 pretty little hostess outfits. If you take to Al Gore's own Internet, however, you'll be able to preorder online – which'll get you the God Bless America costumes seen here, bonus missions, further bonus co-op items, and some extra CG movies for watching when you're tired out from all that all-American ass-kicking. The full game releases next Tuesday, though, so you'll have to be quick if you don't want to be stuck with the regular edition like some non-America-dwelling loser.

That Yakuza 4 has been released stateside alone is a miracle. In Japan, it's popular enough to warrant a branded Twitter app. Over here? Not so much. Far from a household name on these shores, the Yakuza series is, to be a tad reductive for those unfamiliar, Japan's version of Grand Theft Auto - but not really. Not quite an open-world sandbox game, though darn close, Yakuza has earned a rabid fan base due to its compelling stories written by crime novelists like Hase Seishu, dovetailed with Virtua Fighter-like brawls. Those are the key components, along with the bustling Japanese cityscapes the games take place in - "Japanese" being the operative word here.

Yakuza 4 is no different in that regard, though it drastically bucks tradition by adding three new playable characters whose tales compose the first three quarters of the game. Their stories within the criminal underworld - and how a murder at a tranny strip club ripples out to the entire city - all fit together unexpectedly in the end, giving a greater significance to your actions when you're finally allowed to control series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu again. Each character’s different fighting styles and narratives take a while to warm up to, but it's refreshing to see a bold move so late into a series' life. (Though the spinoff follow-up, Yakuza of the End, suggests the series will play it safe, but also very crazily, by introducing packs of roving zombies to Japan.) What is a bit frustrating, though, is leveling up a character over about 10 hours, only to be dumped into another character's world, and starting over with no items at level 1.

And though much of each of their worlds take place within the same city, their paths and reasons for getting there are all distinctly different. There's Taiga Saejima, a prisoner who escaped to evade his death sentence and seek revenge on those who framed him, who must sneak around at all times. There's Masayoshi Tanimura, a corrupt cop so dangerous his superiors can't interfere with his actions. Also new is charming loan shark/club owner with a heart of gold Shun Akiyama, who sincerely wants to improve people's lives with his loans but also has a mysterious path. All of their stories might trade in well-worn clichés, but there's so much character development and examination of why people operate on the wrong side of the tracks, but aren't necessarily evil, that it hardly feels like familiar terrain.

Like its predecessors, Yakuza 4 takes place in Kamurocho, a reimagining of the real-world Shinjuku's red-light district. It's the Yakuza 3 iteration of Kamurocho, though massively fleshed out with the addition of rooftops, sewers, and back streets. The city might not have gotten any bigger, but it's a lot deeper with more to explore. It also has different attractions and activities specific to each of the game's four protagonists: hulking yakuza Saejima can train fighters at a dojo in a fully formed Pokémon-esque minigame and Akiyama can train his hostesses on how to speak with clients. But the fact of the matter is, there's no shortage of things for anyone to do in Yakuza 4. It's easy to get sidetracked and suddenly obsessed with playing ping-pong, hitting the batting cages, singing karaoke, or perfecting your putt.

Unlike its predecessors - specifically Yakuza 3, which last year controversially excised elements thought to be "too Japanese" for Western audiences like hostess clubs, scouting girls to join said clubs, sections heavy on Japanese historical trivia, and so on - Yakuza 4 makes no concessions for Western audiences. Back are the hostess clubs and everything else us lazy, xenophobic Americans might not "get."

Depending on how open-minded you are and your familiarity with the series, this unchanged entry is either cause to celebrate or a chance to test how much your sensibilities (and attention span) can be challenged. Though it's a huge, easily 90-hour game to experience everything, you'll spend a good chunk of that reading text boxes and watching cutscenes. Some of the latter are skippable, and as Yakuza 4 wears on, they start to feel truly optional since they often wind up with person X betraying person Y or with an unforeseen street fight. That formula doesn't change often, and hasn't over the run of the series.

That's not to say this story is boring - just predictable - and falls into repetitive holding patterns. Funnily enough, though, in a game this massive the main story is the least of what you'll spend your time on. There are innumerable detours that crop up even when you think you're going where you should be. The more memorable ones include seeking out some jerk who sends you spam e-mail, finding milk for a sick kitty a group of homeless guys are caring for, and getting the perfect rubdown at massage parlors. You'll never be without something to do in Yakuza 4 long after the game is "done."

Unfortunately, that unbridled freedom stands in direct opposition to Yakuza 4's facets that have refused to evolve. In Grand Theft Auto IV, Niko could get cell-phone calls while on the go. In Yakuza 4, if you get a call, you're stuck standing there, button-mashing past each text box. Not only that, but you'll sometimes get multiple calls back to back, and while it's nice to be popular, nicer still would be granted the magical ability to ambulate while chatting.

Another oversight for a game so rooted in city life is the omission of adding custom waypoints to your radar. The game will almost always pinpoint your exact destination for story-based missions, but you're on your own if you want to seek out a specific restaurant or mahjong parlor. Weirder still, some alleys are roped off with an invisible barrier, forcing you to go further out of your way. It's understandable that not every door in the city can be opened - try doing that in real life and see how far you can get - but you should be able to walk where you please.

Speaking of mahjong, it's admirable that Yakuza 4 has been left intact for Western audiences, but we wouldn’t mind if it was made friendlier to Americans in some areas. Screen after screen of tutorial text won't help anyone unfamiliar to mahjong learn how to play the game. Similarly, running the hostess club is a great diversion, but you'll run into the cultural differences on what Asia and the West deem to be beautiful. Catering to your clientele's demands for a "conservative" girl gets lost in translation when you've dulled down your girls' outfits as much as possible, but they still sit by the bar alone, sighing, and not earning yen.

Another niggling issue is how occasionally you'll be stranded without anywhere to save for 30-minute stretches, like when infiltrating a yakuza hideout or seeking out a homeless informant. As Yakuza 4's breadth of content suggests, it's not a game to be played unless you can devote the proper amount of time to it over at least a few months. This isn't a game you can steamroll through in a weekend and fully appreciate everything it has to offer. And frankly, there's a lot of variety here, but much of it is also repetitious: run here, chase that, fight punks, and stop for a few parlor games. That formula becomes most apparent in marathon sessions, which is detrimental to the illusion that this is a living, breathing city.

With the proper dosage, though, everything clicks nicely. The interruptions by randomly occurring street fights and the hilarious translations of instigators' accompanying trash talk ("Watch out, because I'm about to diss you something fierce!") are certainly welcome, because the fighting is so unabashedly fun. You can get by with button-mashing in the easier difficulties, but there's enough variety in learning the different characters' finer points (some are bruisers, others have an intricate parrying system) and leveling of skills that it feels both deep but deeply rooted in arcade beat-'em-ups. Context-sensitive moves, like chucking vagrants against flagpoles or stomping on their faces, help push the combat that much more over the top.

Kamurocho is just as varied, and while the streets aren't as overcrowded as the ones in real-world Japan, there's always an impressive amount of people onscreen at all times. Even when you go to the seedier portions of town, like the sewers or the rooftops, there are the homeless and other strangers doing their own things. You can eavesdrop on almost everyone, and they each have their own lives that may not be as deep as any of the characters you play as, but you can more often than not pick up intel on a restaurant to track down or find trendy topics to discuss with girls when hitting the clubs.

So, yes, we are lucky to get Yakuza 4. Its nuanced and complex characters are offset nicely by the goofy and gory combat - here's your chance to chuck motorcycles, thwack criminals with oversized traffic cones, and body slam some jaws - and the city's ability to feel alive both day and night all add up to something more distinct and intriguing. Anyone can run down innocent bystanders, but Yakuza 4 gets more at the psychology of why.

Mar 24, 2011

How does Kazuma Kiryu from the Yakuza series maintain a clean shave and those dreamy sideburns while kicking ass and killing the undead? Obviously it's one of the most important questions the series have ever posed. Now, with the Kai5 razor set, we have an answer. Kiryu will use the razor in the upcoming game, and just to make sure the marketing opportunity crystal clear, he will also grace the cover of the actual razor in real life. The package includes a razor, stand, and a cell phone strap obviously what to do with your phone is a real issue while shaving.

Sega tends to go crazy with product tie-ins each time a Yakuza game is released so this isn't a surprise to anyone. In the past we've sampled some Yakuza 2 sake at the famous 16-shots bar, and last year's Yakuza: Black Panther for the PSP received its own liquor as well. This is a change at least in that it's not booze related. Drunk shaving isn't anything we'd recommend to anyone. All this cross-promotions work both ways, of course. The Yakzua games (including the upcoming Yakuza 4) feature real life business, some of them in their real life locations, as well as food, brands, music and plenty more. There's cross promoting marketing all over the place.

[Source:andriasang]

If you want to play a Yakuza game instead of standing around pretending to shave like you're in one, then we've for these Yakuza 0 tips to help you with that particular entry in the series. 

Purists will be pleased to learn that the hostess managing mini-games in Yakuza 4 will make it into the English language version when it's released later this month. A similar mode in Yakuza 3 was removed along with 21 side-quests.

It's not all good news though - the quiz games in the game's true to life Sega arcades, which ask detailed questions about Japanese history and pop culture, won't make the cut. The mini-game's text is stored in image files, making editing the questions extremely time consuming.

The only other major change is to the game's opening movie. The song that played over the original, Butterfly City, could not be used due to licensing restrictions. Instead, Sega is using a remix of the song “For Faith,” by Hidenori Shoji, the game's composer.

[Source:Siliconera]

Mar 4, 2011

Get yourJapanese PSN accountsready. The Yakuza: of the End (OTE) demo is releasing tomorrow on the service, and it will be your chance to play the game before its prequel, Yakuza 4, hits western shelves later this month.The demo stars Shun Akiyama, loan shark with a heart of gold and one of Yakuza 4's four playable characters. It will be western fans' first chance to try the gun-battle system in OTE, a new feature for the series. Japanese players have already had the opportunity to play the game at various retail events.


Above: If you don’t know how to set up a Japanese PSN account, see ourguide

Yakuza:of the Endis scheduled for release in Japan this month and has not been confirmed for a western release. However, if Yakuza 3 and 4 are any indication,expect a localizedEnglish version of the game sometime next spring. Until then, this is your only chance to kill zombies in Tokyo's red light district.


Above: Yakuza: of the End trailer shown behind closed doors at TGS 2010

[Source:Andriasang]

Mar 2, 2011

Got a news tip? Let us know at tips@gamesradar.com

Sega released Yakuza Mobile today in Japan. The game runs on Gree, a cell phone game service run by a company of the same name who is aiming to be the Zynga of Japan.

Set between Yakuza 2 and 3, the point of the game is to gather characters from the series called 'Legendary Men' and train them while simultaneously improving everybody's favorite hive of scum and villainy, Kamuracho. Players can play the game via online co-op or by themselves.



Yakuza Mobile is the fourth game in the series that has yet to receive even the announcement of a western release. Yakuza Kenzan, which took the series back to the 1800's, was released in Japan in 2008. Yakuza: Black Panther for the PSP came out earlier this year, and Yakuza: of the End is scheduled for release in Japan at the same time Yakuza 4 is coming out in the states next month. Of all four games, of the End is the only one we're likely to ever see outside of Japan, and we don't expect to see a localized release of that until next spring or later.

Feb 24, 2011

While we're waiting for Yakuza 4, Japan is getting ready for the next game in the series, Yakuza: of the End. The Yakuza-versus-Zombie action game just kicked off its TV campaign with these ads.


Above: A new television commercial for Yakuza: of the End

The announcer says, “Zombies! Karaoke! Zombies! Hot springs! Zombies, zombies, zombies! But of course, hostess clubs!†Protagonist Kazuma Kiryu then chimes in asking, “What did he say?â€before the announcer finishes up with one more pitch, and the name of the game.


Above: Another Yakuza: of the End commercial that focuses more on the game’s story

The second commercial is more focused on the game’s story with a bit less flair. The announcer simply babbles on about the beginning of the final fight. It’s mostly typical video game commercial stuff and lacking in the karaoke-and-zombies department.

Yakuza: of the End will be released in Japan on March 17, while Yakuza 4 will get March 15 and March 18 release dates in America and Europe respectively.

Feb 16, 2011

Sega cut lots of content from Yakuza 3 in order to lessen the cost of the localization process. In apostover at the Japan Subculture Research Center, Jake Adelstein takes a look at a particularly interesting deleted scene involving English conversation schools and its relation to real-life Yakuza.

Adelstein understands the Yakuza better than most foreigners, having covered the crime groups for Japanese newspapers for years. As detailed in his book Tokyo Vice - a great read for anyone interested in Japanese culture - the reporter has befriended and pissed off more Yakuza than any of us are ever likely to see, let alone meet.


Above: A side story that was cut from localized versions of Yakuza 3, which reveals the shadier side of English conversation schools in Japan

The cut section involves series hero, Kazuma Kiryu, taking an interest in English conversation, only to be scammed and forced to show untrustworthy foreigners his own brand of Yakuza justice.

Adelstein points out that the sequence accurately depicts some of the shadier aspects of the English teaching industry in Japan. Specifically, English conversation schools called Eikaiwa. When the largest such school, Nova, was closed down in 2007 due to shady business dealings, they left hundreds of their employees penniless and homeless. The company had been known to bring in Yakuza thugs as union busters when Nova employees attempted to organize. Even beyond blatantly illegal activities, many Eikaiwa engage in pyramid schemes, or try to sell students into lessons by promising them the chance to date their teachers.

"The English conversation school has been and will probably always be a good business for the Yakuza. The same principles used to get men and women into hostess clubs/host clubs are applied to recruit students. Just like a hostess club, there is the possibility of actually dating one of the teachers dangled out as bait to keep the customer coming back,"wrote Adelstein.



Having spent a fair amount of time in Japan and around those in the English teaching industry, Adelstein's points ring true. However, we never had the misfortune of working in the industry ourselves. So we turned to one who had, a young woman who spent years in the industry and wished to remain anonymous.â€They had our pictures out front for the students to pick their teacher. Students would come in and say, I want the teacher with the big breasts.â€

The game sequence in question presents many localization problems. Atrocious English rampant in the Japanese version would need to be cleaned up. The Japanese ability of the non-Japanese characters is terrible, and about as accurate and subtle as Lo-Wang's English in the mid-90s FPS Shadow Warrior. Translating bad Japanese into bad English wouldn't make sense, given that the characters are supposed to be English teachers.


Above: The foreigner's Japanese in Yakuza 3 is about as offensive as Lo Wang's accent in Shadow Warrior

This is not the first article Adelstein has written about Yakuza 3. In hisYakuza 3 reviewlast year,Adelstein sat down with his real Yakuza pals to play the game and discuss its authenticity and realism. The answer: Yakuza 3 was realistic in a comic book-y way; there were more unambiguously good and bad guys in Sega's criminal underworld, and far less crystal meth use. Having played Yakuza 4 in Japanese,it seemsthat game throws even campy realism out in favor of large-scale cinematic set pieces and soap opera-worthy plot twists. We can't wait to see what the Yakuza think of that.

Feb 15, 2011

Yakuza: Of The End is a spin-off title in the established Japanese mobster series. It's designed to attract new gamers. Gamers that wouldn't normally give Yakuza a look. In order to achieve that, Yakuza: Of The End has 100% more over-the-top shooting of zombies than a normal Yakuza game.

It's an interesting tactic, but is adding zombies really all it takes to win the attention of gamers? After seeing the new 8-minute mega-trailer below, I'd have to say 'YES'. Yes it is.

I'm more hyped for Of The End than I ever have been for any previous Yakuza game. Call me crazy, but the idea of gratuitous zombie killing combined with grenade baseball, table tennis and Japanese bikini girls appeals to me immensely. Also, this:

Goro Majima is fabulous.

October 20, 2010

According to Yakuza series head honcho, Toshihiro Nagoshi, the newly released (in Japan) Yakuza New Chapter: Black Panther for PSP is targeted squarely at Japanese youth and aims to teach them about honor, love, and various other kinds of virtues. Apparently, temperance isn%26rsquo;t one of those virtues.

Sega teamed up with Okinawa-based Seifuku Distillery to produce %26ldquo;Yakuza New Chapter: Black Panther Seifuku Ryukyu Style Coffee%26rdquo; (Ryukyu is the name for the islands surrounding and including Okinawa). Despite the coffee name, the drink is actually booze, a blend of an Okinawan liquor called Yaima and pickled coffee beans.

Whether that sounds appetizing or not is a matter of taste, but the distillery recommends a cocktail for those who don%26rsquo;t want to drink simply neat or on the rocks. %26ldquo;It%26rsquo;s great to cut (the %26ldquo;coffee%26rdquo;) with fresh milk and lemon juice.%26rdquo; The distillery also claims the 6% alcohol concoction (about equal to a strong beer) can be used as an ice cream topping.

The drink is branded with the name of the game on the bottle at sells for 1,880 yen (about $18) despite its limited production of only 300 bottles.

Source:Rakuten

Oct 6, 2010

There, pretty as a picture. Ah! ZOMBIES! There, pretty as a picture

Is this the most rapidly-sequelled franchise ever?

Chiaki Kuriyama set to appear in upcoming Yakuza game for PS3

Riiiight. A zombie apocalypse, you say? Uh, huh. And something that looks like the by-product of a steamy one nighter between the Michelin Man and The Thing. What’s that? A man with a surgically grafted minigun for an arm? Okie dokie. And this is what game again? Ah, the fifth Yakuza title. You mean that gritty, grounded crime series about the Japanese mob? Gotcha. Wait, what? Yup, seems like Kazuma Kiryu’s games have finally lost their shit in the most spectacular, shark-jumping fashion imaginable.

Lets quickly recap, then. The Yakuza series has made its name in Japan as a vaguely serious, if quirky take, on the nation's criminal underworld. Sure, you could play the odd round of golf and beat commuters silly with traffic pylons. But when it came to the story, Sega kept things pretty much straight. So it's somewhat of a surprise to go from Haruka (the orphaned kid Kaz looks after) in a relatively run-of-the-mill hostage situation...

To this fresh madness.

Zombies!

Athletic zombies, no less!

And now, eh... men with massive guns for arms? Okaaaaay. Well, maybe it's just some sort of viral outbreak that's given Tokyo residents a rather feral appearance. And the man above... it's probably just a funny prop. Y'know, like those fake joke arms you can buy to freak folk out with when they think they've pulled your arm out of your socket. Yeah, that'll do. Really, when you think about it, you can pretty much easily explain all of the above with cold, hard logi...

Oh. Yeah, that's just a monster. And a monster that looks like it's been ripped straight from Resident Evil 2, if you ask us. Someone get Capcom's lawyers on the phone. Granted, the whole zombie outbreak thang is a little bit out there, and the disturbing tongue monsters might take a little getting used to as you casually explore inner-city Tokyo looking for hostess bars. But it's not as if there's some giant, preposterous Gollum-like creature rampaging the streets...

OH COME ON!

To put things into context, here's an actual screen I took for my Yakuza 3 Super Review earlier in the year.

Somebody call Websters, because the definition of jumping the shark has officially changed to 'man gives sound insurance advice to stranger on street one minute, battles 100-foot rock monster the next'. Don't worry, though. We don't think Sega has gone entirely mad... yet. If we were to guess, we'd say Yakuza: Of the End is most likely a non-cannon spin-off from the main series. Certainly, the last shot in the TGS trailer seems to hint at the possibility of four player co-op.

At any rate, the latest chapter in Kaz's tale will be hella different to what's come before, because there's no way we can see his semi clunky fighting moves and different dialogue choices besting that Michelin Man thing.

Sep 17, 2010

Just how accurate is the depiction of the yakuza organized crime syndicate in Yakuza 3? Pretty damn accurate, according to actual members ofthe Japanese crime group. Jake Adelstein spent 12 years as a crime reporter in Japan and was able to infiltrate an actual yakuza hangout. And just out of curiosity, he got three of the members to test out Yakuza 3 and solicit their feedback.

Only one of the three guys was able to actually beat the game. Of course, the other two were at a bit of a disadvantage because they no longer had their pinkie fingers. Yeah, these guys were the real deal.

Above: Yakuza 3 - all the excitement of the yakuza without the worry of losing your extremities

The yakuza told Adelstein the game more or less hit the life of a yakuza dead on, but the actual experience was a bit over-the-top. One reviewer known as "K" said of the character Kiryu, "No yakuza is going to run around getting into fistfights like that. Especially not an executive type. He'll wind up in jail or in the hospital or dead, maybe even whacked by his own people for being a troublemaker."

"Nobody ever dies. It's unrealistic," said another guy. And the third one scoffed at how long the fights last. "Nobody goes around trading blows and crap like that. Usually the first guy to punch wins," said the guy known as "M."

Above: Real-life yakuza battles don't actually look like this

In terms of the actual legacy and politics of the yakuza, they say it was right on. "The stereotypes about the yakuza are more or less correct. The whole plot about resort expansion in Okinawa and the CIA and the politicians involved and all that? Wow ... That's totally happening in Okinawa right now."

Mr. "M" even liked the way the game's food mechanic worked. "I like the fact that you power up by eating real food. Shio ramen gives you a lot of power — CC Lemon, not as much. It all makes sense," he said.

We're now waiting for the Gambino family to give their opinions of Mafia II. Actually, that would make a really good reality show.

Source:BoingBoing

Yakuza 4 will be hitting the West in the spring, exclusively on PlayStation 3. It fits in with the usual 'we get it but a year late' system, but it's still a nice surprise, given its translation was by no means a certainty.

The announcement comes with four new screenshots, which you can see below. We think you'll agree it looks great.The gamewill be at E3, so we'll undoubtedly bring you more on it next week.

Above:Just look at all those peopleand the detail in the background. Yum

Above: Expect plenty of street brawls - and weapons to pick up too

Above: There are plenty of playable characters this time round

Above: Stop looking for Lan Di's helicopter. Come on, let it go...

08 Jun, 2010

Madness, is it not? We’ve only just got the excellent Yakuza 3 in the west, Yakuza 4 is out in Japan this week, and now Yakuza 5 has just been announced at a press event for said imminent fourquel. That’s one hell of a sequel backlog for us to look forward to on this side of the planet.

Above: Not much to go on, admittedly, but this teaser art proves part 5 exists

To put the Yakuza series’ ludicrously rapid escalation into context, the first game only came out in 2005, and aside from numbered sequels there has also been a standalone spin-off set in17th century Kyoto. So that’s six full-sized games announced or released within 5 years. Gran Turismo 5 and Duke Nukem, please take note.

And to add further context (but mainly just because we really like bar graphs), here’s a visual depiction of Yakuza’s proliferation compared to other game series over the same period of time, in terms of standalone releases.

While similar in style and scope, the big two western open-world crime sprees are trailing way behind. Only the legendarily sequelled Pokémon and Warriors franchises have made significant headway on Sega’s gloriously nuts crime-‘em-up. Both Japanese series also.Are amphetamines a regular lunchtime delicacy over there now or something?

Above: We like Yakuza 3 a lot. You will too

But still, we’re not complaining. The Yakuza series has long been a brilliantly bonkers hoot (read Dave M’sSuper Reviewof part three right now for evidence of that), so the more the merrier, we say. Though working off the series’ current release/translation speed, it’ll be 2012 before we get part 5, and part 7 will be on the way by then.

Kiryu Kazuma is one brutal bastard. As you'll see in the video below, there's nothing he enjoys more than beating men into comas with bikes, billboard signs and whatever else he can get his criminal claws on. But then again, he has to, because Yakuza 3's take on Tokyo is the most hostile in-game city ever.

Commuters who'd rather kick the crap out of you than make their 9 o'clock bullet train. Street thugs who want to rob you blind. Seemingly innocent senior citizens that want to pummel you silly rather than pick up their pensions. Everyone's out to get you. Thankfully, there's no argument that can't be solved with a good, hard plastic cone to the cranium.

If you're hungry for more Yakuza 3 action, why nottake a gander at ourSuper Review?

Mar 12, 2010

If nothing else, Sega’s Japanese crime ‘em up is monstrously ambitious. Part adventure game, part old school scrapper, it’s the breadth of Yakuza 3’s robust minigames that makes it really stand out. Can’t be assed with the main story mode? No problem. Why not play golf, go fishing, take part in UFC-style cage competitions, bowl or go all Dog the Bounty Hunter and capture crooks? Hell, you can even sing karaoke in a Tokyo bar while off your face on 125 year-old whiskey.

Above: Screw a life of crime, there'stunes to bemurdered

And you know what? None of it comes close to the simple pleasures of twatting a man in the face with a rusty bin lid. Make no mistake, this might be one of the best game worlds to dick around in ever. But at its heart, it’s all about the scrapping. And said scrapping is worth the asking price alone.

Before we get into the karate kicks and flying fists of the review, you’ll want to know what Yakuza 3 is actually like to play. Well, it’s basically a cross between GTA’s on-foot bits (there aren’t any vehicles in the game), Def Jam: Fight for NY's battles, with the really talky quests from ancient fellow Sega game Shenmue thrown in.

Above: Like GTA, but with 72% more elbows in the face

Right, now we’ve cleared that up, we can tell you exactly why Kazuma Kiryu, star of the first two games, spends most of his time laying a samurai smackdown on Japanese commuters. Contrary to the sort of imagery that might throw up, he’s not actually a bad guy. The retired yakuza evens runs an orphanage in Okinawa (we shit you not). It’s here you spend most of your first four or five hours, as Kaz helps the sprogs with their homework, tries to set them up on dates and deals with school bullies

Above: Sunshine Orphanage – ‘We make losing your folks fun!’

But this isn’t How to Raise Parentless Pipsqueaks 3. And eventually Kaz is suckered into a massive conspiracy in Tokyo with crime families, shady politicians and an army of dudes with major Men in Black envy. Which, naturally enough, leads back to loads of thrown punches, kicks and kid-kiboshing moves to the crotch.

And boy, if these fights aren’t awesome fun. Thoroughly old school and off their rocker crazy, scraps usually involve you beating everyone in sight into comas with bikes, billboard signs and whatever other impromptu weapons you can find in the fictional red-light district of Kamurocho.

Above: Kicking thugs upside thehead is the only way to solve your problems

Battles are beautifully meaty. Every haymaker to the kidneys and roundhouse kick to some poor bastard’s backside Kaz breaks out carries real impact. The system is pretty in-depth, too. You can dodge, parry, throw and even use x-rated context-sensitive finishers that usually involve introducing men's spines to pristine Japanese concrete.

It ain’t quite Virtua Fighter. But it’s definitely the equal of Def Jam: Fight for NY, and way better than the scraps you see in its spiritual predecessor Shenmue.

Fights also have some Final Fantasy in them. Alright, so you don’t summon spirits to incinerate cute monsters so much as you stab the shit out of surly street punks with a katana. Both games do feature random battles, though, in what we can only describe as the most aggressive city ever, where citizens from all walks of life want to beat your bonce in.

Above: Apparently, anyone who harmlessly walks downa street in Tokyo isbegging for a beat down

When every Tom, Dick and homicidal Harry challenges you to a fight around every corner, it’s only natural repetition kicks in pretty damn quick. Sadly, this is also true of the main story missions, which pretty much subscribe to one of the following three tricks.

1). Find informant. Talk to informant. Punch informant in face.

2). Chase informant through streets. Talk to informant. Punch informant in face.

3). Give the finger to formalities and just punch informant in face.

Above: Don’t resist it, everything you do in Yakuza 3 is ending up with one of these

Alright, so it’s not quite as simple as that. Most of the game’s epic-sized story chapters pick up the pace when they pit you against a mental and usually murderous boss man. Granted, it’s just more fisticuffs. But there’s no doubt duking it out with a dude with three foot Vega-style claws or a mob boss who licks knives before he throws them at you is a step up from scraps against the brassed-off businessmen you meet on the streets.

Above: Mmmm, cold steel. Just like mom used to make

Of course, like GTA and as we’ve already mentioned, you don’t have to touch any of this. There’s a good chance you’ll leave the main missions for hours at a time, simply to mess around with the 16 different minigames and hundreds of side quests, most of which rock hard. So much so, that Yakuza’s take on golf, bowling and the 2D minigames in the city’s arcades are almost good enough to be sold as budget titles on their own.

The huge number of side missions you can take are also a great distraction. Most have you do totally mental things, like when Kaz saves a debt-ridden man from suicide with sound life insurance advice or when he rescues a woman’s dog from kidnappers. Always inventive and with a wry, subversive sense of fun; it’s easy to get lost when you help Kamurocho’s residents. Well, the ones who don’t try to shiv you in the spine on sight, anyway.

Above: Golf - one of the many pleasurable activities Kaz can partake in when he gets tired of having his head smashed in

Praise should also go to almighty Jeebus for Yakuza’s ace story, which weaves a bloody brilliant yarn. Well scripted, adult, and with stylish cutscenes that come across as half Martin Scorsese/half John Woo, they’re a pleasure to watch. They both drive events on with real thrust and give you something to look forward to. Dicking about may distract you for a while, but the quality of Kaz’s story eventually drags you back.

Sadly, these scenes, which the PS3 renders in real-time, also bring into sharp focus just how dang fugly the rest of the game really is. Honestly, when you wander the streets and see nothing but ugly textures and crowds that pop in and out of sight, it’s hard to argue much of this couldn’t have been done on the PS2.

It’s not only the graphics that lets things down. The animation is also pretty archaic, with a run animation that makes Kiryu look like The Terminator… if he had a lump of coal shoved up his android ass.

Above: Why did Kaz have to take the Terminator's rubbish movement? The whole bullet-proof body thing would have been way more useful

Probably the biggest shame is the voice acting, or lack of it. With almost 300 minutes of quality dialogue recorded for cutscenes, it’s a pity most of the in-game conversations you have are text-based. This might have been OK in the PS2 days, but post Mass Effect, these shortcuts just don’t slice the sushi anymore.

The Tokyo Game Show used to be filled with eccentric Japanese titles, destined to be locked away from all but the most hardcore collectors. Those days are over. Almost every major upcoming title on show this year was confirmed for release outside of Japan. But despite all the talk amongst corporate big wigs at panels about changes in the “global games market” and “reaching out to western audiences,” there were still tons of titles that may never make it to store shelves this side of the Pacific. Here are the five most Japanese Japanese games we witnessed at this year’s TGS. Some seem awesome and some just seem odd. But none of have been confirmed for release outside of Japan yet.

Ryu ga Gotoku 4(Yakuza 4)

In Japan, the Yakuza series is bigger than Halo, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty, or any other popular western franchise. It’s also a vital console exclusive for the PS3. So it’s no surprise that Sega made Yakuza 4 the center of its booth at this year’s TGS. The large display came less than a year after the company displayed Yakuza 3 at last year’s show. This year, the elaborate booth featured not only the game, but many booth babes acting as hostesses. Hostesses are women who are paid to talk (among other things, if the establishment is shady enough) with customers, lavishing them with attention at special hostess bars.

Above: The face we make when contemplating the possibility of learning Japanese so we can play Yakuza 4

Above: Hostess booth babes at Sega’s Yakuza 4 display

The game is set in a fictional version Kabuki-Cho, Japan’s largest hive of scum, villainy, and drunken salary men. Yakuza 4 will feature four separate campaigns that can be tackled in any order, each with their own protagonist. The game’s climax will weave these stories together. As expected, the gameplay will feature a mix of brawling, exploration, and minigames, much like the first three titles in the series. Yakuza 4 will also introduce the ability to groom a young hostess. You’ll need to train her in the fine art of hosting and select outfits, but details on this new feature are still sparse.

Above: Don’t expect to explore Yakuza 4’s virtual version of Kabuki-Cho anytime soon

Sega has yet to announce any official plans for a western release of Yakuza 3. So it’s unlikely you’ll be seeing Yakuza 4 at your local game store anytime soon. In the meantime, our best advice for you is to check out this guide, which will help you log into the Japan PlayStation Network so you can download the Yakuza 3 demo for free.

Above: The Yakuza 4 TGS trailer posted by psinsider.com

Ni no Kuni is a collaboration between Level-5, the developers of Professor Layton and the Curious Village - and Studio Ghibli, the animation studio famous for films like Princess Mononoke and My Neighbor Totoro.

Above: Ni no Kuni is Studio Ghibli’s first videogame project

The game itself is a turn-based JRPG about a young boy who discovers magic powers through the use of a book of runes, and gains the ability to pass into a parallel world. Players cast magic by drawing runes with the stylus. From what we’ve seen of the demo at TGS, Ni no Kuni delivers lots of eye candy with loads of lush hand-drawn art and smooth cutscenes that make you feel like you’re adventuring through a colorful and picturesque world from one of Studio Ghibli’s finely polished films.

Due to the popularity of Level-5’s Professor Layton and Disney releases of Studio Ghibli films, we wouldn’t be surprised if a western release of Ni no Kuni was eventually announced. But for now, Ni no Kuni has only been confirmed for a Japan release on Nintendo DS.

Above: The gameplay footage for Ni no Kuni is most impressive for a DS title

The Korean drama that swept the world is now available in videogame form on DS. Alright, unless you live in Asia or you’re a rabid fan of Korean prime-time soap operas, you’ve probably never heard of Winter Sonata. Suffice it to say, it’s the biggestdrama showto come along in East Asia this decade. Now D3 Publisher has turned it into a “visual novel.”

Above: We’re still waiting for the visual novel genre to explode here in the West

Visual novels are a genre that has never made much headway with western audiences. The titles most resemble western adventure games, except they tend to use static as opposed to animated images. The games also tend to be told from the first-person perspective. The Ace Attorney series is probably the closest thing to a visual novel that most of us have seen. Visual novels are major hits in Japan, particularly on the PC. Earlier this year the best selling game for Wii was 428 Fusa Sareta Shibuya (428: Blockaded Shibuya).

The Tokimeki Memorial (or Heartbeat Memorial) series is the king of the Japanese dating sim genre. Called gyaruge (or gal games) in Japanese, these titles usually have players navigate a series of relationships with cute anime girls in an attempt to woo them.

The series is one of the tamer titles in the genre, teasing fans with girls in often fetishized outfits like school uniforms, without any sexually explicit content. Tokimeki Memorial 4 for the PSP and cell phones appears to offer more of the same. However, devotees to the genre are sure to appreciate special innovations like the new “hand-holding mode.”

Above: The English press release for the game calls this title a “love simulator.”

School life is a common object of nostalgia. But gal games take it to a whole new level. High school life simulators are a genre unto themselves in Japan. Even Valkyria Chronicles 2 features a small high school life sim to supplement its strategic military action.

Unlike the other titles in this list, we’re certain that Tokimeki Memorial 4 will never see an official release outside of Japan. If the game is ported, it’ll likely be on the PC through a smaller publisher that specializes in imports.

Okamiden: ChisakiTaiyou (The Legend of Okami: The Little Sun)

Despite rave reviews and a loyal following, the original Okami didn’t set the sales charts on fire. What slim hopes fans had for a sequel were dashed when developer Clover shutits doors. So it was a pleasant surprise when the first screenshots of this DS follow up appeared in the Japanese game magazine Famitsu. The game was playable at TGS. The full name of the game is Okamiden: Chisaki Taiyou (Literally, The Legend of Okami: The Little Sun), a reference to the game’s protagonist Chibiterasu, a puppy-like version of the original’s take on the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu.

The first game was one of the best looking titles on the PS2 - and while the new DS game doesn’t look quite as sharp as its predecessor, it still takes its aesthetic cues from classical Japanese ink painting, known as sumi-e. As with the original Okami, the sumi-e-style visuals are carried into the gameplay.

Above: You’ll use your stylus to slash at enemies with the celestial brush and solve various puzzles

Chibiterasu has a celestial brush, used by drawing on the touch screen to solve puzzles and dispatch her enemies. Like the first game, Okamiden is sure to feature characters from classical Japanese mythology and literature. While western audiences may not be familiar with characters like Susanno or Kaguya the Moon Princess (two characters from the original game), Japanese audiences are as familiar with them as we are with Robin Hood or King Arthur. The game really plays up its references to classical Japanese culture. The game is set for release in Japan next year and Capcom has not yet confirmed any release outside of Japan.

Oct 6, 2009

Witness the most amazing costumes from this year’s Tokyo Games Show

Play the best PSN exclusives Japan has to offer

Join us on a pilgrimage through the taverns and cocktail lounges every gamer should visit

Gameplay is split between exploration and combat, neither of which is wholly satisfying. The urban environments are incredibly detailed, but you’re denied any GTA-like freedom; instead you have to settle for the occasional (rather pointless) visit to a hostess bar, golf range or cabaret joint. Most disappointing are the woeful arcade games you wouldn’t spend 10 centson in real life.

Combat is better, enabling the player to string together satisfyingly brutal combos and execute some enjoyably unpleasant finishing moves. Unfortunately the rapid-fire frequency of the fights – most of which are unavoidable – quickly exposes a major shortcoming: the severe lack of attacks. Worse still, later levels are hampered by enclosed environments that a fiddly camera struggles to keep up with, as a mob of gangsters line up to break your jaw. Yakuza 2 should be praised for its uncompromising approach to storytelling, but because the gameplay is so much less involving, PS2 owners would better fulfill their gangster fantasies by replaying any of the GTA series.

Sep 29, 2008

Amusement Vision’s brace of Ryu Ga Gotoku games on the PS2 (the first of which was released in the west as Yakuza) effectively picked up where Sega-AM2’s unfinished Shenmue series left off, full of memorable characters and big fight scenes. Some things have changed in Ryu Ga Gotoku Kenzan! aka Yakuza 3. This third game in the series is set in 17th century Kyoto and its surroundings, and concerns itself more with samurai Zelda-style mega-sword… and so on. Most of the game’s fights are just scuffles between Kiryu and street toughs, but even these are enjoyable and are invaluable for gaining money and power. Really dramatic sequences, however - fights that progress Yakuza 3’s story - are set up to be massively entertaining, leaving Kiryu to defeat a group of ninjas inside a burning whorehouse or assassinate the estranged son of Leyasu Tokugawa as he’s sleeping.

Learning to use weapons effectively, leveling-up, obtaining useful items, and acquiring knowledge of new special attacks (most of these are taught by sensei characters in dojos and elsewhere) are all deeply engrossing activities. But Yakuza 3 is particularly satisfying because you can lose yourself in its version of 17th century Kyoto carrying out daily activities. Minigames such as shogi (Japanese chess), archery, ten-pin bowling (!) and ninja star-throwing target practice are all very well done - we lost several hours rising the shogi ranks - and you can even spend money on geisha girls.

Street fighting is still a big part of the game. There are even spooky story parallels between this and the first two Yakuza titles, with Yakuza’s lead character Kiryu Kazuma and a young lass called Haruka both returning, albeit in a chronologically befuddling scenario 400-odd years before their Yakuza debuts. (They haven’t aged a bit.) From the moment you see the game’s intro movie, a stylishly shot montage of war from the 1600s overdubbed with an original J-hiphop track from a veteran Japanese rapper called ZEEBRA, it’s clear that Yakuza 3 is no tweed-jacketed history teacher. It stars a famous 17th century swordsman called Musashi Miyamoto, but it also features melon-cutting and tortoise-racing mini-games.

In spite of its charming self-deprecation, Yakuza 3 is a deep game. You can play it for 20 hours and still only discover a fraction of the fighting moves. And that’s another thing: Musashi Miyamoto may be the historically faithful name of Yakuza 3’s only playable character, but a bloody misunderstanding results in Musashi’s face being Xeroxed on ‘WANTED’ posters across the land, so he adopts the Kiryu Kazumanosuke nom de guerre early on in the game. This is typical of the intrigue that runs through Yakuza 3, where every cutscene reveals another fascinating twist, cleverly tying together Kiryu’s old flames and new female acquaintances while telling a story of murderous betrayal and identity theft.

The main characters here are virtually acted and voiced by recognisable Japanese actors and actresses, including Susumu Terajima (star of the brilliant 2002 film Blessing Bell). They do a fine job and are supported by an excellent script, elevating Yakuza 3 to somewhere near the level of a well-planned interactive movie.

Yakuza 3 isn’t just a filmic delight - it’s a hugely satisfying game. Amusement Vision has found the perfect balance for Yakuza 3’s playable side - something like two parts fighting and two parts exploration to one part minigames. At first Kazumanosuke has only his fists and sandal-clad feet with which to bash people, although he can pick up and ‘wield’ objects found in many of the locations where scraps are fought. After a while, though, you’re given a sharp katana to use, and then two katanas, and then a Zelda-style mega-sword… and so on.

It’s rare to find a game that has such a strong sense of identity. Yakuza 3 knows what it is! It’s a (loosely) historical tale of war, murder, prostitution, romance and friendship. And while it edges scarily close to being a movie, it retains a sufficient amount of compelling game for it to be something that we’re perfectly happy to play for 40 hours.

Import Score: 9

May 12, 2008

Walking. Brooding. Staring. They’re all popular activities in Japanese crime series Yakuza, and this - the third - is the talkiest, broodiest, stariest installment yet. Oh, it’s changed a bit - the sudden shift from the present day to the 1640s is a bit jarring at first - but the important things are still present and correct. You still stamp on men’s faces. You still hang out with giggling ladies. And you still talk a lot.

You play Miyamoto Musashi, genuinely history’s greatest swordfighter of all time, in a sequence of events that are roughly as historically accurate as Robin Hood fighting Ming the Merciless. Things kick off after the Battle of Sekigahara - when Musashi disappeared for a few years - as our hero gets himself in a series of scrapes, changes his name and turns to gangsterism to pay the bills. This sets the stage for the typical Yakuza activities, except with a 1640s twist. Rather than hanging out with hookers, you chat with geishas. Instead of gambling on Pachinko, you race tortoises. And instead of swatting men with pushbikes or stop signs, you stab them in the face.

Yakuza’s traditionally been oven-glove clumsy when it comes to fighting, but in previous games you’d overlook that because smacking people with telephones was a novelty. With everybody swinging katanas, you’re suddenly free to compare Yakuza 3 to hundreds of other swordfighting games, and suddenly it’s only the moderately-pretty girl at the Playboy party. It handles like Onimusha’s thick little brother - the moves are basically the same, but everything’s a bit clunkier and slower, with little in the way of parrying or dodging. You earn new moves by talking to old men - or in one memorable case, by watching a monkey - which means you can hack your way through fights quicker. Later you earn a short sword, Musashi’s trademark twin swords and a single massive claymore.

Yakuza 3’s big change is ‘heat’ moves: built up during a fight, these let you stamp on a man’s face - or, later, pin him to the ground with your sword - with a dramatic shift in camera angle that’s slightly undercut by the fact that this move rarely actually finishes anyone off. And for the first three hours slashing and talking is all you do, with a total of one corpse for every 20 minutes of meandering dialogue. There’s a bit of random battling, although the local thugs seem to get the message after you’ve stabbed about 30 of them through the lungs. Oh, and there are quick time events - you’ll be strolling along when somebody suddenly swings at you, and you need to press a button or lose half your health bar. We’ve no idea if this happened in feudal Japan.

But things pick up when you hit the town. As in previous games, there’s a lot going on, with chatter in the streets and loads of non-plot-essential men who’ll have a gruff word if you bang into them. There’s also a ton to do, lots of it revolving around the game’s geisha girls. The plot hinges on one of these ladies, and as a result, Musashi needs to get to know as many as he can - sometimes by chatting to them, sometimes (yes, they got here before GTAIV) by taking them bowling. There’s even one character who runs a ‘special magazine’ about the geishas, and dishes out cash for info about their likes and dislikes, like an even creepier Hugh Hefner.

And that’s always been Yakuza in a nutshell. Tons of talking, interspersed with just enough ultraviolence and minigames to stop it from being a really long film. It’s beautiful - the pockmarked old men are actually much more of a testament to PS3’s graphical clout than the porcelain-smooth ladies. The question is whether it will play as good as it looks come release time.

Apr 9, 2008

Sept 21, 2007

Atrailer for Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan - better known to Western audiences as Yakuza 3 - was unleashed at this year's Tokyo Game Show. Unlike its predecessors, Yakuza 3 will be set during the Edo period in the year 1605. From the looks of things, the game will be full of feudal samurai swordplay.

Four fighting styles have been confirmed so far with a blade, dual-wielded swords, a big ass sword, and your two fists at your disposal. Yakuza 3 is scheduled to release in early 2008 in Japan on the PS3. We hope that US and European audiences won't have to wait as long asthey did for an announcementon Western versions of the game like we did withYakuza 2.

Feed your head with the sword-porn below and hit up theImagestab above for the latest screens.

Sept 21, 2007

We were excited as hell when we first heard about Yakuza 3, and when Yakuza 2 released in Japan last year, we eagerlywaited fornews of a US version. Fortunately, fans can finally look forward to seeing more of tough guy, Kiryu Kazuma as Sega has just announced that Yakuza 2 will be heading to the PS2 in 2008, and we imagine that a UK release can’t be far behind.

Yakuza 2 takes place one year after the events of the original, and continues to follow the story of Kiryu Kazuma. As the new big wig of the Tojo Clan, Kazuma decides that it’s time to retire. But the future leader of the Tojo Clan that he appointed winds up getting assassinated by a rival gang, the Omi.

Expect to travel throughout Japan as Kazuma fights to prevent an all-out war between the two rival gangs. But don’t expect Kazuma to be a reformed peace-nick now that he’s out to smooth out relationships between the Omi and Tojo clans.