LIKE A DRAGON GAIDEN: THE MAN WHO THUGGED IT OUT.

Is the game predicated on a plot misstep and everyone in it standing firmly on buffoon business of the Clark Kent variety? Yes. Is it pure bait for suckers like me who eat up nonsense mixed in their GAR plate like peas? Absolutely. But god damn it's ACES from top to bottom. All of what I love about the series is here in spades. K-...Joryu cranks the stoic cool factor all the way up, serving up that satisfying woop-ass straight out the can like its first day out all over again, helping every endearing goofball he can find along the way. Striking character Drama, piercing moments juxtaposed against way over the top set pieces, wacky distractions on every street, and goons at every turn itching to get smacked up by the goa-... sorry, a nameless agent forced to just thug it all the way out in the WORST way for reasons... you know what we don't have time, games too short to worry about all that. Click, bye bye brain I've got pure ludo to bask in. Because that's how we're built. Then we barrel headbutt-first into a knockout ending, might have the best final cinematic yet for the series. Like a cigarette in the clarity of that afterglow I'm winding back down into a 4, but man was it close to 4.5