Alexanderop
1 review liked by Alexanderop
Yakuza 0
2015
NO SPOILER REVIEW AND EXPERIENCE
Intro:
Yakuza was something I never paid any mind to. I'd briefly heard about the series through popular reviewers online and just thought it was another series that I'd always admire from afar because I didn't think I'd like it. Then, I saw a video of a small girl slapping a grown man that immediately cuts to a nude man walking away in silence. Enough was enough, I had to know what the deal with these games was. $20 a piece was too much of an entry fee for me, if I thought I would like these games as much as I wanted to, I needed to go all in. Luckily for me, the very next week a Steam sale bundled all 7 games in the main franchise for just $44. I went all in and I started playing.
Review:
Yakuza 0 is brutal, hilarious, emotional, and engaging. I was immediately drawn in by the drama that ensued in the first hour of the game. Then, I got lost in the vast and dense city where the game takes place. The first half of the game took me 40 hours to play. This isn't a bad thing. I kept becoming sucked into the lives of every citizen of the town and their weird problems. I would be on my way to progress the story, then all of a sudden I'm a real estate agent trying to prevent these billionaires from taking over my beloved city. There are games within games inside this title. I must have sunk 10 hours alone into pocket car racing. The music (while sometimes repetitive) is great. When a track kicks in, you know exactly the type of emotion to be feeling at that moment. The story is over the top, and while it loses its pacing sometimes, it tends to pick itself up just long enough to hit a home run of a story beat. I played the game on Hard first. The combat tends to fluctuate between too easy and aggravating. You quickly figure out that between the two protagonists, if you switch to a certain style and do a certain move, you can bulldoze almost every fight. The aggravating part is while you do have a block and dodge, they aren't reliable enough to use for most of the encounters. Group encounters end up encompassing up to 20 people. If you get caught in one attack, the group swarms you and stun-locks you as they pass you around the group. Again, this is a small issue. I found the combat fairly consistent until the end game and didn't struggle much. When you should utilize your dodge and block (mainly in one-on-one boss fights), the camera prevents you from consistently dodging in a direction to avoid combos. If you can tame the camera, the combat is extremely tight on the Hard difficulty. Lastly, I want to talk about the visuals. I don't think that graphics are what makes a game good. I grew up playing games 10 years behind my friends. While they were playing on the newest consoles with the newest games, I was playing games one to two generations back. When they had Xbox One's, I had a Wii. It did make me appreciate what makes a good game, however. I look for graphics last in a game. Now that I have more income, I can play these high-fidelity games higher than 30 fps. That being said, the graphics do fluctuate. However, they fluctuate on a scale from "incredibly life-like" to pretty damn good. The in-game cutscenes are stunning, so sometimes pulling back to the scrolling text scenes can be a bit jarring. This didn't phase me a whole lot and I don't think it detracts from the game at all. Wandering the colorful and lively streets of the city is still excellent eye candy and I never got bored walking back through areas.
Conclusion: I'm not one to rate games, so I'll offer this: Yakuza 0 is an excellent game full of dense content, well-produced music, incredible graphics, and fairly engaging combat that's wrapped up nicely in an engaging story that I assume sets up 5 rows of dominos each poised to fall during the next games. I highly recommend this game, even for those on the fence about it. And since this game often goes on sale for $5, it's more than worth the risk. If you do purchase this game, keep an open mind. Loosen up. It's ok to laugh, cry, and get lost in this game. When you get hyped for a man taking off his shirt, you've either unlocked a new sexuality, or you finally understand what makes this game great (or both).
TLDR: While wacky, the well-made content and story make this game a must-play.
Intro:
Yakuza was something I never paid any mind to. I'd briefly heard about the series through popular reviewers online and just thought it was another series that I'd always admire from afar because I didn't think I'd like it. Then, I saw a video of a small girl slapping a grown man that immediately cuts to a nude man walking away in silence. Enough was enough, I had to know what the deal with these games was. $20 a piece was too much of an entry fee for me, if I thought I would like these games as much as I wanted to, I needed to go all in. Luckily for me, the very next week a Steam sale bundled all 7 games in the main franchise for just $44. I went all in and I started playing.
Review:
Yakuza 0 is brutal, hilarious, emotional, and engaging. I was immediately drawn in by the drama that ensued in the first hour of the game. Then, I got lost in the vast and dense city where the game takes place. The first half of the game took me 40 hours to play. This isn't a bad thing. I kept becoming sucked into the lives of every citizen of the town and their weird problems. I would be on my way to progress the story, then all of a sudden I'm a real estate agent trying to prevent these billionaires from taking over my beloved city. There are games within games inside this title. I must have sunk 10 hours alone into pocket car racing. The music (while sometimes repetitive) is great. When a track kicks in, you know exactly the type of emotion to be feeling at that moment. The story is over the top, and while it loses its pacing sometimes, it tends to pick itself up just long enough to hit a home run of a story beat. I played the game on Hard first. The combat tends to fluctuate between too easy and aggravating. You quickly figure out that between the two protagonists, if you switch to a certain style and do a certain move, you can bulldoze almost every fight. The aggravating part is while you do have a block and dodge, they aren't reliable enough to use for most of the encounters. Group encounters end up encompassing up to 20 people. If you get caught in one attack, the group swarms you and stun-locks you as they pass you around the group. Again, this is a small issue. I found the combat fairly consistent until the end game and didn't struggle much. When you should utilize your dodge and block (mainly in one-on-one boss fights), the camera prevents you from consistently dodging in a direction to avoid combos. If you can tame the camera, the combat is extremely tight on the Hard difficulty. Lastly, I want to talk about the visuals. I don't think that graphics are what makes a game good. I grew up playing games 10 years behind my friends. While they were playing on the newest consoles with the newest games, I was playing games one to two generations back. When they had Xbox One's, I had a Wii. It did make me appreciate what makes a good game, however. I look for graphics last in a game. Now that I have more income, I can play these high-fidelity games higher than 30 fps. That being said, the graphics do fluctuate. However, they fluctuate on a scale from "incredibly life-like" to pretty damn good. The in-game cutscenes are stunning, so sometimes pulling back to the scrolling text scenes can be a bit jarring. This didn't phase me a whole lot and I don't think it detracts from the game at all. Wandering the colorful and lively streets of the city is still excellent eye candy and I never got bored walking back through areas.
Conclusion: I'm not one to rate games, so I'll offer this: Yakuza 0 is an excellent game full of dense content, well-produced music, incredible graphics, and fairly engaging combat that's wrapped up nicely in an engaging story that I assume sets up 5 rows of dominos each poised to fall during the next games. I highly recommend this game, even for those on the fence about it. And since this game often goes on sale for $5, it's more than worth the risk. If you do purchase this game, keep an open mind. Loosen up. It's ok to laugh, cry, and get lost in this game. When you get hyped for a man taking off his shirt, you've either unlocked a new sexuality, or you finally understand what makes this game great (or both).
TLDR: While wacky, the well-made content and story make this game a must-play.