Jumping from 3 straight to 4 is the best decision I made. The contrast between this game and it’s prequel are astounding and 4 is better in pretty much every way. Combat is far improved, the series finally gets a much needed break from Kiryu’s combat and the soundtrack is phenomenal, and probably my favourite in the series.

I enjoyed all 4 characters combat and stories, and everything interlocked together brilliantly, into a story with genuinely hate-able villains and some badass protagonists. All in all a fantastic game that improves on its predecessor in every way.

Going from Kiwami 2 to this game is painful to say the least. The graphics are far worse, the controls are clunky and the combat (especially bosses) is not fun. I hated Okinawa as most of it felt like useless filler and I'll be honest and say I was almost tempted to stop playing this game.

But then I got to Kamurocho, and by then, I had got enough upgrades to have a good amount of combat options. But not only that, the story as soon as I got to Kamurocho blew me away. Yakuza 3 probably has some of, if not the best gripping plot twists I've seen in Yakuza so far, and that really helped soften the blow of the less than stellar gameplay. This game certainly has a few sad moments as are a trademark feature of this series too, which spurs you on even more.

All in all, the game is short enough that this is obviously worth playing for Yakuza fans, and I hear Yakuza 4 onwards is a big improvement. 3.5 out of 5 because I can't decide between 3 or 3.5