Handily the weakest Yakuza game I've yet played, but it retains enough of what makes the series work to at least be fun even if there is a mountain of problems. For starters, this might be one of my favorite soundtracks in the series so far. The mid 2000's style just jives with me a whole lot, and has some really great tracks like Fly, Dead Run, Bruise, and Independence for Violence.

It's aged pretty well in terms of the controls and visuals, so jumping from Kiwami 2 to this wasn't as much of a jump as I expected. The main issues start to come in with combat. Enemies block all the time, and bosses are often ungrabbable. Combine this with how much health they often have, and the bosses can be a slog. The final boss was sick though.

The story is the weakest one in the series I've seen yet, too. While Kiwami 1's was not the most engaging, 3's is just terribly paced in a lot of places. They build up to reveals that are unsatisfying, have no telegraph, and are just dryly explained in a big exposition dump. The actual plot isn't bad, but the way it's put together is not great. Not to mention how it's momentum is often killed by Orphanage shenanigans. At the very least, there's some great side characters and a very good main villain.

All in all, it's fine. Mostly mediocre with some frustrating decisions bolstered by still strong characters, dumb side content, and occasionally great moments.