in a chronological play-through of the series this game serves as a little taste of what's to come for those who stick it out all the way to yakuza 6, and goddamn is it a convincing reason to keep at it. dragon engine has its hiccups for sure, but it runs perfectly fine on a ps4 pro or anything nicer, and it makes kamurocho pop in a totally new way to those used to the 0/kiwami engine, which had really run its course by the time most of us in the west got around to playing this series. the vibrancy of each city's neon skyline diffracts in such a lovely way as civilians realistically window shop and grab a bite to eat. kiryu smoothly walks into buildings now sans loading screens, and can even toss enemies through shop windows at will. yakuza games have always relied on the physical space of kamurocho and the other cities as a main source of appeal, and the technical upgrade further infuses life into these areas.
with the above in mind, I'm split between two interpretations of this game: a remake beset with the same issues as the original kiwami in a much better engine, or a legitimately more fleshed out remake in comparison to the original kiwami, just with a shorter tail than I would like for a yakuza game. either way it's quite a good game in its own right, and a revelation compared to the previous engine. however, as I'm writing this review after playing yakuza 6, I can say that game is functionally better in every way than kiwami 2, a bit like how my opinion of kiwami dropped significantly after playing 0. this puts it in about the mid-range of yakuza games for me: it doesn't excel in any particular way, but it has all the hallmarks of the series needed to make it a satisfying experience.
starting with the story, this game's plot attempts to develop new avenues to move kiryu and the tojo clan into with mixed results. the start of the game coyly admits to the series's proclivity for killing off characters en masse, as fifth chairman terada is killed and the organization faces a succession crisis. their solution to this, daigo dojima, really misses the mark... it's hard to see the pragmatic character of his later appearances here. he starts off as a punk and basically has no arc other than getting his ass kicked over and over again and sulking. part of this is because the story veers off track immediately to split its time between the oni alliance coup/ryuji goda's war against the tojo clan and the jingweon mafia subplot. I know goda is a fan favorite but as a main villain he's merely cartoonish, with little depth to his character and virtually nothing propelling him other than his drive to be a legendary yakuza; even at the end of the game when more of his character is revealed he doesn't seem to care at all. this game also attempts to give kiryu a love interest with detective kaoru sayama in a subplot that feels off even at this point in the series. there's a modicum of chemistry, but at the end of the day it makes sense that they immediately put her on a bus at the beginning of yakuza 3. her goal of uncovering organized crime is well-established but her investigation of the jingweon mafia massacre never makes the incident out to be anything more than an Exciting Reveals generator, rather than doing much interrogation into the effect of its events on all involved (basically the entire main cast, even kiryu, who seems entirely unfazed having remembered he was there). on top of all of the above, the plot is littered with filler that drags the game on far longer than it needed to be, though it at least sets up the later idol haruka premise in yakuza 5.
the combat here is derived from yakuza 6 with much of the missing mechanics from pre-dragon engine games restored. this includes ground takedowns and carryable weapons, the latter of which can now be permanently picked up from the ground rather than needing to be purchased or gifted. all the fun of dragon engine combat remains thankfully, and I think the purposefully-ridiculous ragdoll physics have been cranked up just a bit here. however, with the added mechanics, kiryu is unstoppable to the point of removing any remote challenge from the combat. if kiwami is the most difficult yakuza game, kiwami 2 is the easiest, as virtually nothing in the game poses a threat. the action stages are solid, though I can't say writing this a year later I remember any past the castle siege + double tiger fight. yakuza 2 also introduces dorky weapons expert and series mainstay kamiyama, who appears here as a backlot DVD bootlegger. his role would be expanded in later games, but you can still grab a bevy of top-notch weapons from him here, including an infinite pistol that's suprisingly easy to obtain.
kiryu gets two returning sidestories in this entry: clan creator from y6 and cabaret management from y0. clan creator in yk2 is functionally the reverse of its previous iteration, as you now have to defend majima construction from waves of encroaching yakuza. it's a more traditional tower defense structure, and not one I particularly enjoy. moving units around rts-style with a controller interface feels clunky, and the fun of overwhelming the opponent with numbers from the y6 version simply doesn't exist here. cabaret management is definitely better by comparison, but it's the same as its y0 iteration with a handful of minor QoL additions. it's got plenty of cheeky nods back to the y0 version's plot and characters, and one day I'll definitely come back to it, but after playing through all of y0's cabaret management it becomes difficult to retread such worn ground.
substories here suffer from the writers having not quite settled into their formula and normal story beats. there's standouts for sure, but many of the substories are half-baked and brief, and in my opinion the offering lacks the consistency of even the first. the friendship ones in particular lack any hook or fun moments, with the only reward being an extra contextual heat action when fights occur next to the friend. the combat sidestory fares a bit better thankfully: kiryu can receive freelance "bouncer" missions from the bartender at debolah. these are action stages that take place within kamurocho with plenty of inexplicable giant walls to break and portly minibosses to take down. my biggest qualm with it are the completion requirements, as you'll need to complete all 25 missions on three difficulties each to gain all the rewards. this is one of the biggest things that's kept me from returning to this game more often; it's just too boring and I don't feel like doing it!
minigames overall are the high point of the game, with plenty of returning ones from y6 and a couple new ones. virtua fighter 2 makes its reappearance from y5 along with oddball model 2 pick virtual-on, which is a weird-ass game but sort of neat at the same time. one of the most eye-raising additions are piss minigames you can access after raising an internal piss meter by drinking beverages. these "toylets" games apparently exist in real life as well? sort of dope honestly. understanding how to play some of these confused me a little bit, especially the one where you're trying to duel streams with an opponent, but the concept is rife with laughs the first couple times. karaoke makes a return in its superior dragon engine iteration, along with a much-appreciated driving range. coliseum also make a reappearance with giant multi-man battle royales that are a joy to clobber through. your opponents in these fights can be unlocked by encountering them as minibosses in each city as part of the "street boss" system, where unique assailants can be unlocked by clearing out a given group of delinquents in each area. compared to some of the other games in the series, the variety is solid and the fact that they all show up again in the coliseum is a nice touch as well. the final minigames other than these are the batting range and some horny photography thing that I didn't really have much interest in. there's nothing here that matches yakuza 6 levels of quality imo, but it's certainly on-par with or better than any of the other games in the franchise.
I've written this review in fits and spurts over the course of a couple months, and the longer I spend writing it the more I focus on the flaws of the game rather than its relative strengths. I really did enjoy this when I play it, and so I wanted to make sure I highlighted some of the best points of this game:
+sotenbori is an amazing city design, the perfect complement to kamurocho, no question. gotta give props to yakuza 2 for originating the area, and kiwami 2 does an excellent job modernizing it and filling out its nooks and crannies.
+using acupuncture to remind yourself of old moves is so unorthodox and I love it. it also solves the issue of explaining how kiryu forgot so many moves in just a year's time
+the tiger fight is top-notch. really that whole osaka castle action stage is one of the best in the series
+there's a majima scenario that takes place before the events of the game and spotlights some of the top-level clan politics during the terada chairmanship. except actually it's mostly blatant y0 fanservice... and not really that interesting. sorry, not much of a positive but I had to put this somewhere
solid game overall, but I can't help but think that I don't like this game as much as I would otherwise because the blatant grind in the post-game turned me off. I happen to own a copy of the original on ps2, and I'd like to go back and play it at some point to compare notes and see if I prefer that version. it's absolutely a game worth checking out regardless, and in my view certainly a step up over kiwami 1 given the limited budget and dev cycle of each.
with the above in mind, I'm split between two interpretations of this game: a remake beset with the same issues as the original kiwami in a much better engine, or a legitimately more fleshed out remake in comparison to the original kiwami, just with a shorter tail than I would like for a yakuza game. either way it's quite a good game in its own right, and a revelation compared to the previous engine. however, as I'm writing this review after playing yakuza 6, I can say that game is functionally better in every way than kiwami 2, a bit like how my opinion of kiwami dropped significantly after playing 0. this puts it in about the mid-range of yakuza games for me: it doesn't excel in any particular way, but it has all the hallmarks of the series needed to make it a satisfying experience.
starting with the story, this game's plot attempts to develop new avenues to move kiryu and the tojo clan into with mixed results. the start of the game coyly admits to the series's proclivity for killing off characters en masse, as fifth chairman terada is killed and the organization faces a succession crisis. their solution to this, daigo dojima, really misses the mark... it's hard to see the pragmatic character of his later appearances here. he starts off as a punk and basically has no arc other than getting his ass kicked over and over again and sulking. part of this is because the story veers off track immediately to split its time between the oni alliance coup/ryuji goda's war against the tojo clan and the jingweon mafia subplot. I know goda is a fan favorite but as a main villain he's merely cartoonish, with little depth to his character and virtually nothing propelling him other than his drive to be a legendary yakuza; even at the end of the game when more of his character is revealed he doesn't seem to care at all. this game also attempts to give kiryu a love interest with detective kaoru sayama in a subplot that feels off even at this point in the series. there's a modicum of chemistry, but at the end of the day it makes sense that they immediately put her on a bus at the beginning of yakuza 3. her goal of uncovering organized crime is well-established but her investigation of the jingweon mafia massacre never makes the incident out to be anything more than an Exciting Reveals generator, rather than doing much interrogation into the effect of its events on all involved (basically the entire main cast, even kiryu, who seems entirely unfazed having remembered he was there). on top of all of the above, the plot is littered with filler that drags the game on far longer than it needed to be, though it at least sets up the later idol haruka premise in yakuza 5.
the combat here is derived from yakuza 6 with much of the missing mechanics from pre-dragon engine games restored. this includes ground takedowns and carryable weapons, the latter of which can now be permanently picked up from the ground rather than needing to be purchased or gifted. all the fun of dragon engine combat remains thankfully, and I think the purposefully-ridiculous ragdoll physics have been cranked up just a bit here. however, with the added mechanics, kiryu is unstoppable to the point of removing any remote challenge from the combat. if kiwami is the most difficult yakuza game, kiwami 2 is the easiest, as virtually nothing in the game poses a threat. the action stages are solid, though I can't say writing this a year later I remember any past the castle siege + double tiger fight. yakuza 2 also introduces dorky weapons expert and series mainstay kamiyama, who appears here as a backlot DVD bootlegger. his role would be expanded in later games, but you can still grab a bevy of top-notch weapons from him here, including an infinite pistol that's suprisingly easy to obtain.
kiryu gets two returning sidestories in this entry: clan creator from y6 and cabaret management from y0. clan creator in yk2 is functionally the reverse of its previous iteration, as you now have to defend majima construction from waves of encroaching yakuza. it's a more traditional tower defense structure, and not one I particularly enjoy. moving units around rts-style with a controller interface feels clunky, and the fun of overwhelming the opponent with numbers from the y6 version simply doesn't exist here. cabaret management is definitely better by comparison, but it's the same as its y0 iteration with a handful of minor QoL additions. it's got plenty of cheeky nods back to the y0 version's plot and characters, and one day I'll definitely come back to it, but after playing through all of y0's cabaret management it becomes difficult to retread such worn ground.
substories here suffer from the writers having not quite settled into their formula and normal story beats. there's standouts for sure, but many of the substories are half-baked and brief, and in my opinion the offering lacks the consistency of even the first. the friendship ones in particular lack any hook or fun moments, with the only reward being an extra contextual heat action when fights occur next to the friend. the combat sidestory fares a bit better thankfully: kiryu can receive freelance "bouncer" missions from the bartender at debolah. these are action stages that take place within kamurocho with plenty of inexplicable giant walls to break and portly minibosses to take down. my biggest qualm with it are the completion requirements, as you'll need to complete all 25 missions on three difficulties each to gain all the rewards. this is one of the biggest things that's kept me from returning to this game more often; it's just too boring and I don't feel like doing it!
minigames overall are the high point of the game, with plenty of returning ones from y6 and a couple new ones. virtua fighter 2 makes its reappearance from y5 along with oddball model 2 pick virtual-on, which is a weird-ass game but sort of neat at the same time. one of the most eye-raising additions are piss minigames you can access after raising an internal piss meter by drinking beverages. these "toylets" games apparently exist in real life as well? sort of dope honestly. understanding how to play some of these confused me a little bit, especially the one where you're trying to duel streams with an opponent, but the concept is rife with laughs the first couple times. karaoke makes a return in its superior dragon engine iteration, along with a much-appreciated driving range. coliseum also make a reappearance with giant multi-man battle royales that are a joy to clobber through. your opponents in these fights can be unlocked by encountering them as minibosses in each city as part of the "street boss" system, where unique assailants can be unlocked by clearing out a given group of delinquents in each area. compared to some of the other games in the series, the variety is solid and the fact that they all show up again in the coliseum is a nice touch as well. the final minigames other than these are the batting range and some horny photography thing that I didn't really have much interest in. there's nothing here that matches yakuza 6 levels of quality imo, but it's certainly on-par with or better than any of the other games in the franchise.
I've written this review in fits and spurts over the course of a couple months, and the longer I spend writing it the more I focus on the flaws of the game rather than its relative strengths. I really did enjoy this when I play it, and so I wanted to make sure I highlighted some of the best points of this game:
+sotenbori is an amazing city design, the perfect complement to kamurocho, no question. gotta give props to yakuza 2 for originating the area, and kiwami 2 does an excellent job modernizing it and filling out its nooks and crannies.
+using acupuncture to remind yourself of old moves is so unorthodox and I love it. it also solves the issue of explaining how kiryu forgot so many moves in just a year's time
+the tiger fight is top-notch. really that whole osaka castle action stage is one of the best in the series
+there's a majima scenario that takes place before the events of the game and spotlights some of the top-level clan politics during the terada chairmanship. except actually it's mostly blatant y0 fanservice... and not really that interesting. sorry, not much of a positive but I had to put this somewhere
solid game overall, but I can't help but think that I don't like this game as much as I would otherwise because the blatant grind in the post-game turned me off. I happen to own a copy of the original on ps2, and I'd like to go back and play it at some point to compare notes and see if I prefer that version. it's absolutely a game worth checking out regardless, and in my view certainly a step up over kiwami 1 given the limited budget and dev cycle of each.
2 Comments
i sat down and watched part of the second half (i had watched the first half previously) and yea, people think the vibes are off for yk2. what i definitely do know is that i like the y3 combat a lot more than yk2, and if i went back to y2 on ps2 i would probably enjoy it just as much as y3.
DJSCheddar
2 years ago