The only good parts of this game are the FMVs BUT ALL THE GOOD ONES GOT CUT OUT OF THE US VERSION.

One of my favorite shooters of 7th gen. It has RGG's incredible storytelling thrown into a sci-fi setting and shit gets really goofy. Some really hamfisted attempts at saying something about racism, but you can tell they mean well at least. The phrase "scrap-lover' was uttered and it fucking sent me so hard. We've moved on from Secret Koreans and Secret Chinese, now we have secret robots. Cain is my best friend.

This review contains spoilers

When they first announced Infinite Wealth, I was very weary about bringing Kiryu back. His story had ended and bringing him back after they'd already passed the torch in probably the best way they could have felt wrong. However, after playing both Gaiden and Infinite Wealth, I am generally very happy that they did bring him back because despite some misgivings I have with the way things ended, the two of them combined are a very satisfying way to wrap back around and (probably?) end his story.

I'll start with some gameplay stuff because all and all its the thing I have the least to say about. This is the Kingdom Hearts 2 to Yakuza 7's Kingdom Hearts. The basic gameplay has been improved so much that I don't see how they really improve it going forward? I'm sure by the time LAD9 comes around they'll have figured it out but as of now I'm not really sure. I didn't mess around with the jobs as much as I probably should've, but the ones I did use felt great. The amount of side content in this game is absolutely absurd. I didn't do many of the substories in Honolulu (outside of 15 hours of Dondoko Island), but I did do basically every side thing I could in Yokohama. In general, substories in these games aren't really something I spend too much time on except for occasionally in post-game cleanup so I never really have much to say about them, but while the Yokohama side content was a lot shorter in general, it spent so much time reflecting on the series past in a way most series are too scared to do that it was incredibly satisfying to get through them all. It made me genuinely emotional to walk up to a random ass sign and have Kiryu reminisce about what has happened in the past, including bringing up two characters that I was 100% convinced they would never talk about again. The life links were probably the best example of this. By the time those had finished I was really sad that they weren't in the main story because so many people won't bother to finish them and get closure on so many characters most studios wouldn't bother bringing back. Not to mention that hearing Date call Kiryu his best friend fuckin hit me hard, man. I really wish they had gotten more use out of Akiyama though, it feels like ever since he stopped being playable they haven't known what to do with him. With that I guess I might as well move onto the story.

As a whole, my feelings on the story are fairly simple, but they've taken me a few days to really solidify because there's a lot to think about here. As a story, I feel like Yakuza 7 is basically perfect. There isn't really anyway I could see it being improved. Infinite Wealth is a sloppier story, but while it ends up having lower lows than 7, it also ends up with much higher highs. The boss fight with Majima, Saejima, and Daigo was a thing of beauty, and seeing them all barge in at the top of the Millennium Tower and being able to fight along side them for what's likely the last time fucking hit, man. I don't think there's really a misstep on Kiryu's side of things until the very end, which I'm still a little iffy on. Thinking about it now, him still being alive isn't what bothers me, its the way they keep fucking teasing Haruka and the kids and won't just let me have that release of just seeing them together again. I'm really tired of getting blueballed there. After the end of Gaiden and half of this game building up them reuniting, to just have it end right before they get to just kinda pissed me off. I did tear up a little when he got his name back though that was nice. His speech to Ebina right at the end also really got me bad. While I'm on the topic of Ebina, I have to say I wasn't a huge fan of the main villains this time around. Yamai and Dwight were really good and Eiji was such a little shit, but Bryce and Ebina both kinda fell flat for me. Ebina wasn't that bad, in fact in general I think he was fine, but he didn't deserve to be what is likely Kiryu's last fight. I didn't really like Bryce though he just kinda existed and wasn't threatening at all really. As much as I enjoyed what they added to Ichiban in this game, his story just doesn't have the same weight as the series main protagonist using his last days trying to atone for what he feels like he's done.

Something I think this game does mostly really well is its characters, especially it's new ones. Chitose and Tomizawa are both really incredible additions to the cast and I really hope they both stick around. Tomi's drink link is one of the best substories this series has seen. Getting to see more of Seonhee was also really nice, they fleshed her out really well. You could say that about all of the returning Yakuza 7 characters, really. Despite the plot feeling like it leaves Ichiban behind at points, they somehow succeeded in making me love him even more. He's such a goofball and so genuine that its hard not to love him. I really wasn't sure how to feel when Ichi proposed in the beginning but as time went on I kinda got over it and realized that, yeah its incredibly in character for him to do this.

As a whole I would say this is still one of the best games in this series, I think I just hyped myself up a little too much before launch. It shares a lot things with the best in the series. It's story is messy but incredibly heartfelt, the gameplay is a lot of fun, and the big minigame is absolutely phenomenal. I was expecting this to feel like the ultimate end of this era where they fully lept into the future, no longer shackled to the past, but I guess they felt they needed one more to fully get there. As much as I adore Kiryu and all the old guard and despite how attached I am to those previous games, I feel we've reached the point where its time either let it go or lean back into it, but maybe by the time we get to 9 I'll feel differently. Either way, I'm in this bitch for the long haul.

The game that people still say is the greatest RPG ever made because they played it as a kid before their parents got divorced.

I may sound dismissive of it and I do understand completely how impressive and impactful this game was for the time, but there are definitely aspects of this game that frequently get glossed over when people talk about it that bring it down quite a bit. To start with the thing that bothered me the most but is also the most me problem, the random encounters. I don't really like random encounters but in general I can deal with them, but they felt too frequent and oddly placed. There were multiple times where I really felt like they interrupted the flow of the story and it took the wind out of my sails a few times. The next thing to talk about are the minigames, which are almost universally awful. I can't think of one of them that didn't just feel bad to engage with. With a lot of this game you can really tell it was their first 3D game and most of the time that's not a problem, but with these it just kills the mood. The final two things I have to mention are both small but incredibly annoying things that could have easily been avoided. The first is the fact that the scene explaining what happened to Zack is missable with nothing leading you back to it. What happens in that cutscene is incredibly important and if you don't stumble across it that's a whole plotline that will never be resolved. The final thing I want to bitch about for a second is the final boss. Sephiroth is really cool and I mostly didn't mind the fight, but Super Nova made me so upset it genuinely killed any enthusiasm I had about it.

Seeing this through for myself for the first time was a lot of fun and I don't regret it at all. I absolutely agree that this game is amazing. Sadly, those few things made it so in my eyes this could never be the masterpiece it is to a lot of people. I also didn't play it when I was an impressionable child who hadn't had all that shit happen to them yet.

I'm extremely surprised how well this holds up. Playing a PS1 FPS that controls this well feels strange, it actually has proper dual stick controls so it works really well. Other than that it is still just a pretty fun little shooter.

They really wanted to be PT, but instead of being an incredibly inventive and terrifying horror experience, it has maybe the most tone deaf depiction of mental illness I've ever seen. I fucking despised this from every angle. I was very upset when I got to the credits and saw Akira Yamaoka's name because this soundtrack felt like someone heard the SH2 soundtrack once and decided they wanted to make that. Also how the fuck did it run this poorly, it sure as hell doesn't look good enough to. At least the monster was kinda cool. I did also like the effect when the world peeled away that looked cool.

If this and the SH2 remake are how they're going to treat it, maybe Silent Hill should stay dead.

A fun little game with combat that is alright for normal enemies but the bosses suck and the story really just felt like it disappeared for like 6 hours in the middle of the game and that felt shitty. The visuals are amazing though and so is the music for the most part, but the boss theme felt like nails on a chalkboard by the end of the game. The story that's here is cute at least. I need this cover art on my wall.

Really incredible game, I played the first level of this remake at least 4 times between all of the demos over the years and now that I can play the full thing I can gladly say it lives up to that it lives up to my expectations at least. My biggest problem with this game is cyberspace. I know it was the part people hated the most about the original and I don't think they did enough to improve it here, its just a mediocre little shooter. Everything else though is incredible outside of the ending. I love Shodan she's an incredible antagonist.

This is the game I always imagined Jet Set Radio would be before I actually played it. It feels and looks incredible, it has my favorite soundtrack of last year, and the story was surprisingly fun. This was a game made specifically for me.

Everything about this game is basically perfect like I genuinely can't think of any real problems. It deserves all of the praise it has gotten.

I don't think I can properly convey all of my feelings on this game, I've tried very hard but its just not happening. This is a very special game. Larian have truly outdone themselves. I would kill just for more time with these characters, I so desperately want there to be more game so I can just spend time with them. I'm already planning at least two more playthroughs.

I really like the new characters, all of the Kiryu stuff is great, and everything after the point of no return is a 10/10. I couldn't see my screen for the last 20 minutes. I wish the actual yakuza stuff lived up to it. Everything in that department fell a little flat. I did basically all of the side stuff this time and it was fun but definitely not something I would ever do before the end again as it made me way too overpowered and I melted all the story bosses.

Everything before Xen I'd say is either better or at least as good as the original Half-Life, but Xen really took the wind out of my sails. It looks gorgeous, but overall its just a slog. I liked the Xen chapter at first but it very quickly wore out its welcome and sadly the game never recovered. Gonarch's Lair made a bad boss fight just a mediocre one that took forever and Interloper is a warcrime, but Nihilanth is alright at least. This really solidified my opinion that Half-Life is mostly really good, but missions like Residue Processing and of course all of Xen are really rough. The game peaks at Surface Tension and doesn't recover. Sadly, Black Mesa just made that feel even worse by making the 90ish minute Xen of the original this four hour monstrosity.

This is one of the best feeling third person shooters ever made. Every gun being capable of killing in one shot makes them all feel incredibly powerful and dangerous. On top of that, all of the violence in this is brutal and impactful, all of it leaving this grime over the whole thing that makes it feel dirty and gross. It's not Kane & Lynch 2 gross, but its still pretty gnarly. The airport is one of my favorite final levels in any game. It is just one long stretch of this incredible gunplay overlaid with this game's incredible score. HEALTH did an amazing job with the soundtrack and it is one of my favorite soundtracks ever. I've heard people complain about the angrier, more vulgar Max in this game, and I have to say I really don't get it. Dude's been through a lot it makes sense for him to be this fucked up. In general, I like this game's story a lot, I just don't love it like I did 2's. A game with this game's gunplay and 2's writing would be one of the best.

Rockstar will never re-release this game because they don't want you to know that they can make gunplay that feels this good so when GTA VI comes out and still has mediocre gunplay like V you won't know any better.

Man, if they didn't make guns slow you down to a crawl and tightened up the story a bit this would be one of the best games ever. It's so short though that any real problems just kinda fly by and what sticks with me the most is the fun I have whenever I'm platforming.