This review contains spoilers
Finished playing Yakuza 4
Shun Akiyama my beloved :3
This game is fricking awesome, i thought it wasn't gonna be anything that blew my socks off because it doesn't really get a high amount of praise or a high amount of hate. The game is split into 5 different parts where you play as 4 protagonists. Kamurocho is a fun city to traverse, you can order food, play table tennis, go to the karaoke, go to a batting center etc. In part 1 you play as Shun Akiyama a handsome fella who lends money to people who pass his test. Akiyama is the 2nd most fun character to play as imo, his fighting style literally kicks ass and he has really awesome heat actions. In part 1 we also get introduced to Yasuko and Kido, both side characters that i liked. Ihara and Midorikawa are alright bosses but Daisaku Minami is a dope fight and a dope asf character who sadly gets like 1 minute of screentime. My main problem with this part is that Akiyama has the weakest substories out of all the characters, they aren't bad by any means, but they are very forgettable.
The first few chapters of part 2 are quite crazy, you see Majima with 2 eyes, the shootout scene, you break out of prison and you fight Kiryu. Saejima is a really fun character to play as, his fighting style is centered around charging powerful attacks but a nitpick i have about his combat is that he has the worst heat actions out of all the characters but they still aren't bad. Part 2 has better bosses than every part except maybe the final part. Saito is a dogshit boss but Kiryu, Ivan, Minami and Majima are all really good. Sadly we don't see Minami again after this part 😦
Saejima has really good substories especially the brother and sister ones. What keeps part 2 from being perfect is that dogshit prison break section and traversing kamurocho as Saejima is annoying as fuck because of all those damn cops.
Part 3 is the best part in my opinion.
Tanimura's combat is really great, i fuckin love his parrying and he has some pretty good heat actions. This part has the best story, it has the only somewhat decent villain in this game (Junji Sugiuchi), Tanimura has the best substories and i personally don't have any problems with this part, except that one moment where the cops were just letting Sugiuchi walk out room because they can't shoot but they can just yk arrest him?
In part 4 you finally play as Kiryu. Kiryu has easily the best combat imo because tiger drop go brr and he has the best heat actions.
The only boss fight here is Tanimura and Akiyama which is pretty solid and Kiryu's substories are really good. I really didn't like how they killed Yasuko in this part tho, you're telling me Saejima just decided to spare Katsurabitch because he just wasn't worth killing? And why was Kiryu just standing there? And why didn't Yasuko just shoot Katsuragi right when Saejima got shot? Part 5 is a good finale. They nailed Daigo, Arai and Kido's boss fight but Munakata's "boss" (which is also the last "boss" you fight) is fucking dogshit. I would've preferred if the boss was just one single strong ass bodyguard but nope lets put a bunch of enemies that dodge half of your attacks while Munakata shoots you, yep thats definitely gonna be a good fight! Only good this about this fight is the intro and also when i finally took down all those fucking bodyguards i did as many heat actions as i could on Munakata because he is a pussy ass bitch and one of the lamest villains ever, like seriously idk how they made such a painfully lame villain. Speaking of villains Katsuragi was also lame, Arai was alright but he lacked a LOT of screentime and like i said before Sugiuchi is the only somewhat decent villain that also lacks screentime but at least those 5 minutes of screentime were memorable.
Also the rubber bullets plot twist isn't as bad as some people say, i'm not gonna start spouting nonsense and say that it's actually a brilliant plot twist but it really wasn't that bad. The ost is genuinely fucking amazing, so many banger songs like the myth, material delights, for face and so much more. Overall i think this game deserves way more love, the combat is without a doubt awesome, the bosses are pretty good except for a few of them, all 4 protagonists are fucking awesome, the side content is really great, the ost is amazing and imo the dumb moments and the lame ass villains in the story, the Saejima prison break section and the final boss are what keep this game from being perfect. 9/10
Shun Akiyama my beloved :3
This game is fricking awesome, i thought it wasn't gonna be anything that blew my socks off because it doesn't really get a high amount of praise or a high amount of hate. The game is split into 5 different parts where you play as 4 protagonists. Kamurocho is a fun city to traverse, you can order food, play table tennis, go to the karaoke, go to a batting center etc. In part 1 you play as Shun Akiyama a handsome fella who lends money to people who pass his test. Akiyama is the 2nd most fun character to play as imo, his fighting style literally kicks ass and he has really awesome heat actions. In part 1 we also get introduced to Yasuko and Kido, both side characters that i liked. Ihara and Midorikawa are alright bosses but Daisaku Minami is a dope fight and a dope asf character who sadly gets like 1 minute of screentime. My main problem with this part is that Akiyama has the weakest substories out of all the characters, they aren't bad by any means, but they are very forgettable.
The first few chapters of part 2 are quite crazy, you see Majima with 2 eyes, the shootout scene, you break out of prison and you fight Kiryu. Saejima is a really fun character to play as, his fighting style is centered around charging powerful attacks but a nitpick i have about his combat is that he has the worst heat actions out of all the characters but they still aren't bad. Part 2 has better bosses than every part except maybe the final part. Saito is a dogshit boss but Kiryu, Ivan, Minami and Majima are all really good. Sadly we don't see Minami again after this part 😦
Saejima has really good substories especially the brother and sister ones. What keeps part 2 from being perfect is that dogshit prison break section and traversing kamurocho as Saejima is annoying as fuck because of all those damn cops.
Part 3 is the best part in my opinion.
Tanimura's combat is really great, i fuckin love his parrying and he has some pretty good heat actions. This part has the best story, it has the only somewhat decent villain in this game (Junji Sugiuchi), Tanimura has the best substories and i personally don't have any problems with this part, except that one moment where the cops were just letting Sugiuchi walk out room because they can't shoot but they can just yk arrest him?
In part 4 you finally play as Kiryu. Kiryu has easily the best combat imo because tiger drop go brr and he has the best heat actions.
The only boss fight here is Tanimura and Akiyama which is pretty solid and Kiryu's substories are really good. I really didn't like how they killed Yasuko in this part tho, you're telling me Saejima just decided to spare Katsurabitch because he just wasn't worth killing? And why was Kiryu just standing there? And why didn't Yasuko just shoot Katsuragi right when Saejima got shot? Part 5 is a good finale. They nailed Daigo, Arai and Kido's boss fight but Munakata's "boss" (which is also the last "boss" you fight) is fucking dogshit. I would've preferred if the boss was just one single strong ass bodyguard but nope lets put a bunch of enemies that dodge half of your attacks while Munakata shoots you, yep thats definitely gonna be a good fight! Only good this about this fight is the intro and also when i finally took down all those fucking bodyguards i did as many heat actions as i could on Munakata because he is a pussy ass bitch and one of the lamest villains ever, like seriously idk how they made such a painfully lame villain. Speaking of villains Katsuragi was also lame, Arai was alright but he lacked a LOT of screentime and like i said before Sugiuchi is the only somewhat decent villain that also lacks screentime but at least those 5 minutes of screentime were memorable.
Also the rubber bullets plot twist isn't as bad as some people say, i'm not gonna start spouting nonsense and say that it's actually a brilliant plot twist but it really wasn't that bad. The ost is genuinely fucking amazing, so many banger songs like the myth, material delights, for face and so much more. Overall i think this game deserves way more love, the combat is without a doubt awesome, the bosses are pretty good except for a few of them, all 4 protagonists are fucking awesome, the side content is really great, the ost is amazing and imo the dumb moments and the lame ass villains in the story, the Saejima prison break section and the final boss are what keep this game from being perfect. 9/10