It has been a while since I played Need For Speed franchise. The last I played was Carbon(which is the first NFS game which I started as a child, I guess). Nevertheless, back to this game.

Graphics in this game, as many people say, is so gorgeous, no denying here. The night atmosphere is mainly the reason of why it works. No complains here, that might be the most appropriate way for a street racing game. During all my playthrough I've never been tired of the graphics and each day I played at least like 3 hours a day to get enough dopamine for it, heh.

Gameplay on the other hand... well, it's 50/50 for me.
Overall, the return and update of drift/grip tuning I really liked, it really gave more variability to your cars and it's really pleasant to feel when you hit the right setting that has enough speed and/or drifting. It would have worked perfectly... if devs didn't fail with races. Oh, the irony...
One of the main problems with this game is that there are a lot of drift sections(as my friends said, it contains approximately 60% of it).
I, mostly, have a lot of critiques with the "Drift trial". Man, If only bots could normally drift with the player, but no, most of the time they drive at fixed speed AND route. They drive up to 100 km/h and THEN they drift. When you upgrade your car that can go from 0 to 100 in a matter of seconds it really gives a feeling of discomfort and you, as a player, literally HAVE TO match their speed, If you're too fast for them, you won't earn points; if you're too slow, you also won't earn points. It's a failed mode, to say the least.
I don't have much trouble with circuit and sprint races. Except maybe one: the difficulty, especially the "hard" ones. When I see a hard difficulty, I expect challenge, competitiveness and etc. What I get? Just longer races. That's it. I don't want to continue this topic.
Yeah, also, this is mostly nitpick, but I'll say it anyway. I've played this game for 30 hours and literally by the ENDGAME, I discovered that there are actually teleports to races. Yes, I've spent 30% of my time by riding to races. There was no mention about the race teleport(ofc I knew about garage teleports, but it's literally on your face). It's unintuitiveness has led to this result.

Now story... just the guys who love racing and thankfully to the mc, they manage to hang out with their idols. That's it, and you know what? I don't have any problem with it. The story is here just to motivate the player to race and discover it's game mechanics and world. Yeah, it's nothing special, but I mean... cmon. It's Need For Speed and the story of most of its games were "ok" at best.

And lastly, the bugs... ugh.
Yeah, that's just embarassing. Road disappearing, e-handle not working properly, cars appearing out of nowhere, cops f**king accelerating when you teleport for unknown reason and etc. I know that development for games with each year becomes harder and harder, but there are always time to fix it after releasing the game... yeah, I guess they just gave up.
Because of these problems, the "Prestige mode" practically becomes impossible to complete with 3 stars. Please note, that it IS possible, but you must have an amount of skill for this game and LUCK, so that nothing wouldn't appear in front of you. I didn't have luck at all when I spent 2 hours on 1 race. Make your conclusion yourself here.

Overall, the game is with flaws, no doubt here. Bugs can literally break immersion, story isn't much to talk about, music is ok and expectations since that time weren't met. Is it this bad?
The answer is no. This need for speed has enough amount of enjoyment when you play it, especially with its atmosphere. Driving the cars is enjoyable enough. Even some songs that I listened to were enjoyable. It is an enjoyable experience.
The criticism this game received is totally justified in every way. However, let's not forget there are positive sides too. I rest my case.

It's the start of the 2020, there were still some memes of the song "Baka Mitai" and here I am, finally purchasing the game for PS4 during the sale because of these memes. Of course, I had some knowledge that this is a crime drama in terms of story and oh boy, these people weren't lying.

Story is the first and foremost for which this game gets praise, and I agree with them. I am not going to make a long explanation on the story but I'll say that this game has one of the best story-telling that I've ever experienced. From one side, you have funny moments during sidequests and on the other side, you're fully invested in this whole crime drama story. A perfect mix of both.
Almost every side character is lovable and the same love goes with their voice acting. You feel their emotions and during post-credits scene I cried like a girl.

There are also mini-games and side-stories. One of the best in the series also(close rivalry with Yakuza: Like a Dragon). Like, I spent in total around 120 hours and I experienced and 100%'ed the game at full capacity. I dare say, I actually LIKED mahjong and with each series my understanding of this mini-game becomes clearer and clearer. Screw shogi, though. Not my cup of tea.

Comparing the combat between Yakuza 5 and this game(after playing whole main series) I'd say that Yakuza 0 is the best beat-em-up combat that you can play(in prior, I haven't played Lost Judgment yet). Each style has a theme and in each one you're just jamming non-stop.

To summarize, one of the best parts in the whole series and a great introduction to the series. Though, for people who wants to start this franchise from 0 to (the upcoming) 8, I advice you to better take your time! It took me 3 years to play the main series, so careful with your time management!

As a fan of Yakuza/Like a Dragon series I only recently discovered this game. No wonder, because it was Japan exclusive and man... we really were robbed for that.
Thanks to the english translation team that made a patch. Really made an impact here.

Not many games on PSP were mainly story-driven, luckily this game offers a unique perspective on a new character, Ukyo Tatsuya. A usual two-bit thug who was a lone wolf but later in the game tries to find his philosophy of fighting. A really well-written character and player starts sympathize with him more and more as story goes on.

Substories on the other hand... weren't that memorising. Yeah, there are a few which goes on and on(i.e. gang wars), but mostly they are forgetful. And you also can collect 101 cats for an old man... it is a notorious experience.

Minigames themselves aren't that exciting comparing to the main series, however there is a variety. In karaoke you just mash a button until time runs out; In baseball you, as usual, hit the ball, but because of the bad camera placement, it's hard to tell when you must hit the ball and etc.
There are also part-time jobs, but they are mostly time-consuming if you aren't careful with money management(and believe me, you MUST have a certain amount of money for story at the very least).

Fighting is unique. Yes, it IS a PSP game, so you won't have a similar experience like in yakuza 1 or 2. However, it isn't bad! There are a lot of fighting styles and each of them has unique fighting animations and methods of dealing with an enemy.
There is a downside though, leveling up these fighting styles can be tricky and if you're not careful enough you'll be completing the game with maximum of half the style that are in the game. Luckily, I aknowledged the problem before it was too late and managed to discover almost every style.
Leveling up your punches, kick and etc costs money though, and I can't say that they are balanced. But it's not like you'll have a lot of money to begin with so whatever.
Also there's a random encounter problem which is similar to Yakuza 5. If you know, you know, but if you don't... let's say you're going to fight a lot of yankees(or run away from cops, it depends).

Music is FIRE! Every song was made specifically for this game and I find it really interesting on how composers were dedicated to make thess banger songs. Hideki Naganuma himself took part in making music for this game and you can hear it. Almost every song is awesome and you won't get tired of hearing it. I, in particular, fell in love with the main theme "MUPPET". So much drive and excitement in this song, I love it.

In conclusion, a good introduction of a new character in Yakuza/LAD series while being a PSP game. Such a shame that not many could experince this game in western territory. If you like Yakuza/LAD series then you should definitely try this game.