Huh. Color me surprised.

The talk surrounding this game is... mixed and therefore I was expecting to be disappointed. I thought the combat would be unbearable, it did, after all, earn the "blockuza" title. Well... it kinda wasn't bad.

First off - if you, like me, buy all the Yakuza games on a modern platform to play them chronologically you will be faced with a jarring jump from Kiwami 2 to Yakuza 3. After beating a full remake released in 2016 you immediately get thrown into an early PS3 title with a bumped resolution and framerate. It's not like it deeply disturbed me - it has a certain charm and the game definitely didn't age too bad, but it is nonetheless a noticeable downgrade.

But, as to not be too negative, I have to admit the game looks and feels pretty good. Definitely not ugly, although the faces on some of the background characters and some of the animations (goodness, the walking animation of the children...) are so bad that they kinda crack me up. I think the new locations, especially the beach in front of Morning Glory, look pretty great.

In terms of combat... I heard that it's messed up because of the increased framerate, the AI is not used to twice the original speed and the heat meter goes down too fast. I'm certainly willing to believe that, but I will not verify it. What I can verify is that the enemies certainly block a lot. It's not too bad when you're fighting groups of weaker enemies, the game is actually a lot of fun in those moments, but some of the bosses are really nerve-racking. By the end of the game you should have combos long enough to break through the block and get some hits in, but that doesn't really mitigate the issue. It's just annoying and time-wasting. Overall the combat feels fine, I saw no point in the weapon system that they seemed to be pushing. I didn't feel like engaging with the whole upgrade stuff so I was running around with the starting stick and it didn't deal a whole lot of damage outside of heat actions, but hey, I managed. The game is overall much easier than it's predecessors.

When it comes to wasting time, this game offers you a lot of occasions to walk around the city aimlessly until you finally bump into the person you were looking for or to chase people around the very same city. Those sequences were actually the only times that I got to see the game over screen. Also the random combat encounters are much harder to dodge because they're really not well signified. Annoying stuff.

Finally, the story. I actually think it's fantastic. Right behind 0's. A well put together conspiracy with high stakes coupled with a cast of characters that I actually cared about? And a great villain to boot? AND multiple fatherhood themes? I actually almost teared up at times. These Japanese fellas know how to get to me.

All in all, probably my 2nd favorite in the series. Hope they follow it up well with... Yakuza 4! Coming soon.

It's spring-break so I'm gonna have a lot more time to spend in Kamurocho. Expect the next review very soon.

A really good first outing for Evening Star. I'm a sucker for 3D platformers, so I had a great time with this. The physics and movement feel satisfying and on-point, especially once you get a hang of the moveset. The game is at it's best when you breeze through the level, barely ever stopping, not touching the ground with your feet. Fortunately the level design is great and really compliments the movement. Speed is a reward for skillful play. That's how it's supposed to be.

They did what they could with their budget when it comes to presentation. The game certainly is vibrant and creative. I like the whole crayon look they've got going on. The music is great, as expected from Tee Lopes. The cutscenes are where the lack of budget shows, but I'd rather they spend the money on the stuff that really matters. The story in this game is just background noise.

My only problems are the underwhelming bosses (figures) and the occasional clipping issues. Other than that, I'm not disappointed.

My Yakuza marathon continues with Kiwami 2. I quite liked this one.

The new engine, I believe it's called the Dragon Engine, is great. The game looks and feels great. The new combat felt much more satisfying to me, every punch had it's impact. It is a much simpler system though, far less upgrades, less combos, less special moves. It got pretty repetitive after a while. In that regard 0 and Kiwami are better, offering robust skill trees and different battle styles. One more thing I appreciate about Kiwami 2's combat is the lack of stagger after getting shot. The armed enemies were much more bearable here.

So while the game looks great and the combat feels great, one downside of the engine is the accursed 30 FPS cap. The bane of the 8th generation. Going from the silky smooth 0 and Kiwami, that was a major disappointment. I'm the annoying kind of guy who really cares about getting his 60 FPS.

The story is mediocre. Filled with plot-twist, conspiracies stacked upon conspiracies, secret Koreans left and right. Some threads got too little attention in my opinion. I have heard that the later games are even more convoluted and bloated, so that's gonna be tough. There are characters I do like here, there are some kinda emotional moments, but it's not as strong as in the previous two games, and Kiwami was already siginificantly worse than 0.

Gonna take a short break from Yakuza to play through Penny's Big Breakaway now. Then it's time for Yakuza 3 or "blockuza" as it seems to be named by the community.