i'll update this review if my opinion changes by the time i finish it, but so far this feels like a downgrade from kiwami 1. the combat feels more expressive and more limited at the same time, and while they've taken ragdolling to a comedic extreme, it winds up being frustrating because you have to run over to the enemy that you punched across the arena to finish him off.
the story is merely "fine" so far. this game has the yakuza charm, but it feels kind of phoned-in and samey at this point. i haven't played the original ps2 versions of the first two games, but i understand this is a vastly different game to the original yakuza 2, and the way i hear people talk about that original makes me think i should emulate it instead of playing kiwami 2. it's still an alright game on its own, but the first kiwami was a really focused and smartly-designed reboot for the series post-y0, and this one feels like a bit of a mess.
the story is merely "fine" so far. this game has the yakuza charm, but it feels kind of phoned-in and samey at this point. i haven't played the original ps2 versions of the first two games, but i understand this is a vastly different game to the original yakuza 2, and the way i hear people talk about that original makes me think i should emulate it instead of playing kiwami 2. it's still an alright game on its own, but the first kiwami was a really focused and smartly-designed reboot for the series post-y0, and this one feels like a bit of a mess.