Yakuza 4 Review

Story:

Yakuza 4 takes place one year after the events of Yakuza 3, and follows the stories of 4 people who find their paths linked to finding the truth behind a murder and a beautiful mystery of a woman named Lily. Each part of the story focuses on one of the four characters, three of them new to the Yakuza Series, a Loan Shark, an Inmate on Death Row and a Police Officer. The game offers a recap of what happened during the last three games, for those who haven’t played them yet so it gives them a better understanding of the whole story.

Gameplay:

Combat takes place in the form of random encounters with random Street Thugs, other Yakuza gang members and other such foes, each character fights slightly different than the other, one uses rapid fast kicks, another uses pure power and such, though the basics follow for each character with square for standard attacks, triangle for kicks and follow up attacks for square attacks, circle is for grabs and X for dodging. As you complete fights and side quests, you earn experience, this goes towards leveling up, which raises your health and HEAT bars as well as points to spend on upgrades, some upgrades differ for each character, one may get longer standard combo attacks, the other may have stronger throws and so on. During Boss Battles you’ll trigger a Quick Time Event near the end of the fight which will be a time to deal some extra damage, course if you miss the timing then your character will be the one taking some damage instead. Along with fights you can come across side quests or Substories as the game calls it, these give a bit of extra background about the characters involved and net a good bit of experience points along the way. Also in the game are different challenges that relate to a different character, for example: The Loan Shark is also the owner of a Hostess Bar and has to train the Hostesses he hires to become Number 1 in terms of money they bring in. Speaking of Hostesses, during the game you can do a number of things besides beat people up and such. You can visit Hostess bars and try to get in the good graces of the women that work there, talk about different topics and give them gifts and such, also you can go to exotic dancing, Japan really doesn’t mind this kind of thing it seems and the many different places to grab something to eat, which will refill your health and even gain a small bit of experience.

Graphics:

The one aspect of Yakuza 4 that stands out are the character models, mostly of the main characters as they move and act very realistically during cut scenes, even the voice acting is done well too, despite the fact that its all in Japaneses, thank god for the subtitles below. The main map hasn’t changed much from Yakuza 3, it still gives you the feeling that you are walking about Japan, the same stores and locations are still where they last were only a few have changed locations now they can be found on the basement and rooftop areas, to make up for the lack of a second whole map as in Yakuza 3. The flow of combat can become a bit…bloody, its not a massive bloodbath mind you, but seeing teeth flying out of a thug’s mouth from a finishing blow may be pushing it just a bit. The rooftop maps look confusing and hard to get around and the basement map is almost a complete waste of time with only a shop that only sells women’s dresses and a bar that sells booze, the only interesting thing about the basement map are the lockers which make their return again. The Revelations return here as well, some characters can see the same one yet learn a different move from or and all of them funny in their own way.

Overall:

Yakuza 4 comes back with many features from last game, some good, some bad. Yet its still a solid title for the game’s series and one that is worth giving a try for fans of the game and newcomers alike.