Reviews// Yakuza 3

From the first chapter, things are very much linear and dead-set. You can't wander a lot and see the sights of Tokyo or Okinawa – your only aim is to push the narrative along until about Chapter 4 or 5, when it all starts to pick up and you get much more freedom inbetween missions.

A lot of the time is spent focusing on Kazuma's orphanage life, with tasks that involve looking after the kids in your care. This is quite novel, but after a while you get a bit antsy to carry on the story and so it all just becomes a slight nuisance.

When you do get the freedom to mess around though, there's a wealth of things that you can do and various places to see. You can head into bars and clubs and play a bit of Darts, swing a few rounds at Baseball, get your executive cap on and play some Golf, or even go fishing in Okinawa. Seedier locations will let you play some Mah-jong and other traditional Japanese games, or try a hand at casino games like Poker or Blackjack.

Alongside recreations of Don Quixote and other convenience and burger stores, you can engage in a bit of Karaoke (it's only button pressing, unfortunately, but watching Kazuma belt out a Japanese classic is priceless), and can even take random women on dates. Oh Kaz, you sly devil, you.

Speaking of women, I'm aware that in its haste to get Yakuza 3 out of the door, SEGA has omitted several features from the Western version of the game. The most notable absence being the hostess bars – in previous Yakuza games you could walk into these bars and chat up nice girls and buy them food and presents (why, I'll never know – it's a Japanese thing, alright?) and in Yakuza 2 you even ended up running one of them.

While it certainly does feel emptier without them, I can't really say that the lack of this (and a few side quests) have really damaged the Yakuza 3 experience. At the end of the day, what's in the game is very enjoyable and entertaining, regardless of what isn't in it. That's probably a good way of looking at it – you can only review what's there, right?

That said, for all its additions and changes (bosses can now use HEAT moves? What the hell?), Yakuza 3 doesn't feel like the huge leap over Yakuza 2 that I was kind of hoping for. It's a great game for those who've never experienced the series before, but it doesn't quite beat out its PlayStation 2 prequel.

In fact, it could be argued that Yakuza 3 is basically a PS2 game with tarted up HD graphics, right down to the feel of the game's engine and the presence of invisible walls. Perhaps the next game in the series – out now in Japan actually – offers a few more technical advancements that bring the series truly into the current generation.

SPOnG Score: 87%

If you love Japan, buy this game. If you're curious about Japan, and love good storytelling, buy this game. If you're a bit funny about games holding your hand to push a narrative, give it a try and plough through those first couple of chapters. At its very core, Yakuza 3 is a solid, enjoyable and brutal beat'em up. Though not quite at the same level in terms of flow and story compared to Yakuza 2, it's still a very worthy addition to the series.