Gloriously Weird
I've always been incredibly intrigued with the Yakuza series, but when your option seemed to be with the 5th entry in the series it was really hard to take the jump. Then, walks in Yakuza 0, the perfect jumping on point. Jumping in sight basically unseen, I can't say I really knew what to expect. Considering the little I saw of earlier titles in the series I only knew Yakuza was a lot of video game, and extremely strange. Right off the hop I was totally in for everything that was going to be thrown at me. I came, I saw, and I fell in love.
From the little I have read on the game, on the web, I apparently play the game "wrong." By that I mean specifically skipping over large swaths of the side stories that you can get in to. The reason, for that however is that stuff just didn't click with me. Walking through the street and being stopped multiple times on the way to the next large story mission started to annoy me to the point I didn't interact with that stuff at all. Sure, it was funny and entertaining faking my way through being a movie producer, or breaking up an underground pantie selling ring but it felt like more trouble then it was worth when I could just move on to what I really cared about, progressing in the main story.
That's where I really think Yakuza 0 shines, in it's mainline story telling. Playing Space Harrier at a Sega Arcade, and betting on underground cat fights was fun enough, but the main progression engrossed me in a way that I haven't been in a while. The smart thing that Yakuza 0 does, that something like Mafia III didn't do, is it never really blocks your mainline progression. Yes, 10 hours in you're given the ability to run a club, and can surely sink hours and hours into that, but you don't have to. At any moment you can continue on your marry way to find out what happens to Kiyru and Majimo.
Speaking of another bright spot, the two protagonist structure to Yakuza 0 felt perfectly executed. The switching happened at what felt like perfect times, so neither location nor specific character felt like it over stayed its welcome. Also, even though I breezed through the campaign, the previously on segments that happen between character switches were always welcome. Too rarely do games have that sort of story telling feature and I wish that wasn't the case. I can't tell you how many times I put a game down for a couple weeks, came back completely lost, and forced myself to start from the beginning. However, in Yakuza 0 that wouldn't have to be the case, and that is extremely appreciated, especially considering the amount of hours one may sink in.
Now, on to the real guts of the game, the fighting mechanics. Overall, I would say they are perfectly serviceable. On some occasions on the normal difficulty, it felt a little too easy. That being said, it always felt like you were just a really cool dude, that could really mess people up. The heat moves did a very good job of making the combat look brutal, without slowing it down too much. The boss battles felt a little samey, and mashing my way though some encounters worked a little to well, but overall I enjoyed it through the entirety.
The last note I would have, is for a game originally made for the PS3, I thought the game looked great. The nighttime in the both cities looked pretty awesome, and the character expressions and design really held up nicely. I never ran into any noticeable slow down, which I have seen reported a couple of times. All the different environments also felt unique and no major set piece felt too much like the last.
Overall, I really fell in love with Yakuza 0, and they have me hook line and sinker for the franchise. I am very much looking forward to Yakuza Kiwami this summer, and the continuing adventures of Kiyru. If you have never played a Yakuza game, but always sort of wanted to, this is a perfect opportunity to give it a try.
