Yakuza 4 Review

  A long time ago I played the first Yakuza game on my playstation. It was pretty good. The graphics were average for the time and had a lot of things to do. In fact it had too many things to do but that is what appealed to me at the time. I didn't actually get around do DOING most of them but just knowing that they were there made me feel good.

Fast forward to Yakuza 3 which was also a good game but I felt the graphics were very dated. I liked the story, felt it was a bit like "all my children" meet "the departed". Lots of moral speeches with random plot twists. Since I live in North America, I was robbed of the more naughty portions of the game but still thought, hey, this is a good game to beat in a few days.

Real men can kick high

Now we are up to Yakuza 4 with all the naughty bits left in. Only the naughty is somehow not really naughty, it is like what a 10 year old would think of as naughty. Still a tad risque but not exactly keeping the parents from yelling at them if they got "caught". Tons of plot twists to go around and excessive talking but still a fair bit of fun. The graphics are still dated and the girls looks sometimes good, sometimes like zombies. They do know how to move like girls at least. I just wish I could push them over like the guys so I could get that darn PSN trophy faster!

They're zombies I tell you!

Getting down to the nitty gritty; The controls are very decent. The fighting system is very well implemented. The menu system could be improved as it is a minor nuisance at times. The load times are a not too bad. The sub-stories can get a tad confusing especially with the lack of a map target but you can get around that by downloading an app that can help on your iPhone. It would help if you had played at least one of the earlier games but not all that necessary. Overall, a pretty darn good game.

Get 5 massages from her and you get a trophy

I just wish that, in a game where you can see teeth fly when you punch bad guys, you can do a little bit more than see hearts floating around when hanging out with girls. Especially since many of the stories involve hookers, sex slaves, hostess dates, massages with happy endings, and women using boyfriends to make their own crime syndicate. Choose what level you want to be on. I guess it is more normal for Japan (which is what this was created for) as this is the same country that will have adult movies about tentacle rape of schoolgirls but make sure to blur out any naughty bits!

A few more main characters and they can have their own baseball team

In conclusion, this is a good game that can take some time beating and still keeping you wanting more. There are a lot of sub-quests (62 officially) and treasures along the way. I have been told that this is a relatively accurate look into real Japanese sub culture minus the excessive fighting. So you could almost use this game as a travel guide! All in all, if you like fighting and story driven games with a little RPG put in for good measure, this game is a must have for you.