YAKUZA 0 ( PS4 )

Beaten in: 50 Hours

Difficulty: Hard

Soon: Yakuza Kiwami

Yakuza 0] is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Sega. It is a prequel to the Yakuza series. The game takes place in December 1988 in Kamurocho, a fictionalized recreation ofTokyo’s Kabukicho, and Sotenbori, a fictionalized recreation of Osaka’sDotonbori. It was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan in March 2015, and in North America and Europe for PlayStation 4 in January 2017. It was released on Microsoft Windows on August 1, 2018.

What an absolute Unique and Great game “Yakuza 0” is.. It has great characters to great story and plenty other good stuff… It’s an full form Japanese game ( if you know what i mean ) and The plot of Yakuza 0 is served up like a fresh bowl of udon noodles; simmering, full of twists and turns, and satisfying to the end. Here is my Full review of “#Yakuza 0”

Pros:

• Story: Simply it’s Fantastic, You play as 2 controlling characters ( Kiryu and Majima ) through two different Places ( Kamurocho and Sotenbori ).Each both of them covering serious topics, as you’d expect from a game about mobsters who cut off their own pinkie fingers. It’s simply one of the best story i have experience in 2018.

• Characters you meet during the game are great, they are really well-done voice acting and everyone have an interesting backstory behind them. 👏

• Speaking of Story, there are Sub-stories which you might encounter while roaming around.. Some of them been Serious to other been weird, helping people with simple problems, making absurd deliveries – to playing various roles, other been funny to many having tearful endings and more. There are over 100 Substories so good luck spending time finding them and finishing them.

• There are Specially 2 cutscenes that stands out from even topnotch movies, those cutscenes touched my heart in a special way and I can not spoil it for you, You just have to experience it yourself and you will see it by yourself when you reached their.

• Speaking of cutscenes, The graphics of the environment and characters during a rendered cutscene is just joy to watch as they nail down every single details in it. You can see characters injury to even small details like pierce of ears they he used to done it… Its Phenomenal

• The BOSS battles are Spectacular to watch and very intriguing to fight.  Each Boss has a unique way to beat him with some of the best heat actions movies that i have ever seen in a fighting video-game. It has to been experienced by yourself

• With been main story and substories there are plenty of side-activities you can do in “Yakuza 0”. Wanna sing, do Karaoke, Wanna dance so go to disco, Wanna watch 18+ videos go to that location, Wanna do pocket racing, go to the arena to many many more like ( Beating Mr.Shakedown, Playing Pool, Darts, making deliveries, PlayingOutrun, Fishing, Enjoying Some Female Wrestling, Going Bowling and many many MORE )

• BUT the main two side-quests are the Real estate ( Kiryu ) and running a cabaret club ( Majima ) and THEY ARE AWESOME.. As a real estate, you are a manager of it and you have to buy properties and make more money than your rival and beating them at the end…. And at one point, playing as Majima, running the hostess bar and taking over fans from across Osaka. I personally dominated each territory in turn, dressed my best girls up in different attire, did their make-up, set staff for shifts, recruited, and ran each night’s shift, wrapped up in a game inside a game. I was at it for an entire 4 day almost. They can be there own games inside the main game… Think of it.. 🤔

• Let just say that IF you are planning to play it or have already played it… you will meet 1 character in it named “Mr.Libido and……. The rest is history

• SOUNDTRACK….. OMG ITS FAN-FREAKING-TASTIC. Who ever made it deserve a Round of applause 👏👏👏… its fits perfectly with the game and with the fights.. IT’S A MUST-TO-LISTEN SOUNDTRACK…. GG

• Speaking of Fights. “Yakuza 0” has an interesting Fighting mechanic.Majima has a “Thug” style that feels like something out of UFC with a lot of heavy hits and powerful strikes along with a “Slugger” style that utilizes a baseball bat and a “Breaker” style that turns break dancing into violent choreography. Majima is clearly the most unique and his “Breaker” style, in particular, is just loads of fun. Spinning around on the floor with tons of particle effects and limbs flying is just wild to witness. Kiryu has a “Brawler” style that is clearly a less refined version of his previous move set along with a “Beast” mode to tackle bigger foes and a “Rush” mode. The “Rush” style, in particular, is amazing to toy around with and can even get you out of a jam when your health gets low. Based around a simple form of boxing, you get a lot of quick hits and evasive maneuvers that increase in speed as you build up your “heat” gauge.And each can be upgraded, not only by spending cash, but by completing the training of the colourful characters who teach you each style.

• The “heat” gauge System has been refined from previous installments, focusing more on multiple levels of build-up that can then turned into different finishing moves. These are some of the most gloriously absurd displays of violence ever put in a game, with animation that look brutal and would leave the recipient in a hospital for quite a long time. How people can even breathe after receiving some of these punishment is a mystery. BUT HE IS TOTALLY NOT DIED BTW…..

Cons:

• The first half of the game is VERY slow and can get repetitive and boring as you learn about characters, combat and other stuff so GET READY FOR A SLOW FIRST HALF… Cause the second half gets better

• While the graphics of rendered cutscenes are phenomenal, The graphics of the game are not so good as 1. It is a Japanese game and 2. It was initially released on 2015. As you walk through the streets, the building are not so greatly rendered and you see a lot of pop-ups ( Just to be noted, it played on PS4 { not Pro } and have no idea how it is on PC )

• Another negative about this game is for those who does not wanna read subtitles cause if not then this game is not for you, Yakuza 0 was initially released in Japan so the voice-acting of this game is all japanese and the subtitles are been translated into english

• There are also many invisible walls around the map that you are not allowed to go to which sucks. And during some missions you are just restricted to go on a certain path which makes it feels as this is not-so-much an open world map

• Tutorial to learn new moves of each style  has been done really poorly and can get repetitive very fast, Its doing one stuff over and over again with actually dying on a tutorial, I MEAN COME ON. i just did not liked it

• As you are running around the map, You will encounter many thugs as you are the hunted person, at start they might be fun to fight each now and than as you get to your next objective but doing it over and over and over again gets annoying and repetitive really fast. At least you can throw money to Distract them later on in the game

• Sometimes the camera angle during a fight or moving around the city can get awkward and you might get stuck, it’s not a big issue but still it is a issue

Final Verdict: 8/10 ( Excellent )

Were it not for the wealth of activities and side stories available around every corner, Yakuza Zero would still be a riveting game for its story alone. It does a fantastic job of pulling you into the plight of its main characters and holds your attention through every step of their winding journeys. But, when you take in everything the game has to offer, Zero becomes something special. Yes, its presentation leaves a lot to be desired at times and the fights aren’t always as engaging as they could be, but the rest of the game is incredibly diverse and engaging. The sheer amount of activities at your fingertips would feel overwhelming if they weren’t so inviting–you’re never pressured to do one thing or another. It is worth getting if you are ready to read and wanna have a thrilling adventure of emotions.