A Brilliant Sendoff – Yakuza 6: Song of Life review

The Yakuza series has been an impressive ride in storytelling, brawling gameplay and just overall ridiculousness that follows the game’s protagonists, Kiryu Kazuma – a gangster with a heart of gold and the patience to watch paint dry if it was a side story mission.

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life has been hailed by Sega as the final chapter of Kiryu’s journey, and Sega isn’t going to pull their punches with delivering the best possible send-off.

Yakuza 6 takes place 3 years after the events of Yakuza 5, Kiryu has been arrested for the events of the previous game and Haruka has left show business. Kiryu gets out of prison after 3 years hoping to leave the Yakuza life behind (again) and returns to the orphanage he had been running only to find that Haruka is no longer there waiting for him.

Kiryu goes back to Kurmocho in hopes of finding Haruka only to find that the city has gone to hell. With the Saio Triads moving in on a weaken Tojo Clan, the 6th Chairman Daigo Dojima being sent to prison, and the Korean mob seemingly instigating a three-way war for control of Tokyo’s red-light district.

Things go from bad to worst when we find our that Haruka had been in a horrible hit-and-run in Kurmocho, where she suffered a head injury and is unknown if she is going to pull out. This is also when we learn that Haruka was injured protecting someone, Haruto – Haruka’s infant son. Kiryu takes it upon himself to find the father of Haruto which leads him to Hiroshima, and begins another story filled with twists, deceit, and more bloody back-alley brawls than you can count.

Being the last in the series that will follow Kiryu, the Yakuza team pulls no punches (almost literally) in the story. Yakuza 6 is possibly the series most heartfelt story yet, filled with plenty of memorable characters (returning and new) and moments that are both emotional and badass.

To be honest, as a long time fan of the series, this doesn’t come as a surprise. The Yakuza stories have always been good, so good that it usually overshadow the game’s minor flaws, such as long load times, random battles delaying or pulling you out of the game’s immersion and some clunkiness on the game’s combat system.

Yakuza 6 however doesn’t experience any of the flaws I mentioned above! This is all in thanks to the game’s new Dragon Engine which not only provides the best looking Yakuza game to date, but also the smoothest.

The first thing that fans are going to notice is the new and improved combat system which throws players immediately into battles with zero load times, the new attacks also allow you to attack multiple opponents at once and in multiple directions in an Arkham/Sleeping Dogs free-form system. There are still plenty of things in the combat that stayed the same. Heat actions are still over the top and brutal, weapons are easily acquired and can definitely help out in a sticky situation.

That being said, combat does feel like a mixed bag at times. While the faster load times and new moves which flow expertly are welcomed additions, it lacks a lot of the danger of the previous game’s battle as encounters feel like they don’t take very long and the cinematic one-on-one battles feel lacking thanks to the new system.

As with earlier Yakuza titles, Yakuza 6 is filled to the brim with time-wasters. While the usual suspects are there like the batting cages, mahjong, Darts and Hostess Clubs, they all feature a new mechanic to how they’re played which generally (aside from the hostess club) adds more of a challenge to the mini-game. Karaoke makes a return but is presented in a way that is easier to read.

The new additions are what really takes the show, which includes new games in the Club Sega locations which include classics like Super Hang-On, OutRun, Fantasy Zone and Space Harrier, to more modern titles which can be played in 2P vs modes including Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown and the hit puzzle game PuyoPuyo. Another one of note is the Live-Chat, which offers a cam-site style mini-game where players chat with live-action actresses by pressing a series of buttons. There is also a fun bar conversation mini-game which opens up more side stories that feels like it’s been pulled from a classic sit-com, and a baseball management simulator which allows you to pick people off the street or from specific side-stores to your team. The one I spent the most of my time with however was the spear-fishing, which plays more like a rail-shooter, complete with a boss battle that literally allows you to punch a shark.

Sadly, I noticed two of my favourite mini-games from the series, Bowling and Pool, were missing from the list. Which was a big disappointment as they had been in the series since the PS2 era, even being a major part in probably the best substory in Yakuza 0 which released last year.

Finally we have Clan Creator mode, which serves as a side-story mission and the game’s online mode. The game is like a reverse Tower Defence game where players must send a group of goons to beat up another group of goons. The mini-game is simple to use, as you select a strike team consisting of brawlers, muscle, knife carriers, gunslingers, and grendaders, who will then march through the street/playing field to brawl with the other group. Heroes and villains from the series make an appearance by beating them in fights or by unlocking them via clan codes. It’s nothing overly amazing, but those who can find joy in the mode will probably like it a lot.

Yakuza 6 is also backed by some famous Japanese talent. While a large set of those is are Japanese adult actresses (something that isn’t new for the series), the cast is also headlined by the likes of Takeshi Kitano (Ghost in the Shell, Battle Royale, MXC/Takeshi’s Castle), Shun Oguri (the live action Gintama series, Lupin the 3rd and Terra Formars) and more.

For Fans, Yakuza 6 is a great way to send off one of gaming’s most inspirational badass. It is fast pace, brutal, and comes with all the trimmings you’d expect from Sega’s Yakuza titles and a lot of its flaws can be easily overlooked thanks to its solid presentation. While I wouldn’t completely recommend this to be your first Yakuza title as there is a lot of weight back on previous titles (recommend starting with last Yakuza 0 and moving to Kiwami), however the inclusion of a recap feature that allows you to learn the events of the 5 games prior is extremely helpful.