With so many good character action games on the market at the moment such as the wonderful 101, metal gear rising revengeance, and Bayonetta 2, it is easy to overlook some of the more hidden gems of the genre. Yakuza 4 is a character action game mixed with certain elements of an RPG and it blends the two genres seemlessly. So turn up your collar, furrow those brows and FEEL THE HEAT, as I take you through the world of Yakuza 4, the game you may have missed.

Plot:

In Yakuza 4 you play as 4 main characters each specifically linked to an event that took place in 1985, namely a Yakuza hit executed by Tiger Saejima on a rival gang killing multiple people.First you play as Shun Akiyama, a loan shark who offers high amounts of loan money with no interest to those who pass his test, who's mentor Arai has gotten himself into trouble within the Tojo clan and has met with a mysterious woman who wants 100 million yen to clear her brothers name. Next you follow Tiger Saejima, the Yakuza thug previously mentioned during his time in prison and his attempt to attone and get revenge on those who set him up to take a fall in 1985. After that we Meet Masoyoshi Tanimura, a police officer investigating his fathers death after he found out some damning evidence in the police case of the Yakuza hit in 1985. Finally we play as series staple and main character Kazama Kiryu, as he travels back to Kamurocho after an old acquaintance tells him to deliver important information to Tiger Saejima. What follows is a tale of betrayal, corruption and revenge.

While it is reccomended you play through the first 3 games first, the game also features a "reminisce" mode which allows you to view the previous events in the story prior to Yakuza 4.

 

Gameplay:

Yakuza 4 is alot of fun and full of character. The main gameplay consists of fighting, collection quests, trying out and being introduced to new mini games and searching for information. The game spreads these tasks out well enough so that the game never feels repetetive. To make the experience more immersive the game also adds little details to each character as you play them while they wander through Kamurocho, for example Tanimura will get asked to go and stop public disputes via his police radar, Akiyama can run one of his clubs and Saejima must stay out of site of the police. The combat in this game is incredibly fun as each character has their own playing style, Akiyama has fast kicks, saejima has brute force and so on. You can upgrade your character to acquire new moves as well as brutal "HEAT FINISHING" moves to end battle quickly, most of which involve destroying someones face in one way or another. Kamurocho is also given its own essence of life as there are so many detailed things you can do, from talking to locals, completing side quests, going to clubs, playing baseball, eating in resteraunts, going to the mall, crane hook games, playing arcade games, training in dojos, the list goes on and on, needless to say alot of effort was put into this game so that you could really feel as though you were living in Kamurocho.

 

In summary this game was a superb experience and one you should definitely check out if you have the chance. While there is no english dub of the game and there were a few frustrating boss battles, this game should definitely be ranked up with some of the greats of this genre.


- Jake Hannam