Yakuza Kiwami

Yakuza on the PS2 is not looked back upon fondly these days and it's probably the worst in the series from a gameplay standpoint. Yakuza Kiwami aims to modernise the game hot off the heels of Yakuza 0 to maintain its audience. In doing this however it alienates old fans of the series and destroys the original gameplay systems to appease people that played Yakuza 0.

The story of Yakuza Kiwami is the same in the original, with extra Nishikiyama parts which reinforces reasoning his lust for power, but what is already there can't be improved, like the ending, but the plot is mostly great but doesn't hold a candle to Yakuza 2 and 3. Unfortunately, cutscenes haven't faired too well. everyone is angry all the time and lack emotions compared to the original. Constant angry eyebrows and a lot less expressive.

The main gameplay is entirely copy and pasted from 0 with improvements. It is pretty good since it's 0's brawler, rush, beast, and dragon either way, but your overall speed no longer increases with heat, making comebacks easier, beast's attacks can now all be charged quite early on, and Komaki's attacks have been added to the dragon style, however instead of the simple XP dumping unlock system of the first 3 titles, Yakuza 0's money upgrades are here but with XP, and the biggest failure in the series, Majima Everywhere makes you wander around Kamurocho for the chance to fight Majima just for the dragon style attacks. It's an RNG fest and totally ruins the experience of the game to the point where if you just want to complete the story you don't get anything in the dragon style. I'm fine without Komaki but just missing an entire style because I was so done with this game halfway through and wanted to get it over with is awful. Majima Everywhere should just be optional and unlock bonus Majima moves instead.

Arguably one of the most important parts of a Yakuza game is the fun and challenging boss fights. Imagine that but the challenge is agony and the fun is nowhere to be seen. Weapon based boss fights are the worst offenders here, having too much range and less of little chance to hit them. Every boss seems to dodge way too much, especially Majima's second phase when you fight him in Shangri-la. Combined with him just going way too all out, it's just too hard for most fights. I found the final boss to be okay fortunately.

In conclusion, I find with these aspects, Yakuza Kiwami is hard to recommend and I do think Yakuza on the PS2 is better but still the least enjoyable game that's not a remake.

Kiwami is a remake of the very first Yakuza game. Coming from Yakuza 0, as I expect most players nowadays to be, this game feels very different in subtle ways, even though it looks very similar on the surface.

The general feel and tone of this game is more sober and serious, so expect to see more soap-opera-level drama and less shirtless men with tattoos beating each other up. The story and characters aren't bad by any means, but it's just hard to compete with the complete insanity of Yakuza 0. Unfortunately this shift in tone also swept over to the substories. There are some good ones, but overall they are really lacking in variety and creativity.

The gameplay is virtually identical to Yakuza 0, with some tweaks. Some of the more annoying minigames (catfights...) were removed or changed. The big grindy "business games", i.e. the real estate company and the hostess club of Yakuza 0 are also missing. The biggest new feature ("Majima everywhere") is that Majima shows up from time to time to get you to fight with him. This mechanic is also the way to unlock the Dragon fighting style. The encounters with Majima are always somewhere in between hilarious and annoying, and in my opinion are a much needed injection of ridiculousness into this game. Overall however, you are running around the same city, playing the same minigames and fighting in the same way as in the last game.

Yakuza Kiwami is a good game and obviously a must-play for anyone who wants to continue in the Yakuza series. However, it never really manages to shake the feeling that you are playing merely a second-rate version of what you've played before.