My introduction and eventual fandom for the “Yakuza” (or “Ryū ga Gotoku” as it’s known as in Japan) series is a saddening reminder just how influential brick & mortar video stores were to my gaming habit. In 2006, I just decided to rent a game for the next few days, but had no idea what was available that I hadn’t played yet as my primary gaming console was still the Playstation 2 – a console whose new releases were drying up thanks to its successor about to hit the market. Walking through the aisle one game cover caught my eye that I hadn’t seen before – “Yakuza”. I didn’t even bother reading the back cover and just gave it a shot. To my surprise, “Yakuza” felt like a 3D side-scroller beat-em-up featuring a fantastic story and pretty enjoyable dub. I poured a great amount of hours into “Yakuza” before seeing the epic ending. Two years later saw the western release of “Yakuza 2” and forced me to pull out my semi-retired Playstation 2 to play through another fantastic entry in this underrated franchise. Of course when a PS4 exclusive remake of “Yakuza 2” was coming to the west, I put my money down to ensure that I owned a potentially better version of a game I had only rented over a decade ago.
Did I Complete “Yakuza Kiwami 2”?
Having essentially played this game over a decade ago (and its sequels), I definitely knew what I was in for in regards to the qualifications to succeed in total completion. Thankfully instead of being just a visual remaster, “Kiwami 2” gives the player more than anyone could’ve envisioned the game could handle on the PS2 thanks to the ideas from its sequels (and predecessors to “Kiwami 2”) including mini-games, co-op modes, and even additions to the story through thoughtfully crafted extra cutscenes and substories. After nearly fifty hours I witnessed the credits roll and the information that I had completed over eighty percent of the game including all the substories. After finishing the main story I spent a little over two hours completing the “Kiwami 2”-exclusive “Majima Saga” mode that unlocks during the main story’s latter half which explains how Goro Majima went from top-tier crime boss to construction worker.
Did “Yakuza Kiwami 2” Live Up to the Hype?
Having been a fan of the franchise for over a decade, my expectations of what was to come from this latest iteration were not only high, but to a certain extent reasonable thanks to the greatness of the original game “Kiwami 2” is crafted after and the engine that powered it’s most recent predecessor. And one of the main reasons for this game’s success as another mostly fantastic offering from Sega is its story. Not only does “Kiwami 2” perfectly retell the story of “Yakuza 2”, it also adds sequences via cutscenes to expand on the plot that couldn’t be done until the lore started playing out more & more with each game that followed. “Yakuza Kiwami 2” picks up a year after the events of “Yakuza”/“Yakuza Kiwami” with the franchise’s overpowered poster boy Kazuma Kiryu mentally suffering from the multiple deaths & betrayals by people he considered family in the first game as well as taking care of an orphaned girl named Haruka.
Kiryu’s attempt to live a life away from organized crime is thwarted by an assassination of a fellow Tojo Clan member that quickly escalates into Kiryu hoping to stop a citywide war between factions headed by his comrades and invaders from the west. In the middle of this stands Ryuji Goda of the Omi Alliance – a man known as the “Dragon of Kansai” who has only one goal: to be the only dragon in this world – thus putting a target on the “Dragon of Dojima”, Kiryu. The twenty-plus hour main story is just as, if not more impressive in this version compared to the original thanks to obvious plot holes in the original iteration mostly being sorted out while delivering, arguably, the best story in the franchise and establishing the only main romantic relationship that worked. Add that to the fact “Yakuza 2” was the first “Yakuza” game to take the player out of Kamurocho by heading to Sotenbori. “Kiwami 2” does the same thing with a near perfect rendition of Sotenbori as the one seen in “Yakuza 0” – though one smaller section from “Yakuza 2” is completely gone in this version.
The gameplay is mostly unchanged from what was seen in “Yakuza 6” thanks to the new Dragon engine originally crafted for “6” being utilized here. Kiryu can mix light and strong strikes with the touching of the square and triangle buttons in a timed sequence, grab and potentially toss opponents courtesy of the circle button, and evade with the X/cross button. Kazuma can block attacks and even counter with well-timed attack button presses. With each successful attack dished out by Kazuma, the “Heat Meter” located under the protagonist’s health bar will rise so the player can hit the R2 trigger to power up and unleash brutal special attacks; or simply tap the triangle button during certain moments in battle to perform a “Heat Action” that can range from a simple body slam to penetrating someone’s backside with a pole, or shooting an enemy with their own gun. Kiryu doesn’t have multiple fight styles like in “0” or “Kiwami”, but the action proves to be a lot smoother, tighter & faster in nature compared to “Yakuza 6’s”. It makes sense considering Kiryu is younger here than he was in “6”, but the more obvious belief is the developers saw how to improve the engine while retaining the mostly unchanged skill tree seen in “6” to give Kiryu more abilities in fights as well as better base stats like health & the overall power of his strikes. The game’s physics also play a major role in battle; causing both Kiryu and his opponents to rag doll around the screen at a moment’s notice when someone is downed by an attack. This game also features a lot less Heat Actions than the previous entries, but more than in “6”; and weapons are a lot weaker in terms of hits available before breaking. Thankfully, the equipment & weapon systems from a majority of the “Yakuza” games prior to “6” returns here as Kiryu can pick up certain weapons and store them in the heat of battle by tapping down on the d-pad after picking up the item as well as equip items to boost Kazuma’s defenses.
The adversaries in “Yakuza Kiwami 2” are on par with “6’s” as the usual gang mentality allows for hordes of enemies to smartly swarm Kiryu, block his incoming attacks to break up Kazuma’s combos, and kick random objects at him like benches or trashcans. But the game’s hordes are easily downed by throw attacks where Kiryu automatically swings one enemy around to open up the fighting field – an arena that is no longer guarded by bystanders to allow Kiryu to run away from the random street battles. Enemy health bars aren’t reduced this time like they were in “6”; meaning this game actually has a challenge when the player takes on the game’s hardest bosses such as the Amon brothers.
As per the norm, “Yakuza Kiwami 2” is chock full of stuff to do outside of the main story including nearly eighty substories that can feature everything from Kiryu becoming a male model to saving an elderly woman from being cut up by a shop owner after she dined & dashed. The mix of humor & serious moments always make the “Yakuza” side missions highly entertaining. Of course the game is also loaded with mini-games based around real things like old school Sega arcade games and odd toilet battles. The Cabaret Club management and Clan Creator modes from “Yakuza 0” and “6” respectively return with the latter modifying some of the original’s aspects including the removal of downed teammates being able to return to the battlefield after a period of time while still retaining the inclusion of New Japan Pro Wrestling stars in its story.
Cabaret Club management is almost a carbon copy of the original right down to the hand gestures done by the ladies looking to get a health boost after a long night of entertaining. Like Clan Creator, Cabaret Club has a story attached to it that will definitely add at least ten hours of gameplay to someone’s experience if they attempt to complete it & the substories that spawn from taking employees out for a bit to eat. Though it uses the same engine of “6”, “Kiwami 2” puts its predecessor to shame with the amount of things a player can take part in and whether or not they want Kiryu to become, say, an underground fighting legend; though there are certain mainstay mini-games missing here that weren’t a part of the original iteration like pool still not arriving with this engine. The only new, remarkable mode in “Kiwami 2” is “The Majima Saga”. Unfortunately it’s an underwhelming, short experience that removes the skill tree & experience points, random enemy encounters & substories. Instead, Majima will simply go around, battle the static group of enemies scattered throughout the map, and fight the optional street bosses that are usually just regular enemies with more health and/or strength. “The Majima Saga” barely lasts two hours without skipping all the fights or cutscenes.
Very much like “Yakuza Kiwami” before it, “Kiwami 2” is a near perfect representation of how a developer should craft a remake with some obvious flaws and an underwhelming execution of certain ideas pulling down the overall score when ranking this against its predecessors.
Should You Play “Yakuza Kiwami 2”?
Like “Yakuza Kiwami”, “Kiwami 2” proves to be a genre bending experience – part beat-em-up, part RPG, part party game that, while somewhat overwhelming thanks to the various amounts of things the player can do without progressing the story, still feels tight and not bloated to the point of exhaustion. Fully immersing oneself in the world of “Yakuza Kiwami 2” can bring forth a wealth of different experiences both negative and positive, but the overall feeling is nothing short of satisfaction thanks to a memorable narrative, more mini-games and substories found here than in the original version and “Yakuza 6”, and an improved version of “6’s” battle system. This is definitely the definitive version of “Yakuza 2” that should be played by those who experienced it many years ago or have just gotten into the franchise with the recent western releases. But to really get everything out of the story & lore of “Kiwami 2” it’s wise to play “Yakuza 0” and “Kiwami” first – both are incredibly cheap now. And even if you don’t feel like going back and play those classics, don’t worry; no one will call you a baby.
