Yakuza Kiwami 2 Review (PS4)

Introduction

This is a remake of Yakuza 2 developed by Ryu ga Gotoku Studio and published by Sega. Unlike Yakuza Kiwami, this game is developed using the Dragon Engine, which is used in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. This game plays most similarly to Yakuza 6: Song of Life, with the similar combat system, controls, and etc.

Story

Kiryu Kazuma must resolve the conflict between Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance.

This game takes place after the events of Yakuza Kiwami. Kiryu Kazuma has to find a way to rebuild Tojo Clan after the last game's events, which will cause him to travel between Osaka and Tokyo to mend the relationship between Tojo Clan and Omi Alliance. Unbeknownst to him, his past will come to light in this game that will play a role to a sinister plan that will destroy Tojo Clan. He will also meet one of his greatest foes, Goda Ryuji in many occasions.

The game's story is great. Some good plot twists, good story, many likable characters, and etc. It should be noted that several characters in this game have different appearances than their appearances in original Yakuza 2, as the developer used motion and face capture of the new voice actors in this game. This game also provides great resolution to one of the major sub-plots in Yakuza 0 as well. There are also some filler scenes in this game's chapters, which I feel unnecessary and should have be done as Sub Stories for better story pacing. My other nitpick is that the developer also should have not redesigned several characters based on the voice actors's faces.

Gameplay

Visit Kamurocho and Sotenbori... again.

This game plays like previous Yakuza games, albeit more similarly to Yakuza 6: The Song of Life in terms of controls. You can freely explore two different cities in this game, which are Kamurocho and Sotenbori. Each city have their own unique side-activities, buyable items, and their own Sub Stories. To progress the game's story, you have to go to the objective marker on your map, talk to NPCs, beat up punks, watch cutscenes, and defeat a boss. Like previous games, this game is chapter based, and there are some chapters you can't do certain activities until you progress the story until a certain point. You may explore freely around both cities to eat new kinds of food, beat up thugs, play minigames, and etc.

This game also has several side-activities, such as Clan Creator Cabaret Club, colosseum tournaments, minigames like mahjong, as well as Sub Stories. Sub Stories are optional side quests where you can engage in an NPC's short storyline and help them. Helping them will often reward you experience points and possibly items.

The game's experience system is the same as Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. You will gain different types experience points by eating food, fighting enemies, defeating bosses, completing Sub Stories, and other activities. You may acquire new abilities by spending certain experience points, such as learning new combat moves, upgrade your stats, and learning new Heat Actions. You may also purchase weapons and other equipment for battles as well.

Fight against thugs, yakuza members, and delinquents as usual.

The game's combat system is the same as Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Kiryu can use combo attacks on enemies, pick up objects and beat enemies with it, throw them, and etc. One of the newest feature in this game is that you can pick up certain weapons in battles and keep them in your inventory. You may also use Heat Actions to deliver heavy damage on enemies if you have sufficient Heat Gauge. Combat will be initiated real-time if you make eye contact with certain enemies, or it you progress in story based combat sections. Regular enemies come in decent variety, but bosses are tougher than usual thugs and they can defeat you easily if you are unprepared.

This game's gameplay is solid. Better and refined combat gameplay over Yakuza 6: The Song of Life's combat system, great and hilarious Sub Stories and many side-activities. However, unlike previous Yakuza games, this games does not have enough unique side activity. For example, Yakuza 0 has both Real Estate Royale and Cabaret Club Grand Prix, Yakuza Kiwami has Majima Everywhere. Yakuza Kiwami 2 has all of the side activities reused from the previous Yakuza games. It does have a new playable saga that features a fan favourite character as a playable character, however. This game also has mediocre enemy variety, and I still dislike the movement control in this game as it wasn't improved from Yakuza 6: The Song of Life's movement controls. Regardless, the gameplay is pretty great.

Graphics

Amazing graphics and better framerate than Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.

Like Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, this game has amazing graphics. Great looking characters, great environment designs and solid framerate. This game notably has less framerate issues compared to Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, which is good.

Sound

Good soundtrack and voice acting.

This game has pretty good soundtrack, with good rearranged tracks from the original Yakuza 2. It also has some new tracks as well as reuses some tracks from previous Yakuza games. The voice acting is good, with most of the voice actors from previous Yakuza games return. Many of the new characters that appear in Yakuza 2 Kiwami are recast from the original Yakuza 2, so some fans may take note of that.

Replay Value

High replay value.

Like many previous Yakuza games, this game has high replay value. You may opt to compelete the game again in harder difficulties, play in Premium Adventure Mode, complete all Sub Stories, complete the Completion List, and etc.

Conclusion

Great game and remake. 

This is a great game. Good story, many likable characters, hilarious Sub Stories, great graphics, and great repay value. Despite the lack of new side activities compared to previous Yakuza games, this is still a great game for Yakuza fans and action adventure fans. Worth playing and highly recommended.

Score

Story: 8/10

Gameplay: 8/10

Graphics: 9/10

Sound: 9/10

Final Score: 8.5/10 or 34/40

Pros and Cons

Pros

- Pretty good story.

- Many likable characters.

- Goda Ryuji is an excellent villain.

- Slightly improved combat over Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.

- Great amount of side activities.

- Great replay value.

- Good and hilarious Sub Stories.

Cons

- Few last story chapters are weak in terms of story.

- Movement control is not from Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.

- Not enough unique side activities compared to previous Yakuza games like Majima Everywhere or Real Estate Royale.

- Unnecessary design changes on several characters from the original Yakuza 2.

- Unnecessary QTEs.

**Screenshots are from official PlayStation US game page and official PlayStation JP game page.