Review | Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

I noticed I've beat the game and yet there is no review. Ah well, let's fix that. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life got released in Japan: December 8, 2016 and Worldwide: April 17, 2018. I still can't count how many Yakuza games are out there. Yet, before Yakuza 0 (which I love the most btw), I was a Yakuza free guy, never played them on PS2. Glad that was fixed. 

This is the first game to be developed exclusively for the PlayStation 4, featuring the all new "Dragon Engine“. Later on, Yakuza Kiwami 2 was re-released fully remade in the new engine. 

Not much has changed. Guys in suits ready to beat your sorry ass.

So, what do we have here? We have Kiryu, for the last time. Let's take a minute to grief. Kiryu is a legend in my eyes. He is one of the best protagonists ever made; he is tough yet have a big hearth. He is Yakuza, badass dude who answers with his fists in the face of the world. Unfortunately, sequels 3,4 and 5 are not out yet for PS4 for us mortals who live outside of Japan, so I miss the story after Kiwami 2. Luckily enough, you can watch past events prior to playing so at least there is some big picture before starting. Although with so many clans and characters I was still a bit confused. Kiryu was doing his prison time while fostered children of which one is Haruka lived peacefully. When you do come back and look for Haruka, not only that she is not there anymore, but you will find out that she had a child Haruto and that she is in a coma by a car hit-and-run. The rest is up to you to explore. I personally felt a bit tiresome with the story after so many similar adventures. It’s not bad, but it’s not their finest work.

Haruto is like the other kids; surviving Yakuza attacks, playing in the dirt...You know, common stuff.

Back to Kamurocho once again. That will be your main game location. Late night thug life, drinking whiskey and beating annoying crowd. By now you know the drill. For those who don’t, Yakuza is and adventure third person game where you fight your way through great story-telling which hold together like when you glue your fingers together. Like in every sequel, you will care about everyone. I always looked at Yakuza as a Japanese drama with fists. Of course, it would be a sin not to add that flavor of crazy whatnot whathow effect of Japanese craziness when it comes to humor and all the side content there is. That is present here as well. You will meet many friendly faces and laugh for sure. Do not skip side stories as they are top notch like always. One great news here is there is one completely new town: Onomichi. Calm sea-side town with nice activities. Glad they refreshed locations a bit.

Baseball game is not much interactive this time, but I would prefer 10 times this than dating girls in this game for 15 hours.

Both towns look nice. Exploring the town will as usually come with thugs wanting to beat you. That will happen never so it’s always nice to kick around. During the kicking you will enjoy the soundtrack so much. Music is such an important part of Yakuza games and here it’s only close to perfection. Be sure to check out metal covers of some songs as they are really good. Always play the game with your headphones on, max volume.

I wonder what new and refreshing we can get in next Yakuza game - if there will be any

The fight and your developing mechanics are what bothers me a bit here. This new approach I firstly encountered in Kiwami 2 was fine I guess, but here it seems (considering this was release prior) a bit under-developed. I spent the game using few punches and not a lot of variety of combos. Yakuza 0 have 4 styles and so much combinations. In here it’s 2 steps back, even while at the same time its fun when you kick someone, and it flies 100 meters away. If the plan to do other titles in this engine, I sincerely hope they will add more depth to the RPG system of the game. You do “level up” Kiryu like in Kiwami 2 using collected type of experience, HP, Heat and all other stuff, learning new moves and Heat Actions, but even at the end it still feels weak and not there. Still better than many games, but for Yakuza, after they outdid themselves in 0, c’mon guys.

Yep, naked dudes fighting.

When It comes to side content and all the time consumers in Yakuza universe, they followed the usual approach. Many mini-games that will eat your time. This time, there is Baseball series of stories where you collect players and beat stronger teams in some kind of leagues. From time to time you use the bat to hit the ball and possibly score a home run, other than that its more like manager type approach where you level the team and calculate with formation. Darts are back with few side stories and its mostly basic. Hostess are here, but not in cabaret kind of way. You can rent your hostess and talk with her, level her up and possibly date her. I found this hostess stuff very boring in all their sequels. But as I like 100% the game, this was properly done. I dated them all. My Kiryu needs some lovin’.

Some scenes are just breathtaking, like always.

There is underwater mini game where you hunt with harpoon, collect stronger ones etc. Nothing spectacular. The mini game that was also a bit boring but cool was drinking mini game. You enter the bar, socialize with people, get their rank up, open possibility to meat other people, drink with them…It’s a whole new drinking problem mini game. At the end everybody knows your name. And the last “long” mini game is clan battles which I find fun and ok. Kiwami 2 upgraded them a bit, here they move more or less all by themselves. It’s a strategy beat them up. You can clan fighters, assign them to positions, rank them up, command them in the field and beat others. Out of all this I like the most. Of course, there are other mini games as classical baseball, SEGA arcade mini games, gym, mahjong etc. Funny fact, lovely fact. For platinum trophy you don’t have to have 100% completion of all the tasks you can do (like getting Tsumo 10 times in Mahjong for 1 completion point). Instead this game is the easiest to get all trophies. 

Clan Battles are good addition to the game. Unite them all against Kamurocho scum.

Another bad point are the boss fights. Not even single boss poses a treat. All were easy to beat and the presentation was not right somehow. Enemy health bars feels like regular enemies, somehow giving the feel you are fighting normal mobs. There is no epic fight, maybe in the end a bit. I will always compare with Yakuza 0 which had epic everything and most badass tough bosses of them all. Majima is also missed big time. He is such a cool character and you will not get enough of “Kiiiryiiiiuuuu san!” shouts. Also beating him dressed as a girl is priceless and that is not here. I’m excited about new Judgement game, maybe they have some fresh ideas there. Don’t get me wrong, you will still enjoy the story and presentation, it’s good, just not at their best level.

It was never simple for Kyriu. It will never be.

Kiryu-san is getting old. Even though he almost got killed many times, he is here to protect the innocent and make peace. Nobody else is, that’s why he is the perfect candidate. I wonder what will happen after this, apparently, they are working on new Yakuza title. How can one possibly play Yakuza game where Kiryu is not in charge? Graphics are getting better, details in town as well, but can they give us what we need? There is only way to find out; to play all Yakuza games and 100% them until new one is out. And eventually get Kiryu’s tattoo on the back. Not much else to do. Play the game, it’s not bad. Maybe it’s the weakest of them all I played so far (3,4 and 5 did not yet), but still damn decent and you have all reasons to play it if you are Yakuza fan. If you are not, start becoming one.