![]() ![]() The Yakuza series is having a moment right now, thanks to Sega’s breakneck localization of Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life and the freshly released Yakuza Kiwami 2. Most importantly, Yakuza Kiwami 2 offers a balance of two opposing forces, held together by self-aware videogaminess: intense drama featuring intense dadly themes, and absurd substories that shine a light on the silliness of the Yakuza world’s residents, turning Kiryu into a kind of street-level superhero who will always be there when someone needs emergency underwear or emergency voice acting services. ![]() If you’re not familiar, Toylets is Sega’s real-life urinal gaming system, localized in North America for the first time and playable via Kiryu’s digital bladder. ![]() There is, as always, an arcade full of Sega classics to play, this time beautifully emulated versions of Virtua Fighter 2 and Virtual-On, joined anachronistically by Toylets. Beloved, snakeskin be-jacketed madman Goro Majima is back in both a new version of the RTS-ish “Clan Creator” game from Yakuza 6 and his first playable scenario since Yakuza 0. The cabaret club management is back from Yakuza 0. This feature, missing from recent Yakuzas, adds a lot more possibility for weapon experimentation. Kiryu can, as in the PS2 game, keep weapons he takes off of enemies, and have them maintained by the resident weapon doctor, Kamiyama. Sometimes one man isn’t enough he needs someone to toss him a plunger. Yakuza series protagonist Kiryu has access to a larger library of context-sensitive, cinematic “Heat Action” attacks than he has in the last few games, including some from the PS2 release of Yakuza 2 that recruit locals to help Kiryu in a street fight. The Dragon Engine from Yakuza 6 returns, which means a seamless open world and hilarious physics-based combat (in other words, you throw a guy and he knocks all his friends over), now bolstered by returning content from previous games. Yakuza Kiwami 2 functions as a sort of “greatest hits” in terms of gameplay. The world has changed in the time between Yakuza 2 and Yakuza Kiwami 2 - as much as the game itself has changed between iterations. I also couldn’t imagine being among so many other Yakuza initiates - so many friends with whom to share screenshots of business chickens and zombie dances. When the PlayStation 2 version of Yakuza 2 was originally released in North America in 2008, I didn’t dare envision a future so rich with Yakuza content that I could spend two years living almost exclusively in a virtual Japanese neighborhood, immersed in a world of bad-but-good suits, bicycle-smashing brawls and deeply meaningful slot car races. The latest, Yakuza Kiwami 2, is a modernized remake of Yakuza 2, made in the new Yakuza 6 engine. In 2018, I’ve played two more, with a Fist of the North Star spinoff on the way. ![]()
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