Yakuza 3 Remastered (Xbox One)

For someone looking into the Yakuza series now, Yakuza 3 finds itself at a bit of an odd spot. The first two games received remakes that overhauled mechanics and changed elements of the story to work better, but Yakuza 3 would only get a few touch ups, the PS3 original not really needing as much attention to bring to later consoles. Yakuza 3 Remastered thankfully doesn’t feel rough even if there are some areas you can point at for improvement, the game still working to tell a riveting crime drama broken up by amusing substories and hand-to-hand combat. However, it’s perhaps its position in the series narratively that ends up affecting it most, as there are times in this M-rated game about organized crime that instead feel like an orphanage soap opera.

 

Yakuza 3 Remastered picks up the story where it left off on in the previous game. After having been called back into helping the Tojo Clan after trying to leave Yakuza life, Kazuma Kiryu commits even more to the idea of settling down and moves away from Tokyo to start an orphanage on the island of Okinawa. For a while he’s able to keep his hands clean despite having run-ins with local gangsters, but the land the Morning Glory Orphanage is built on is coveted by government developers who want to build either a military base or resort in its place. Since Kiryu certainly isn’t interested in selling, other methods are used to try and acquire it, both the landowner Kiryu became friendly with and the leader of the Tojo Clan being shot seemingly by Kiryu’s adopted father Kazama who had died in the first Yakuza game. To protect the orphanage and to learn the story on this man who looks like Kazama, Kiryu once again gets involved in the criminal underbelly of Tokyo, the stern but honorable ex-gangster fighting his way to answers to protect those he loves and punish those who deserve it.

There are definitely elements of Yakuza 3’s story that work quite well. Early on when Kiryu moves to Okinawa he meets an earnest up-and-coming gangster named Rikiya who quickly attaches to Kiryu, an almost brotherly relationship forming between the two and thus Rikiya tags along for a few important moments. Headstrong but with a heart of gold, Rikiya adds some vigor to moments when the usually stoic Kiryu is less likely to budge. For antagonists the game does struggle a bit, not giving a good face to many of your foes and either leaving some off the table for so long they’re forgotten or putting them forward so quickly you hardly have the time to get to know them. There is however a good deal of focus on Yoshitaka Mine, a business-minded former orphan who both ties into the game’s heavy focus on the orphanage while also showing how Kiryu’s life path likely contributed to him being a good man in a bad line of work compared to Mine’s attempt to reach the same fulfillment but ending up on a darker road due to choosing different answers. It does take Mine some time to step forward as a clear focus and Rikiya and the Okinawa elements fade into the background for a bit, but when things do come together the game can construct emotional and impactful moments, it just tends to get sidetracked along the way.

 

While the less than intriguing story element of Kazama fizzles out some, the more distracting element of Yakuza 3 Remastered’s plot is the time you spend just managing the social situations of the Morning Glory Orphanage. On the main story path things will come to a stop to focus instead on the little dramas the grade school children are experiencing, the ongoing concerns over yakuza operations frequently sidelined so you can play baseball with the kids or determine which of the children stole money from another. There are some clear reasons for why a considerable amount of time is spent with the minor concerns and quibbles of minors under Kiryu’s care. The orphanage is at stake so making the orphans all into identifiable and memorable characters makes that feel like a more personal threat, and by having Kiryu spend so much time with the kids it is clear he is trying to change his life for the better despite how easily he can get back to knocking goons out with his bare fists. These simple orphanage stories about the kids interacting with each other, getting bullied, or falling in love likely were kept part of the main plot instead of side stories so that you don’t miss out on the importance they hold in Kiryu’s life, but they can drag on as the game can say you’re about to head off to continue the more dramatic main plot only for a sequence of orphan stories to slow things down as the interactive side of things ends up being you talking to kids and watching cutscenes.

 

The majority of the game is definitely tied to working towards protecting the orphanage than spending time there though, so you will be set free at parts to explore two different cities and fight anyone who tries to stop your work investigating yakuza activities. When the game starts your first major urban area to explore is Ryukyu, a town on Okinawa that is bustling somewhat with an intersection filled with vehicles and a lively market, but it is still humble and feels more like a small center of activity than some enormous commercial district. There are some seedier places like a strip club and weapon store, but it’s not surprising to see children walking about and its more a matter of major businesses being clustered together that such places share the same space. The yakuza activity is nominally light here even though people on the street are constantly harassing you to spur some fist fights for random bits of action, and Ryukyu’s street size ends up a bit of an issue since they can easily catch up to you and kick off these little brawls. While the fighting system in Yakuza 3 Remastered can be enjoyable, these Ryukyu punks are often so simple it feels like battling them is a waste of time even when you get rewards like experience and cash for doing so.

Kamurocho is much better, Kiryu’s old haunt in Tokyo a flashy entertainment district that has much more room to explore both in what it offers and how you can get around the rather plain random street fights. Usually when the story is setting up a battle though it has a good chance of being more than easily trouncing the opposition. Kiryu’s main attacks consist of a heavy and light strike that can be mixed together in combos to attack different regions of the body to get around blocks or knock enemies down, experience gained from extra content or just getting involved in fights able to be turned in for gradual upgrades to your fighting skills and important meters like your health and Heat. Heat fuels some special attacks that can be executed depending on situation and positioning, Kiryu able to deal heavy free damage so long as he can set a Heat action up. Heat is built up by dealing damage while not taking any and earning it can quickly take care of a normal goon or deal precious damage on the more defensive and beefy boss characters, and with the right set-ups it can do even more. Kiryu can grab nearby objects to swing around, things like signs, bicycles, fish, and road pylons all good bludgeons that can be made even more dangerous with a Heat boost. Actual weapons can help out as well, and when the regular enemies start to carry them more reliably not only do fights with them get a touch more challenging but you are given a fun way to mix up your tactics if you can get the weapon free of their grip. Swords, guns, tasers, daggers, and more all briefly change the way you can deal damage and often can get around guards more easily, and since you can carry some items yourself you can even try to bring some weapons to a boss fight to try and even the odds if it’s getting rough. Your inventory usually is rather limited and equipping things doesn’t move them out of the general item pool, but you also get quite a lot of healing items that you’ll want to carry around to top yourself off during the battles that do start to demand some good play about the time you’re getting ready to leave Ryukyu’s bland street fights behind for a trip to Kamurocho.

 

There are occasional chase sections used to break up the usual fist fighting with something different, but running after someone is usually fairly basic so being made to repeat it if you fail strains something that was at least fine as an occasional shake-up. The better break from the combat action though comes in the wealth of optional activities around the two urban centers you can visit. For your own entertainment you can do things like go bowling, play darts, help train up a young lady to be a good hostess, play various gambling card games, or sing karaoke, these all taking the form of simple but usually accessible minigames. Karaoke shows it doesn’t understand rhythm games too well by having button prompts appear at the start of the line so you can’t really get the timing down well, but most side activities keep things simple enough that often the usual rules of the activity are what’s more important. While walking the city streets you might also come across something odd, sometimes at a marker shown on your map and other times arising naturally as you freely explore. Some of these tie into a revelation system where you need to press a few buttons and make the right judgment call on a crazy sight you just witnessed, Kiryu able to unlock new moves by watching things as odd as a drunk man dancing on a street pole or a distracted motorbike driver accidentally doing a flip. There are usually little rewards for doing things around town, healing by eating different meals at different restaurants giving you some experience points so you’re encouraged to visit a range of places and try new things. Locker keys are also hidden all around town with goodies in the lockers you open with them, although there’s a first-person mode used to find a few that is mostly a bother to activate and a fairly forgettable feature overall.

 

The substories are where the extra content really excels though. While perhaps not as outlandish as some of the best ones in Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2, Yakuza 3 Remastered still has many amusing situations for Kiryu to find himself wrapped up in. There’s many that are just an excuse to cue a battle with a few goons, but even something as simple a man bumping into you and pretending he’s hurt ends up spanning multiple substories and having humorous twists so that the ride getting to the fist fights is entertaining enough even if you’re facing pushovers. Some are quite unique like when Kiryu gets roped into being the main actor in an action flick, the player trying to pick the best lines to impress the director while also needing to fight the enemies in specific ways. Some side stories are as simple as carrying some tall ice cream cones across a busy street while others like the mysteries of Ryukyu have you investigating seemingly supernatural occurrences around town to learn the truth behind the rumors. Some can be direct combat training or competitions, but there are also missions where you try to take down a ring of hitmen where each one has a story for why they’re in that line of work on top of utilizing unique weapons or strategies. There are silly stories as well as sadder ones as well as a fairly involved investigation of a falsely accused murderer, although that story feels like it could have arranged the truth a bit better to make things click more nicely. Regardless, these optional side activities are done at your discretion and even contain a few ways to spend time with the orphans, feeling more natural and enjoyable because they’re distractions you opt into rather than ways to keep you from engaging with the core narrative.

THE VERDICT: Yakuza 3 Remastered gets off to a bit of a shaky start as it hinges a bit too much on a weak mystery and spends a lot of time examining the personal lives of the orphans, but compelling characters like Rikiya and Mine invigorate the game and give its crime drama more heart and direction as their appearances increase and their importance is elevated. Once the game shakes off some early game blandness with the Ryukyu random battles it can also start producing more exciting fist fights and boss battles thanks to the introduction of weapons and your growing attack options, the side activities and substories sprinkled in to add appealing, unusual, and entertaining diversions. When you’re free to choose where your attention focuses it can be a nice way to explore two towns rich with content, but Yakuza 3 Remastered’s main narrative sometimes fumbles when picking where to place its attention.

 

And so, I give Yakuza 3 Remastered for Xbox One…

A GOOD rating. When the action starts building upon itself much better in the later chapters, Yakuza 3 Remastered is able to give some solid pay offs to character work and start introducing developments that hook you into the action better. However, leaning so heavily on the Kazama twist despite it not feeling like it has much room for a plausible explanation beyond one you’ll think up early and then puttering around at the orphanage means the early game lacks the level of energy you’d hope to find in an action game and the intrigue you’d hope for out of a crime drama. Thankfully, Rikiya and the others in Ryukyu can buoy the early sections well enough despite things like the plain street fights plaguing the early game, but optional activities can both give you something else to sustain your interest during the slower moments or provide their own quick bursts of fun stories and simple interactive entertainment during that slightly rough start and when you start to get to the juicier battles and plot scenes. Perhaps if the basic combat system had more going for it early on it could have been pushed harder, and even as it advances there is still a lot of enemy guarding that can be rough to get around, but systems like grabbing objects to attack with or working to build up Heat ensure the fights aren’t lacking in substance when an enemy is more than just a punching bag. Mine certainly feels like he needs more company in terms of compelling antagonists as the rest of the major characters you come up against aren’t given enough room to really build themselves up, but Mine’s story does at least integrate them all well and give you someone you’re looking forward to facing and learning more about.

 

Despite the flak I give Yakuza 3 Remastered for spending too much time following the lives of Morning Glory’s orphans, they are at least fleshed out personalities and they’d be written quite well if the purpose of the game was to just navigate the social situations of an orphanage. You’re still not very involved in resolving the conflicts as Kiryu makes the decisions for himself and things don’t lead to much in the way of interactivity, but Yakuza 3 Remastered is less about things done poorly and more about not focusing its spotlight well. The experience overall is effective, enjoyable, and filled with activities worth investing time in, but it doesn’t feel so tightly plotted that it can rub shoulders with the effective work seen in Yakuza Kiwami, Yakuza Kiwami 2, and Yakuza 0 especially. Its successes do come through so it’s not an entry you should skip if you are going through the franchise though, there still being plenty of quick action, intriguing substories, and effective story twists to make it worthwhile in the end.