Now Playing: Yakuza Zero

I wasn’t very familiar with the Yakuza series going into Yakuza Zero – which serves as a prequel to the previous six Yakuza games – so I really wasn’t sure what to expect. And I must admit, my initial impressions weren’t very good. Yakuza Zero is one of those games you have to be willing to sink several hours into before you really get to the good stuff. It seems a strange recommendation – ‘trust me, it gets really good after 10 hours!’ But in the case of Yakuza Zero, it’s also true. And it doesn’t just get good – it’s easily a contender for my GOTY.

The opening few hours are rather restrictive in what you can do and where you can go. It feels like you’re just bouncing between one story sequence to the next with the occasional fight to break up the cut scenes. And your combat skills at this stage are incredibly limited as you’ve not yet unlocked your alternative styles, and you can’t yet afford to unlock new moves. It’s a slow start, but trust me – it gets so much better.

In Yakuza Zero you’ll be playing as Kazuma Kiryu and Goro Majima. You switch between these characters every couple of story based chapters. It takes some time, but their paths and their stories do cross, although disappointingly (mild spoiler!) the two never get to crack any skulls together. I presume because they don’t officially meet until the already established sequels?

Each character has their own map to explore with their own story and side missions, as well as their own unique ‘business’ to run, each with its own challenges, quests and goals. For Kiryu, you’ll be managing a real estate empire, purchasing properties throughout his map and fighting your rivals for a greater share of the profits.

For Majima, you’ll be managing a hostess club, recruiting women to serve your customers, training them to be better hostesses and even customising their appearance to maximise their stats. You’ll also be fighting – because nearly everything in Yakuza Zero leads to fighting – your rivals to win more fans and take control of their territory.

The side content in Yakuza Zero is so extensive and varied that it’s kind of ridiculous. Managing your real estate and the hostess club are almost like entire games of their own, each with their own unique quest line. And then you have the side missions or ‘substories’ which is where you’ll find most of the humour within the game.

Whereas the main story is a fairly serious affair, the substories are a mixture of the wacky, wild and ridiculous. There’s about 70 in the game and as you’d expect, the quality does vary somewhat from one to the next, but they’re all worth seeking out and completing. They’re fun, funny and never quite what you expect.

And then you have the world itself to explore, which is full of varied and fun activities – bowling, darts, karaoke, disco dancing, pool, baseball, gambling, a fighting arena and classic SEGA arcade games. There’s also an amusing ‘telephone’ club mini-game where you can try to seduce women over the phone, a store where you can watch softcore porn videos and a ‘cat fighting club’ where women wrestle in skimpy costumes and you can bet on the fights.

Yeah, some of the content in Yakuza Zero may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s all played very tongue in cheek. This is a game where you can hire a chicken to act as a manager in your real estate empire. It’s best not to take it too seriously.

The world is fun to explore and there’s lots to see and do – and eat. But what really makes Yakzua Zero special is its characters and story. I don’t want to spoil the story, so I’ll keep this short, but it revolves around an internal power struggle within a Yakuza clan, and our two heroes are stuck in the middle. It’s an enjoyable story with some neat twists and turns, and it packs a surprising emotional punch – particularly the bitter sweet ending for one of the two main characters.

I wasn’t sure how much I’d enjoy the story during those early, slow hours, but by the end I was totally hooked – I think I sat for about five hours straight just playing through the last couple of chapters gripped (and worried) by what was going to happen next. I really came to care about these characters and wanted to see them succeed – and because I wasn’t familiar with the Yakuza series, I really had no clue who was going to live or die.

Fighting is a big part of Yakuza Zero. In both core and side missions, and even when exploring the world, you’re going to be punching a lot of people. At first, the combat feels a little basic and restrictive, but as you progress you’ll unlock new styles (3 for each character) and new moves which greatly expand your combat options.

That said, I do think the skill costs are a little too steep, which is part of the reason why it takes some time for the combat to really open up and for you realise how much variety is packed into it. You can stick to a particular style or switch between them on the fly. And it’s not just your fists that you can use in a fight – there’s dozens of weapons in the game you can equip to give you an edge.

The thing I enjoyed most about the combat is the environmental ‘heat’ moves. You build ‘heat’ as you fight, and you can then spend heat to perform devastating moves. These will change depending upon your style, the environment or what weapon you have equipped. They’re fantastically brutal to watch and there’s a massive variety of them to discover as you play.

My only major criticism of the combat system is the very loose ‘lock on’ system, which can be a little wonky and sometimes left me facing the wrong direction. And, like I said, I do feel the skill costs are too high. It just takes too long to unlock new moves for every style, so you won’t be switching between them very often during the early and mid game because they won’t be as strong as whichever style you prefer and have invested the most into.

I began Yakuza Zero not sure if I’d like it, and the slow opening hours made me a little concerned. But once I’d got stuck into the game, I absolutely fell in love with it. It’s a game that really shouldn’t work – you’ve got a serious, fairly dark central story supported by absolutely wacky side content.

And yet, Yakuza Zero finds a way to balance everything perfectly. It’s an experience, that’s for sure. Overall, I couldn’t recommend Yakuza Zero more highly. It’s a wild ride, and more than worth the asking price for this PC release. Pick it up, you won’t be disappointed.

9/10