Gallery: Yakuza Zero

Now Playing: Shenmue 2

I played Shenmue again on Dreamcast back in 2014 and the intention was to continue my save into Shenmue 2, but I never quite got around to it. Spin on to 2018 and SEGA have now released a PC port of both Shenmue 1 & 2. Port not remaster – this isn’t a HD overhaul of Shenmue, so don’t expect any major graphical or gameplay upgrades.

As far as the port goes, it’s a fairly solid job but it’s had some bugs and issues, most of which appear to have been addressed by some patches post-release. I didn’t experience any real issues when playing the port aside from a couple of crashes so, overall, I’d have to say they did a pretty decent job – they just need to smooth out a few rough edges.

I played through Shenmue so I could carry my save into 2 but I won’t review that game again here because my original review in 2014 still sums up how I feel about it. Instead I’m going to focus on Shenmue 2 which picks up where Shenmue 1 left off – with Ryo arriving in Hong Kong to continue the search for Lan Di, and to uncover more information about his father’s past.

Shenmue 2 is a far more action focused and faster paced game than the original. When you look at the original game, most of it is just about walking around, talking to people and gathering information. There’s only a handful of action scenes and fights, and the plot doesn’t develop to any great degree.

 

Shenmue 2 drops you into the action almost immediately upon arrival in Hong Kong. Whereas in Shenmue, Ryo was in his home town and surrounded by people he knew, in Shenmue 2 he’s a stranger in a strange land and it isn’t long before he runs into trouble. The game has far more action sequences than the original in the form of QTE scenes, group fights and – most importantly – 1v1 battles.

I said in my Shenmue review that the combat system feels designed for 1v1 more so than the group battles. It’s a system that’s very reliant on patience, timing and position. But Shenmue 2 does seem to recognise this, and many of the moves you learn in Hong Kong are designed to help you manage these group battles more easily.

And that’s something I really love about the game – how Ryo’s training by various masters isn’t just a plot element, but a tool used to teach the player too. When Ryo is forced to learn patience and timing by say, catching leaves falling from a tree, it’s also a clever way of reinforcing these gameplay mechanics to the player.

As a result, group fights in Shenmue 2 feel far easier to manage, and when you do take down an entire group of bad guys without taking a single hit, you really do feel like a total bad ass. That said, some group fights do still devolve into some mindless mashing due to the small confines of the environment. But overall, they’re handled far better than in Shenmue.

 

It’s the 1v1 fights where Shenmue 2 really shines though, because that’s also where the combat system is best utilised. And Shenmue 2 gives you a lot of 1v1 opportunities throughout the game both in core and side content. But it’s when you leave Hong Kong and travel to Kowloon that you get to the really cool fights, as Ryo has to face down a variety of opponents in order to progress.

Like Shenmue, the world is impressively constructed and detailed. It’s also about ten times larger than anything in Shenmue. The sheer amount of locations you can enter and explore is kind of crazy, especially when you consider that if you simply follow the core story from A to B you’d probably never even see 90% of it.

Shenmue 2 builds a living world that puts even modern open world games to shame. And like Shenmue, it’s a game in which I always discover something new whenever I replay it – a new scene, a new character or a new location. And Shenmue 2 has far more variety to its environments than the original.

Everything about Shenmue 2 is a step up from the original – action, environment, characters and plot. Whereas Shenmue felt more like a solo quest for Ryo – despite a bit of help here and there from his friends along the way – Shenmue 2 has a larger and more involved cast of both heroes and villains, the best of which is the fantastic bromance between Ryo and Ren, the leader of a local street gang.

 

The story follows Ryo in his search for Yuanda Zhu, an old friend of Ryo’s father who’s also being hunted by Lan Di and his associates in the Yellow Heads gang of Kowloon. The Hong Kong area is a little more slowly paced and plays more like the original as Ryo explores, investigates and gets into the occasional scrap.

But the pace really picks up when he travels to Kowloon and from this point the action doesn’t really let up, culminating in a couple of very satisfying 1v1 fights in the Yellow Head building – one in the basement and one on the roof.

The characters and the story are great and I really hope we see many of these characters return in Shenmue 3. I also like that the game has more of a sense of humour than the original, my favourite moment being when Ryo is carefully climbing to the top of a building to find Zhu. It’s actually a pretty tedious and annoying section but thankfully you can save as you go, so if you fall you don’t have to restart from the bottom.

The humour comes when Ryo finally arrives at the top floor only for Ren to show up who used . . . the elevator. And the camera just lingers on Ryo’s face for a moment. He doesn’t say anything, because he’s a nice lad who keeps his cool, but his face says it all – F**K!

 

And just when you think the game is over, Ryo presses on into the heart of China to the small village of Guilin. This is best viewed as an ‘epilogue’ chapter because aside from some rather pointless QTE sequences it’s a very slow paced and dialogue heavy section. It introduces a character teased in the original game – Shenhua – and it’s really all about getting to know her and learning more about the origin of the mysterious mirrors at the heart of the plot.

And then it all ends with a cliffhanger which remains unresolved – but not for much longer. I must admit, I have my doubts about the upcoming Shenmue 3, so I’m keeping my expectations in check but I’m still pretty excited for it. Shenmue 1 & 2 were very original and unique experiences at release and they still are today. There’s nothing quite like them.

They may look a little rough graphically these days, and the character movement may feel clunky and dated, but the world, story, characters and – let’s not forget the fantastic music – keep Shenmue feeling like a very special experience. I think Shenmue 2 is a better game than 1, but 1 still has its charms and perfectly sets up events in 2.

So yeah, I still f**king love Shenmue 2 and I had a real blast playing it through again on PC. It’s still not a game I’d recommend to everyone, but if you think it’s something you might enjoy then be sure to check it out.

8/10

Work in Progress: TF, TM & TE

I finished writing TF, TM & TE a few weeks ago. It still needs some work, but I wanted to take a little break so I can come back to it fresh. Hopefully it won’t need more than a final edit, and I can then begin the process of sending it out to agents. It’s been a while since I’ve done that, so I’ll need to research and prepare a pitch.

Hopefully someone will be willing to take it on, but if not, I can always self publish. In fact, I’ll probably go all in on the self publish route. I’ve got plenty of material I’ve held back I can use. It’s not the way I wanted to go, but it’s better than the work never being seen.

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

Battlefield V (BETA)

It feels like all the news I’ve read about Battlefield V these last few weeks hasn’t been about what’s going to be in the game at release, but what’s not going to be. That’s because Battlefield V will be using a ‘live service’ model – various features, modes and mechanics will all be added post release for free.

But as curious as I am about the long term content plan of BFV, I’m currently more interested in what will be available upon launch. What am I paying for on Day 1? At the time of writing, I still don’t know. There’s no clear list of release day content in terms of maps, modes or features.

And there’s no clear road map of future content, either. The problem with this live service model is that there’s no guarantees – it’s no different than purchasing a Season Pass without knowing what that Pass will include.

You’re essentially paying in advance for content but you don’t know what that content is, or when it’s likely to be released – or even if it will be released at all. Like I said, there’s no guarantees. Let’s say Battlefield V doesn’t meet EA sales projections – do you really think they won’t scale back their live service plan?

That concerns me. I’d feel far more confident purchasing Battlefield V at release if I had guarantees regarding future content. I understand that things can change during development, and they may be wary to commit to content plans long term. But I find it hard to believe they can’t at least give us a ‘Year 1’ type of road map so we’re clear what content to expect alongside a rough release schedule.

Maybe we’ll get something like that closer to release. I hope we do, because I’m not going to pay in advance for content that EA may decide to cancel if Battlefield V doesn’t sell as well as they’d like. It’s a shame I have to talk about this and not just the game, but it’s an important aspect of Battlefield V that can’t be ignored.

Okay, so how do I feel about the actual game now I’ve played this BETA? Graphically, BFV looks great, but that was always to be expected. And performance, overall, is really good too – aside from a handful of occasions where I’d join a game in progress and get some nasty frame drops, forcing me to quit.

There is one issue I had with the visuals though, primarily upon the Norway map. It’s a very visually ‘busy’ map and I found that playing it for more than an hour or so started giving me a headache. I think it’s all the snow effects – which do look great – but it really does clutter your screen at times, making focusing upon the environment a bit of a strain on the eyes. Obviously, not everyone will suffer this issue, but it was a problem for me.

The lighting in some interiors could also be very dark, particularly on the Rotterdam map – there are places you can sit where you’re practically invisible. Seriously, one time I just crouched in a corner whilst about 4 enemy players stood in front of me totally unaware.

Of the two maps available in this BETA, I’d say I enjoyed Rotterdam more because there seemed to be a better balance between long and short range combat, whereas Norway felt like a sniper’s paradise. I don’t typically like to play as a sniper – because I’m bloody terrible at it – but I frequently did on the Norway map because of how it’s designed – lots of open spaces, long ‘corridors’ with easy shots to line up and near limitless angles.

That said, even the standard Assault class machine gun is surprisingly effective at long range, so you’re not at that great a disadvantage – there certainly needs to be a little more balancing between the various weapons. I would have preferred to use the semi-auto rifles as an Assault, for example, but I felt they were objectively worse than than a full auto machine gun, even at long range.

I’m not sure about the ‘ammo supply’ mechanic, because right now, it just means you’ll immediately head for a ammo and health station as soon as you spawn – your starting ammo is pretty weak, roughly only half of what you can carry for your primary weapon. It feels like it should start you on full, and then use the ammo stations or squad supplies to keep you going.

Speaking of the squad mechanics, the ability to revive your squad mates – even if you’re not a medic – is a neat way of trying to get people to work together, and when it works, it’s pretty great. But, as you’d expect, not everyone seems to care, and I lost count of the amount of times someone on my squad ignored a revive, even when it was perfectly safe to do so. It’s pretty damn annoying, but maybe they’re just not aware of the system yet.

Combat, in general, feels pretty good, but movement isn’t as smooth as I’d like. I frequently got stuck on scenery when attempting to vault or climb over various objects. You’re not quite as agile in combat as the trailers seem to suggest. I can’t say much about vehicles, because I only got to try them on a handful of occasions.

The ‘fortifications’ feature, whereby you can build defences upon the map, is a pretty fun addition and can actually be very effective in some locations, allowing you to block access points for enemy infantry. I also like the destructibility of the environment. It’s pretty exciting when you’re in a house and you see a tank lining up a shot, just before the wall explodes and you get knocked to the floor, before dragging yourself to safety.

I’m not quite decided on the TTK right now. At times, it feels a little too fast, but at others, it feels just about right. I think the key with TTK is that you want to feel like it’s not just a game of ‘who sees who first’. There has to be a moment – even a small moment – where you can react and either return fire, or seek cover. And because there’s no ‘kill cam’ you never know who shot you or where they were, so some deaths can feel rather random and unfair.

And lag can be a bit of an issue. There are moments you’ll shoot people in the head or body multiple times but it doesn’t seem to register, and others when you think you’ve taken cover and avoided getting hit, only to suddenly drop dead due to a ‘bullet delay’ or whatever you want to call it. It didn’t happen often but it was annoying when it did.

As far as bugs go, I saw a lot animation issues, most noticeably with dead bodies. There’s also a horrible audio glitch when houses collapse – it’s loud and painful to hear. It certainly needs some polish and balancing, but it’s not in terrible shape.

So I guess the real question is – did I enjoy the BETA? Overall, yeah, I did. But did I enjoy it enough to drop sixty quid on just the standard release edition? Not at the moment, especially when their ‘live service’ plans are still so vague. I want a clear list of release content and some kind of guarantee regarding future content, at least for the first year. Maybe then I’ll consider it. Maybe.

Now Watching: A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place is the kind of film I’d probably enjoy more if I could switch off that part of my brain that says ‘this is dumb and doesn’t make sense’. But I couldn’t, so I didn’t. I quite like the concept – a horror film set in a world where mysterious creatures hunt people using sound. I say ‘mysterious’ because the film doesn’t explore their origins, and frankly it doesn’t need to.

But what it did need to do was establish come kind of consistent behaviour for these creatures and that, for me, is where the film stumbles and falls. At times, the creatures in A Quiet Place behave like mindless brutes. Wild animals without reason.

Yet, at others, they behave like intelligent predators, carefully stalking their prey. The film can’t quite seem to decide, so the creatures behaviour changes depending upon what the script requires. And I think that’s why I found it so hard to be engaged by A Quiet Place. What are the rules? What can and can’t you do? How do the creatures determine which sounds are prey and which are not?

The behaviour of the creatures is far too inconsistent for me to be drawn into the suspense the film is clearly going for. I found a scene involving a rusty nail and a bare foot far more unsettling than anything involving the people eating monsters. A Quiet Place also tries to be clever with its world building, but it only results in more distracting questions.

The film makes it clear that these creatures are a global threat, but they didn’t spread so rapidly that people weren’t able to write, print and deliver newspapers about them. So there was obviously time for people to formulate a way of dealing with these creatures. And nobody – seriously nobody – in the world thought that a creature that hunts through and is incredibly sensitive to sound may also be vulnerable to sound?!

I figured that shit out about fifteen minutes in, not because I’m a secret genius but because it’s so f**king obvious. I was also a little annoyed by some of the typical ‘character must do something stupid to create tension’ moments that you kind of expect in a horror film, but this one feels like it should have been smarter about it.

I can’t really fault any of the performances or the direction, it was just the inconsistency of the creatures that spoiled the film for me because once I realised their behaviour was determined purely by what the plot required in any given scene, I couldn’t really take the film seriously or be engaged by it. I did like the way the film ended, though. It was a nice and clever way of punching out.

Overall, A Quiet Place was okay, I guess, and I know not everyone will be as bothered by the details as I am. But for me, an effective horror film is one I come away from feeling unsettled. It plays on my mind in the hours and days after seeing it. But A Quiet Place wasn’t able to achieve that. I came away more annoyed by it than anything, and in a day or two I’ll probably forget all about it.

5/10