Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a modern day remake of 2006's Yakuza 2, running on the latest iteration
of the Dragon Engine first seen in April's Yakuza 6.
Kiwami 2 is in the interesting position of not only remaking what many consider the pinnacle
of the series, but also striving to reimplement a good chunk of content that was lost from
earlier titles when the Dragon Engine debuted.
Effectively, the game sets out to juggle nostalgia and strengthen a foundation for the series
to build from in the future.
When I reviewed Yakuza 6 earlier this year, I enjoyed its new, strong presentation, but
wasn't as enamored with it as recent entries due to quantifiable steps back that were taken
in terms of content and combat feel.
I'm happy to report that Kiwami 2 works to fix these issues, and while it doesn't go
quite as far as I'd have hoped it is still a marked improvement and has me excited to
see how the development team builds from this point moving forward.
Like other Yakuza games, you'll take control of Kazuma Kiryu as you navigate through well-crafted
cityscapes defending yourself from an array of low-lifes, thugs and other yakuza who have
it out for you.
This go round the combat has been fine tuned to flow better, with attacks feeling subtly
more satisfying to land, with improved enemy AI that is just more fun to contend with.
Even when continuing my series tradition of doing my first playthrough on Hard difficulty,
the challenge remained steady throughout.
There are a few annoying enemy archetypes from the original release that return here
in all of their irritating glory, but they mainly tend to pop up during story focused
events and amount to just a minor bother to dispatch.
Similarly to how Yakuza 2 introduced an array of weapons to the series, Kiwami 2 introduces
a nice assortment of weapons that 6 was lacking.
This helps give some much needed choice and freedom in terms of how you approach brawls
that work toward making things feel "right" again.
I still find myself missing the old combat engine from Yakuza 0 now and then, but Kiwami
2 does a solid job of strengthening 6's case to move away from it.
Another thing this game fine tunes from 6 is general engine performance.
The game still aims for 30 frames per second on a base PS4, but it stays much more consistent
this time.
You'll still notice some drops here and there, sometimes bafflingly in small, confined rooms,
but the performance stands strong more often than not.
Screen tear is far less noticeable now, as well.
I also feel a need to highlight the lighting engine.
Much like 6, the game looks great in the day time and additionally stunning at night.
The flair and style exhibited in specific combat scenarios can be exhilarating as well,
confidently showing just how far this series has come in the 12 years since the original
release of Yakuza 2.
In terms of the numerous side content that Kiwami 2 reintroduces, it's hard to cover
it all without essentially reading down a list.
As per usual, most minigames aren't noteworthy taken on their own, but it's more about the
sum of the parts when it comes to Yakuza.
Golfing, poker, blackjack, colosseum fights, claw games and more all return, but the real
fun comes from breaking off from the main quest at any point you choose to chase after
these ventures.
The game is still missing some of my favorites from years past, such as bowling and billiards,
but entry by entry we're getting back to the content volume one can expect from a Yakuza
title that helps contribute to its immense charm.
I'd also be remiss to not mention that arcade classic Virtual-On is fully playable in the
usual Club SEGA locations which I am very thankful for.
We in the West also finally get to have a taste of SEGA's eccentric Toylet venture,
and yes, that is toilet with a toy pun.
There's no beating around the bush on this one folks.
It's about aiming during the urinary process to achieve success in a couple minigames.
The Yakuza series is nothing without its strong sense of tonal duality, and while bizarre,
it's yet another strangely endearing side activity to add to the list.
To that end, Kiwami 2 brings back two side activities with new minor storylines from
recent entries.
Yakuza 6's clan fighter system returns with a twist.
This new take on it now sees you entering a combat scenario with a fixed number of fighters
to defend a point, as opposed to spamming lots of unit types to invade a point like
in 6.
I'm mixed on the changes made, while it demands a bit more thought and care now, I've found
the unit AI to make baffling decisions of their own accord.
Often times I'll see my characters running away from enemies who are attacking the points
they are meant to be defending just to return to a fixed position.
I found myself yearning for a better way to select and move units around the map, in its
current incarnation it feels a bit unwieldy and confusing.
I can't say I was particularly grabbed by the implementation in 6, but I feel like I
preferred it to the changes Kiwami 2 made.
My feelings on the actual gameplay aside, the context is charming at the least, with
Kiryu operating as the manager of Majima's Construction company where every encounter
ends with an ode to Majima's glory.
What a guy.
The other gameplay style Kiwami 2 resurfaces is Yakuza 0's cabaret club management, which
has a new storyline that actually picks up from Yakuza 0's cabaret plot which I appreciated
quite a bit.
This side story sees Kiryu managing a failing cabaret club as it attempts to outperform
rival operations to become number one in Japan against a cartoonishly evil rival association.
Unlike the clan fighter system, however, the gameplay systems here are largely unchanged.
Hostesses now have personality traits, and other chaos elements come into play throughout
the competitions to help keep you on your feet, but frankly there wasn't much broken
here to fix in the first place.
During the main cabaret bouts, you can now see the exact amount of money your rival is
making during a competition, making these big events feel even more tense.
In 0 the indication on who was winning was very unclear so this is an obvious but very
welcome change.
Frankly put, the cabaret management still stands strong as one of my favorite side activities
in the entire series and I've had lots of fun getting into it all over again.
While on the subject of Yakuza 0, there is an entirely new side story focused on Majima
that is unlocked while playing through Kiwami 2's main story.
It picks up from his role in 0 and serves to tie up some dangling loose ends.
I'm conflicted on these chapters because I feel that game wrapped a nice bow on its narrative
and frankly didn't leave me wanting more.
Majima's chapters essentially amount to a couple of hours of what feel like filler,
and while it's cool to be able to mess around with his fighting style in this new engine
it's pretty limited here.
The story here is half typical Yakuza fare, and half retreading some beats of his story
from the aforementioned prequel.
I adore this series so I'm happy to have a little extra content where I can get it, but
between the undercooked combat scenarios and head-scratchingly similar narrative beats
I couldn't help but walk away from these chapters wishing they'd had more care put into them.
To that end, the last remaining element to touch on here is the main game's story.
While the plot is near identical to the original release, I don't want to say much in consideration
of those who recently entered the franchise.
What I will say is that Yakuza 2 has long been a fan favorite in terms of its narrative,
and this remake stays true to many great scenes, down to having practically identical choreography.
There were some unfortunate losses in the process, such as a small end-game area that
was cut entirely with its story content was moved elsewhere, but there are still many
heart-pumping and emotional twists and turns like I've come to expect from entries in the
series.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 stands as a strong reminder that even in its earliest days the Yakuza
games were pulling off drama better than most others can hope to.
As of the time of this writing, I've put 36 hours into the title and I'm looking forward
to many more as I move on to exhaust the in-game completion list.
It's a marked improvement over Yakuza 6 and I had a great time with it.
I urge anyone watching to give it a shot, there has never been a better time to get
into one of SEGA's best properties.
For more on all things gaming, keep it locked to GameXplain.
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