Yakuza - The criminal comic crime game

lyra.roberge (56)in #gaming • 7 years ago (edited)

For years I have heard from many Japanophiles how great every new part of the Yakuza series is. Of course, there were always too many other games that attracted my immediate attention, so the umpteenth crime simulation from Japan passed me by.

There was a real serious interest only with a video that circulated just before the release of Yakuza 0 on Twitter. Here the blood-serious gangster Kiryu was offered a chicken after he had thrown a 'turkey' in bowling. There were due apologies for the fact that it was not turkey and the dialogue ends with Nugget the chicken that you can use as the new manager of the bowling alley. It is a very strong piece of humor that in my eyes did not seem to fit in with the completely serious crime stories that Yakuza always seemed to tell.

Balance act

It may sound crazy, but a weird video stripped of all its context was enough for me to give Yakuza 0 a chance. In the end, however, it was the serious side of this series that caused me to sit on the edge of my chair during almost every cutscenes.

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Yakuza 0 makes an impressive balancing act between particularly horny and deadly serious. The humor is mainly found in the optional side stories that are worth playing because of the bizarre situations in which the two playable gangsters end up. Whether you're helping a little boy with his long-awaited video game, or reuniting a father with his daughter, there's almost always a funny twist in these short storylines. The roles of Kiryu and Majima - which you alternate between the two chapters - are often those of mediator. The fighters and ultimately tough gangsters show more than once their reasonable, friendly and soft side. Not a Western game that would dare to burden its (anti) heroes with it.

The main line is in fact a crime story according to the book. The stories of Kiryu and Majima, who initially seem to have nothing to do with each other, are brought together after all sorts of aberrations after a series of plot twists. The acting is typically Japanese, full of moments in which characters can do nothing more than look at each other and pronounce each other's name under their breath. It is a tad cliché, but it works. Because 0 is a prequel, the story is easy to follow, while loyal fans are rewarded with all kinds of winks about events that still have to take place.

Gangsters beat each other too much

As an open world game, Yakuza 0 is a game that is mainly interested in simulating Japan from the 80s. The eye for detail in the packaging of products, outfits and social developments is excellent, but in the end this is really a game in which one gangster hits the other.

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Every confrontation in Yakuza 0 ultimately comes down to a fistfight in which Kiryu or Majima with a few simple button combinations everyone rotten. In the normal playing mode, this game is hardly difficult to mention, but that does not really matter. Yakuza 0 is a special kind of power fantasy in which you are the humble gangster who stays respectful to his superior, even after he has banged his face against the wall a minute earlier. Although your opponents are completely kicked and beaten, the killing of someone in Yakuza 0 has an appropriate weight. Even the most badly kicked street bastard just gets up again after a fight. It is a strong example of romanticization, because although they are dangerous members of the Yakuza, the game does not mean that Kiryu and Majima are good guests.

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That constant change in tone, from mealy to serious and from extremely violent to extremely respectful to the traditions of the Japanese mafia, makes Yakuza 0 such a memorable game. In this fanciful Japan - where honorable criminals help ordinary citizens and at the same time take on other criminals who do not play according to the rules - you can easily stay for dozens of hours.