![]() As you run around the streets of Kamurocho, you're constantly accosted by yakuza, street punks, and other troublemakers, all of whom attack you on the flimsiest of pretexts. Each has his own fighting style: Akiyama relies on kicks that defy gravity and human anatomy Saejima is a hard-hitting bruiser Tanimura excels at parrying enemy attacks and catching foes off guard and Kiryu is the most well-rounded of the bunch. Also, this happens.īrawling is at Yakuza 4's core, and like the story, this aspect is also better for being shared among four heroes. The story is packed with twists and turns. It wouldn't feel like a proper Yakuza game if it didn't involve Kazuma Kiryu tearing his shirt off before a final battle, and Yakuza 4 does not disappoint. The game smartly builds up anticipation by saving your chance to play as the series' marquee hero for last, when it brings the narrative threads together for a very satisfying climax. You gain insight into these fascinating characters during your time with each of them, and you move from one to the next before any of them start to feel overly familiar. You start out playing as Shun Akiyama, before moving on to Saejima's tale and then Tanimura's. The story benefits a great deal from its focus on four distinct heroes. The story is full of betrayals and stunning revelations, and the heightened, soap opera quality of the emotions that run through it make it a compelling one overall, albeit one that isn't always told in an engaging way. (There's no English language option.) The plot is so intricate that you'd need to make a chart to keep track of every individual and organization that's involved, but the particulars are less important than the larger-than-life personalities at play, and even when the details get confusing, understanding the motivations of the main characters is easy. By contrast, the fully voiced and animated cutscenes, of which there are also many, are great, full of cinematic flair and energized by the excellent Japanese voice acting. It doesn't help that a great deal of the story is advanced through voiceless cutscenes in which characters use canned animations to express themselves. Yakuza 4 spends a lot of time telling its story-so much, in fact, that at times you'll long for an end to the chitchat so that you can get back to actually playing the game. His charming swagger and expressive nature make him a refreshing departure from the other, more serious heroes. Perhaps the best of the new protagonists is Shun Akiyama, a moneylender who charges no interest and who helps those nobody else will. Masayoshi Tanimura is a complex corrupt cop who operates by his own sense of right and wrong, even if he doesn't always enforce the law. There's Taiga Saejima, a stoic man who has served 25 years in prison for murder and whose often expressionless demeanor slowly reveals a profound depth of emotion. But Yakuza 4 introduces three other men who share the spotlight. Until now, yakuza-clan-chairman-turned-orphanage-operator Kazuma Kiryu has been the series' sole hero. Yakuza 4 continues the epic crime saga told in its predecessors, and should you want to bring yourself up to speed on the events of the earlier games, lengthy recaps that employ cutscenes from those titles are included here. By clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's
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