I've heard this is the weakest game by many and they were not wrong at all. This is very mediocre and in some places straight up bad.

The story isn't very good at all and the pacing is awful. You start off with a bang, but then you have 3 chapters that are leading up to present day and it feels like stuff is happening for no rhyme or reason. You'll go around helping the kids out with their problems which just feels so boring and doesn't move the plot along at all. However from a character standpoint it makes sense. Kiryu is very caring and wants these kids to feel loved and appreciated like how Kazama did for him.

Then the middle part of the game is actually quite fun. You're given more freedom to go around and do stuff and the plot gets much better in this section. Then they screw up the ending pretty badly. Characters die for no reason or do just the stupidest things imaginable. There is literally a chapter of the game fittingly called "The Plot", where you sit down with some dude and you ask questions about the yet to be revealed mysteries. It's so lazy and boring. Not to mention that is the ENTIRE chapter. The ending cutscene is also so bizarre. You'll know when you get there but yeah it so odd. The twists in the game are also extremely predictable it's not even funny.

The characters aside from Kiryu are not very good at all. Rikiya is fine but he is not anywhere near as great as the fandom makes him out to be. Daigo is pretty stupid and now that I'm on Yakuza 5, I understand why people hate him even if I personally think he's fine. The villain is thrown together out of nowhere and is just Nishiki 2.0 but gone way over the edge (pun intended). Also the Villain is incredibly stupid and contradictory it's really quite insane.

Moving from Kiwami 2 the second most recent game to be released all the way back to the second use of the ps3 engine is REALLY rough. You've lost all the QoL of saving from your phone, the exp system has been changed yet again, and fights are physically painful to play through. Every enemy blocks an absurd amount or straight up dodges a lot. You just have to bide your time for any encounter even on the streets so I avoided battles like the plague. It just takes so long to get through and is not fun at all until the endgame when you have all the good upgrades.

Side content is also very poor in this game because it was their first shot at much of it. I tried most of them out but they were all just no fun at all so I just ran through the game, ignoring it.

The one thing I can say that I truly love about this game is the final boss fight. For starters, the boss ignores all the absurd balancing the main game has and fights like a normal opponent in a yakuza game. He doesn't spam block or dodge, not to say he won't but it's much more reasonable and doesn't take up 10 minutes of your life. The theme for this fight is also a remix of the main theme and I just love it when games do that. Especially so here because it was so good to begin with and then they made it literally perfect. It's honestly my favorite song in the series so far (Ichiban Ka is already a banger and with the emotional payoff it could very well top it).

Overall a very poor game by Yakuza standards but it was developed in just 8 months and this was their second shot at using this engine. However, I do think this game is very skippable, it really just feels like it's there in service for Kiryu and Haruka's character, to set them up for future games. It's not all bad with the final boss and the middle part of the game being quite enjoyable.
4/10

Friends have recommended me this game for about a year before I decided to give it a go and well, they were absolutely right about it. It's a great top down shooter that can be completed in 8 hours or less depending on your skill.

Even if it's very basic I really like the visual style of the game it's very flashy and really fits the tone. I also really like that it's set in the 80s since I can't think of many games in this setting. Some good music as well with further helps establish the tone and atmosphere of the game. Just great presentation all round.

The gameplay is just a top down shooter with some really challenging levels that are near impossible to beat on your first or even fifth run through them. You'll have to experiment a bit to really get to know the ins and outs of the level before you beat it and it's really satisfying when you beat it. Some of these levels are just so brutal, especially chapter 15 where you have to be very precise in your movement and aim for 3-5 quick consecutive shots. While it was VERY satisfying when I did it, it's also the single mission that will prevent me from playing this game again lol.

Overall this is a pretty great indie game and I highly recommend it for 8 or so hours of fun. It regularly goes on sale for around 2 dollars along with its sequel which I hope to play sometime in the next few months.
8/10