Yakuza 5 continues the trend of 4 by doing a character per 'Act', with now 5 different characters all having their own story arc, with their own gameplay gimmicks, that all by the end have their stories merge for the final showdown.

It was probably one of the better entries, even if sometimes the characters' chapters felt marginally short. I really, really, did not enjoy playing as Tatsuo Shinada though. I understand his addition as it helps re-inforce the overall plot and theme of the game - people's aspirations and dreams, carrying those on as a 'legacy' and striving to make them real, but, as a character and in his gameplay, I just really struggled to get on with him.

I was however, surprised by how fun they made Haruka's segments - a wild left turn from all the beat-em-up action you get from the 4 other characters into this minigame central, rhythm based experience.

It's also weird to experience a Yakuza game that not only is set outside of Kamurocho (though this happens often) but set in 5 different locations (sure, 2 or 3 are just a couple of streets and about half the size of Sotenbori / Kamurocho) but it felt 'refreshing' to experience a variety of new locales.