Kazuma Kiryu has.....retired. No longer a Yakuza, he decides to live his life out as the owner and operator of an orphanage in the scenic Japanese prefecture of Okinawa with his adopted daughter Haruka. Unfortunately for our retired Dragon a scramble for the deed of the land his orphanage is built on turns into another one of the classic Yakuza scrambles for power and respect; the stakes have never been higher and once again the fate of the Tojo clan and all of Japan is at stake.
Welcome to Yakuza 3.
Originally released for the Playstation 3 in 2009, Yakuza 3 is a fantastic example of a team of developers using the full power of a brand new platform to realize their vision of an interactive world. Compared to its predecessors, its bigger, fuller, and more densely packed. It's one step closer to the Kamurocho of the modern Yakuzas, and you can feel the foundations of games like 0 in every fiber of its bones. It's a more mature, grounded, alive feeling game - it deserves a rightful place on the shelf of major 2009 PS3 titles such as Uncharted 2, Final Fantasy XIII, and Killzone 2 that properly leveraged the capabilities of that particular console to scale up ambitions successfully for the HD era of gaming.
Of those significant titles however, it might be the one that's aged the worst in the 14 years since it blazed onto the market.
Yakuza 3 is one of the most beautifully melodramatic stories ever told in a video game; its silly, strange, and emotive in ways that fully grip you in its depiction of modern day Japan. Saddling Kiryu with the responsibilities of not only determining the fate of the Tojo Clan, but also raising and guiding the children of his orphanage is perhaps one of the most interesting and most successful evolutions a long running franchise has ever done to keep itself vitalized.
Playing Yakuza 3 is the exact opposite; combat is the driest its ever been with a reliance on the same stale combo over and over to reach success as enemies block your moves with insane resolve. Leveling Kiryu up to make his move set more interesting requires such an intense time investment compared to its peers that most players will likely finish the game with a meager set of moves which creates that overwhelming sense of tedium. The minigames are half designed, the new first person mode to discover moves is high stakes and easily fumbled. There's so, so much to do for the committed player who's ready to invest a hundred hours into combing over every inch of Yakuza 3's new realizations of Kamurocho and Okinawa. I am NOT that player. In scaling up Yakuza for the HD era, the development hit some hard walls that would take them many additional years of work to climb over. Such is life.
And yet, warts and all, I found myself absolutely swept up by Yakuza 3's large scale, high stakes storytelling. I didn't enjoy much of my experience pushing through Yakuza 3's design, but its wonderful character arcs, epic set pieces, and shift in tone and drama away from the insane structure of Yakuza 2 make for a singular, unforgettable experience. Though I am ranking it a 3 star meal in 2023, it is absolutely a 5 star meal for 2009; players simply wouldn't have known at that time how much better the Yakuza franchise would continue to get. As it stands, I put it right next to Yakuza 0 as a top tier Yakuza adventure. Adjust your expectations accordingly and you will not regret. Not even for a moment.
Welcome to Yakuza 3.
Originally released for the Playstation 3 in 2009, Yakuza 3 is a fantastic example of a team of developers using the full power of a brand new platform to realize their vision of an interactive world. Compared to its predecessors, its bigger, fuller, and more densely packed. It's one step closer to the Kamurocho of the modern Yakuzas, and you can feel the foundations of games like 0 in every fiber of its bones. It's a more mature, grounded, alive feeling game - it deserves a rightful place on the shelf of major 2009 PS3 titles such as Uncharted 2, Final Fantasy XIII, and Killzone 2 that properly leveraged the capabilities of that particular console to scale up ambitions successfully for the HD era of gaming.
Of those significant titles however, it might be the one that's aged the worst in the 14 years since it blazed onto the market.
Yakuza 3 is one of the most beautifully melodramatic stories ever told in a video game; its silly, strange, and emotive in ways that fully grip you in its depiction of modern day Japan. Saddling Kiryu with the responsibilities of not only determining the fate of the Tojo Clan, but also raising and guiding the children of his orphanage is perhaps one of the most interesting and most successful evolutions a long running franchise has ever done to keep itself vitalized.
Playing Yakuza 3 is the exact opposite; combat is the driest its ever been with a reliance on the same stale combo over and over to reach success as enemies block your moves with insane resolve. Leveling Kiryu up to make his move set more interesting requires such an intense time investment compared to its peers that most players will likely finish the game with a meager set of moves which creates that overwhelming sense of tedium. The minigames are half designed, the new first person mode to discover moves is high stakes and easily fumbled. There's so, so much to do for the committed player who's ready to invest a hundred hours into combing over every inch of Yakuza 3's new realizations of Kamurocho and Okinawa. I am NOT that player. In scaling up Yakuza for the HD era, the development hit some hard walls that would take them many additional years of work to climb over. Such is life.
And yet, warts and all, I found myself absolutely swept up by Yakuza 3's large scale, high stakes storytelling. I didn't enjoy much of my experience pushing through Yakuza 3's design, but its wonderful character arcs, epic set pieces, and shift in tone and drama away from the insane structure of Yakuza 2 make for a singular, unforgettable experience. Though I am ranking it a 3 star meal in 2023, it is absolutely a 5 star meal for 2009; players simply wouldn't have known at that time how much better the Yakuza franchise would continue to get. As it stands, I put it right next to Yakuza 0 as a top tier Yakuza adventure. Adjust your expectations accordingly and you will not regret. Not even for a moment.