'Yakuza 6: Song of Life' Reviews: Compelling Story, Weak Gameplay
Western fans of the SEGA open-world crime drama role-playing video game "Yakuza" will still have to wait roughly a month before "Yakuza 6: The Song of Life" is released, but it is already being reviewed by gaming outlets.
According to reports, the main story focuses on the protagonist of all the "Yakuza" games this far, Kazama Kiryu, whose main struggle in the latest installment in the franchise is to search for the hit-and-run culprit who took the life of his beloved stepdaughter. The main plot is reminiscent of the previous ones that fans of the series have grown to love, but the game is not without its shortcomings.
Apparently, the game's developer, Sega, has made the combat system too simple. Although its effort to scrap loading screens before every battle instance was commended, not much strategy is needed to dispatch numerous enemies, since Kazama can simply twirl one enemy around and fling him to the rest of his foes to knock all of them down like bowling pins.
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Once enemies are down, players can simply enjoy the game's whole plethora of blunt weapons such as road cones, neon signs, and even bicycles to finish off their remaining opponents in violent "Yakuza" fashion.
Meanwhile, one of the main complaints that is synonymous across most video game news outlets is that the battle system does not encourage players to fight smart, which makes the combat quite repetitive — especially considering the game's estimated play time of 100 hours. Furthermore, the missions are considered to be the generic fetch quests that seasoned players have grown weary of from other titles.
Unfortunately, despite the numerous other activities that players can do in the context of Japanese culture and activities, these are simply not enticing enough to provide fans with enough distractions away from the main story.
It is undeniable that "Yakuza 6: The Song of Life" still delivers a compelling story that is moving. For that alone, the game is worth trying out.
"Yakuza 6: The Song of Life" will be released on April 20 on the PlayStation 4.
