Who knew being a yakuza would be so dramatic. Like a Dragon is my first Yakuza game. I was intrigued by it after hearing stories about its deliciously quirky nature. The people were right on this, but that isn\u2019t the full story\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You play as Ichiban. A modern rapscallion who really just wants to hang with his buds. He\u2019s an endearing character who is easy to like. The characters in the party you build up on the way aren\u2019t as charming individually, but each is distinctive and an outcast in their own way. The combination of this gang works well, with each having foils against the others and well-intentioned banter running thick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like a Dragon is at its best when it lets the city tell the story. After the tutorial, Ichiban wakes up in a district of Yokohama and you discover it and its people alongside him. Nearly all of the games takes place in a few blocks of this modern Japanese city that is crammed full of delightful detail and alluring activities down every alley. It\u2019s beautifully realised and makes me want to go and walk around a random Japanese city and just see the everyday differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In particular, the random side quests from various citizens of Yokohama as you walk around are some of gaming\u2019s finest. These are legitimately funny and manage to tell engaging stories in the equivalent of a few pages. They range from collecting cans in a violent competition against other homeless people, counting traffic for a census taker with a hand cramp and finding a runaway crayfish. These are fully self-contained and one of the best parts of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unfortunately, about 2\/3 into the game, they decide to stop using the city to tell the story and instead use mountains of expository dialogue. They kept throwing in new characters at this point. I feel like some of these were throwbacks to older games as there is an assumed camaraderie that just makes no sense sometimes. The x-button got a solid workout in this part as I tried to salvage whatever free time I could by skim reading dialogue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were some in-depth minigames (another time sink), but these were actually pretty good. There is a whole kart-racing game that is halfway towards Mario Kart. Gambling was too complicated though. I don\u2019t know if the game assumed that I was already intricately familiar with half a dozen East Asian forms of super poker, but I gave it one shot and gave up. Looking back this was the right decision, the game had enough time sinks and I was struggling by the end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Music is pretty generic. Lots of grating electronic in the boss battles (especially after 20 minutes of it on repeat), but mostly inoffensive otherwise with nothing that stood out. One standout is the song that plays around a specific sex shop where you buy themed weapons which seemed to be the best early game gear. You hear it so much in the background in this one area, it gets to be quite catchy and strongly associated with a time and place as you are learning about this big new city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n