Yakuza 3, the closest thing you'll get to Shenmue 3?

[Tanukitsune]

I never even heard of Yakuza 1 & 2 until I heard of the sequel, Yakuza 3. At first i thought it Sega's GTA clone, until I realized that the hero only uses his fists and melee weapons and there is no driving in it, you just walk around in an oriental town help people out and fight people... Hey that sounds familiar!

I'm not the only person to saw this game is the new Shenmue, sure the QTEs are almost gone and only appear in boss fight and are much easier, the capsule machine is now a crane game, you can't talk to everybody, but you have a GPS so you don't have to ask directions anymore, but it has a bit of the Shenmue feel to it....

Kazuma is an ex-yazuka, he doesn't want to be involved in the crime syndicate anymore, but in each game something forces him to get involved, but unlike Niko Bellic, Kazuma doesn't actually go back to a life of crime, he only beat up punks and other yakuza, he doesn't do anything illegal apart from this brawling.

The brawling itself is well, like a brawler! Except it has RPG elements and you have a "heat" bar that when filled it allows you do special environmental moves or item specific moves, the first time I used it, I had a daruma statue in my hand and.... I smashed into a punks head like a Kobun head in Dead Rising! AWESOME!

The game is a completionist's heaven... or nightmare, there are TONS of minigames to play, fishing, pool... golf? And the towns have collectables, but fortunately they aren't as many as in other games, you just collect locker keys that actually serve a purpose and don't exist just for a trophy.

I've only completed a few chapters of the game, but I'm loving it even though it's Japanese with subtitle and most people speak in text bubbles, some mini games are annoying, but they aren't necessary to beat the game!

[twmac]

I just finished Yakuza, and yes, I see the similarities. I actually really enjoyed it despite some of the archaic visuals on PS2.

I must say that I am glad not to be the OCD type as the sheer number of random shit you can do would have destroyed me.

[Tanukitsune]

I don't know how the first Yazuka game is completionist-wise, but I just spent a few hours walking around the city, doing side missions, beating punks and finding locker keys....

[Randall Theil]

Yakuza isn't as open-worldy or adventure/time management focused as Shenmue, is it? I haven't played Yakuza 3 yet (though I own it,) but it seemed like the spaces you could run around in were generally more constricted and focused on critical paths. Also you only fought like 3 or 4 guys with the real combat system in Shenmue.

They're both great games though. I need to get around to playing Shenmue 2 and Yakuza 2 soon.

[Tanukitsune]

Time management? Sure, Shenmue had a time limit, but you had so much time that I never had to actually go any time management?

Yakuza 3 takes place in two areas in two different cities, they aren't THAT big since you have to reach them by foot, but I spent several hours doing side missions, which is very open-wordly to me!

Oh, and by the way, I found out the game has Karaoke... which means I can no longer get Platinum, since I have no sense of rhythm...

[Kolzig]

I've always concidered Yakuza to be spiritual sequel to Shenmue series. Shame that the series is only out on PS3 so it will propably stay out of my reach forever like Katamari, Ico and Shadow and the Colossus do.

It looks very interesting and deep, I saw that the series is huge in Japan. Quite a lot of advertising in many places.

[Tanukitsune]

They are making a PSP Yakuza, it's not with the main character, but it's with one of the more likable ones! :3

[juv3nal]

I played the demo for 3, but it seemed, aside from the obvious visual upgrade due to console generation jump, almost exactly the same as 1 so I didn't bother. Has anyone played both and come away with a sense of any significant differences?

[Tanukitsune]

If my backlog wasn't reaching critical mass, I'd probably get a cop of Yakuza 2 and find out myself, but....

Can't you just Google online and see if someone else has posted the differences between the games?

[juv3nal]

Yakuza 3 reviewed by actual Yakuza.

[syntheticgerbil]

Haha, I have no interest in playing any Yakuza games, but that was a very interesting article Juv3nal. I especially liked the parts where they said how unrealistic the fighting was. There's almost a nice Far Cry 2 reference in there when they talk about guns. Almost.

[juv3nal]

Next installment of Yakuza to feature:zombies...and a dude with a gun-arm?