Yakuza Kiwami Reviews
With Yakuza Kiwami, SEGA have brought the series starting point up to a modern standard and created the perfectly jumping in point for the series.
If you've never played a Yakuza game before then Yakuza Kiwami is a great place to start.
Yakuza Kiwami follows hot on the heels of the prequal and save for a much more compact narrative nothing is drastically different and that's perfect. Yakuza is still the undisputed king of punching bad people in the face very hard and with more Yakuza games potentially on the horizon, it's never been a better time to flex Kiryu's muscles.
Yakuza Kiwami is a great game. Certainly not everybody’s cup of tea, especially those that aren’t a fan of Japanese culture or media in languages other than English. But I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with Yakuza Kiwami. While not as long as other games in the Yakuza franchise, it’s great story and substories(side quests) combined with it being the perfect jumping on point for anyone looking to dive into the series for the first time make it well worth the asking price.
Yakuza Kiwami has been another great addition to a series with nothing but great games. While I would say that its high notes aren’t as good as Yakuza 0’s, this can be excused for the most part as it technically is the first game of the series. Either way this game will please fans new and old so don’t miss out on it!
Yakuza Kiwami was like a rollercoaster ride with the most satisfying combat, the mini games were fun and exploring Kamuroch was a blast. There’s never been a better time to try out the Yakuza series and Kiwami is definitely the best game to start with.
On one hand, playing Kiwami was like returning to visit an old friend, on the other it was like playing it for the first time. Scenes that made an impression and stuck with me, such as my breathless escape from a funeral gone wrong, thrilled me as much now as it did the first time.
Careful research, great character writing, and a stunning feeling of being true-to-life carried the original game far, and Yakuza Kiwami marries those qualities to more refined gameplay and slick HD graphics.
Kiwami doesn’t replace the original. The original Yakuza is an interesting retrospective, featuring a somewhat more down-to-Earth depiction of Kamurocho. However, Kiwami serves as a brilliant follow-up to Yakuza 0 in its own right. It was honestly really hard to put down in order to even write this review. Yakuza Kiwami is just an absolute blast.
It may not be on the same scale as 0 but Yakuza Kiwami still hits those highs. The retelling of Kazuma Kiryu's original outing shows some of the source material's age while still maintaining a quality overall experience.
In essence, Kiwami is a remake of the original Yakuza, released for PS2 in 2005. Rather than porting, Sega has pushed the story into the new engine, giving the feel of the newer games but retaining most of the narrative from the original. For those who have not played Yakuza before, this means you take on the role of Kazuma Kiryu, a member of the Tojo Clan who spends far less time being a yakuza than you would think in a game with the word in its title.
Yakuza Kiwami is an extremely faithful remaster of 2005 classic Yakuza, complete with generous visuals and a new mode that diversifies the awesome combat. If you like absurd humour, tight narrative, Tekken Tag synths and punishing combos, this game should definitely be on your radar.
Yakuza Kiwami is positioned as a perfect jumping on point for newcomers just now discovering Sega’s gang-centric criminal drama. Series veterans will still find plenty to love in the carefully handcrafted remake of Kazuma Kiryu’s first appearance, with a wealth of new and enticing content. Regardless of which category you find yourself a part of, Yakuza Kiwami is hands down one of the finest remakes ever made of an already extraordinary game and provides an experience that you would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere.
Early on in the game, you're told that Kiwami means “Extreme”. While this isn't an extreme makeover, Yakuza Kiwami is an extremely good retelling of an underrated PS2 gem.
Sega reminds us that, with Yakuza Kiwami, not only is its heart in the right place, but it hasn’t missed a beat.
Yakuza Kiwami is everything a proper remaster should be. Instead of just plainly expanding ratios, this 10th anniversary version of the adventures of Kazuma Kiryu is a success in every aspect, with a complete rework visual and audio, new activities and minigames, a modernized combat system and more than 30 minutes of new cinematic features, Yakuza Kiwami is what other publishers should follow when trying to revive their old icons.
There are two kinds of players that Yakuza Kiwami should interest — existing Yakuza fans that want to give the first game a visit, and the gamers who’ve heard great things about Yakuza but never gave it a chance. When it comes to these two audiences, Sega hit it right out of the park with this remake especially with the game’s $30 price point.
I really can't recommend this title enough. It may not hit as high as Zero did, but it does a damned fine job modernizing a game that fans fell in love with a decade ago. Tack that on with a budget price and an abundance of gameplay, and you'll be finding yourself among the ranks of Yakuza fans, as I have.
While the narrative isn’t as clear-cut as it was in Yakuza 0 and the fact that this is a true-to-life remake of the original game will mean it may not be as exciting as some of the more recent outings in the franchise, the classic re-telling of how everything came to be and the addictive gameplay is enough for fans of the series to give this a go. If you haven’t played Yakuza 0 yet, I strongly suggest starting there. But if you have played 0, what are you waiting for? Continue Kiryu’s story and let Sega know we want Yakuza Kiwami 2 localized as quick as possible in English after it releases in Japan at the end of this year!
Yakuza Kiwami is an exceptional game with exceptional action and exceptional stories. There are so many things to do and experience here that $30 for Yakuza Kiwami feels almost like highway robbery. Throw in Yakuza 0 and you are set for about 100 hours of great gaming.