Yakuza 0 Review: 1980's Beat-Down of My Dreams

Paint the town green! With the money that flows out over every dirtbag's butt you kick!

That town you'll be beating bros so bad that one can say they're literally hemorrhaging money is in 1980's Japan, gaudy as Hell and your a Japanese gangster, a yakuza for people who haven't kept up with media in the last 30 years. And it's funny, cuz' 30 years back is where you are and you've got some problems and money isn't one of them.

Yakuza, is a long time series from Sega and this is a prequel to all the games that have come out. In it, you'll be playing two Yakuza; Kazuma Kiryu – the Dragon of Dojima and a fella by the name Majima. He has an eye-patch, you'll get to know them both.

Now starting off, Kazuma Kiryu goes for that old trope of being fingered for murdering someone he didn't and putting unwanted pressure on the Yakuza. The higher ups aren't happy and it's not that bright a picture for his boss whose close to getting out of prison and he sees as a father. So now it's up to him to figure up what's gone wrong, so you're a detective sort of. You're more of a...

Bam! See that guy get thrown threw a window. You're a bad-ass gansta. You act serious when needed as a Japanese Yakuza, but you can also smash someone's head in. And, boy, golly you will. You'll wail on lesser gangs while you explore the open city of Kamurocho, a shady place for shady fun things.

Really it's a world map of hurt that you can hammer out and explore while beating enemies; however all the while you can have fun as only a rich Yakuza could.

The world has arcade parlors, you can play old arcade games within the game along side UFO-Catchers. I need a stuffed doll! If not your boat, or UFO really, how about some utterly crazy Karaoke. Karaoke where you can become part of the song like a music video? Batting cages? Dancing with the ladies? Darts, fishing?

This world of 1980's wonder is at your fingertips and then it goes into an entirely different location for Majima.

Then Kiryu slammed a man's head into a urinal and all was right with the world. Yeah, the game combat had me; reminding of the fun of beat-em ups. There's nothing like building a skill tree, making your character get better by spending money on yourself and see your gansta grow.

Yakuza 0 is beat-em-up, mystery, adventure with comical elements that only the Japanese could pull-off and continue to. If you've never gotten into the series, it's fine. Everything is new, even though it's the 1980's.

Out Now on PlayStation 4
$59.99

Reviewer was provided game by publisher for review purposes.