Despite the left-field setting and a pleasant no-go plot, a noisy spin-off that manages to still feel like a top-notch Yakuza game.
Anyone who is unfamiliar with the Dragon series may think this is equivalent to the acoustically poor Wetherspoons: suffocating noise, confusing dialogue, reused textures, and constant threat of violence. While it does solve at least 60% of your problems by hitting threatening bike men, Yakuza Games actually has an offensive emotional range. Their reflective conversations on the roof are as important as beating bears. The only game that lets you crush the enemy's butt with a weapon's nut and Let you think about what it means to grow old in a world you no longer know.
That's why like the Dragon: Hawaii's Pirate Yakuza is in some ways less tempting than another match set in Kamurocho. Its story is about flickering swordsmanship, secret islands hidden and 18th-century sailing, which shows a race that ignores subtle people. Even the choice of the protagonist – the delightful Goro Majima – a man now you might imagine screaming, stabbing or both, which suggests a more rude Feel. Those who don't play Yakuza might think series obsessives would like this concept, when in reality all we want is to try out all the different whiskeys at the Sunakku bar in the Champions League. However, by all expectations, this chaotic spin-off manages to feel rich and refreshing while still providing grand dramatic moments that make the series so exciting.
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Perhaps most surprising is how quickly I would be willing to accept the possibility that a range of professional criminals would indeed choose to haunt the Pacific during the time of deceiving the Sail Frigate. This is not a joke. It introduced ridiculously different ideas in the first few hours, and it was an incredible job, and I hardly questioned why the Japanese comedian ryûjiakiyama is the chef of my new boat, or why I was on the boat in the first place . The game keeps this clip during its 18+ hours of activity. And, despite the pace, it managed to introduce a lot of new things without becoming overwhelming. The stories and mini games next to them are cleverly woven into the main tasks without feeling like a speed barrier to narrative, and I rarely feel like I'm told too much (although there are times when I have to track back to The upgrade menu reminds myself of what I unlocked).
Some new additions are more compelling than others – I certainly spend more time cooking and fighting the navy, rather than saving the wandering for Majima's temporary animal shelter – but it's nice to know when I chose When I went, I was glad to know that these things were there to come back to it. There are other classic rafts of disturbance (sorry), including arcades, main systems, dragon karts, swimming, photography, gambling, and more. This is enough to scare anyone who has any goal done 100% and yes, you will have to learn Hanafuda rules again. I also had to shout out brief and vaguely at Minami Girls Side, which started, which was weird, got weird, and went to a place where even the most sensitive/damaged Yakuza obsessed.
Sailing is a shorthand way to understand the tone of the Hawaiian pirate Yakuza. In unlikely, you worry about having to trim your own sail, hit the wind, and telling the lilac to hang from the Carrick bend, not annoyance. Everything that is not interesting, including traditional and sensations, is largely missing. If you want further evidence, you need to know that your ship can increase, drift and have a machine gun. The result is a completely strange thing: the owner and commander's arcade twist, you can hang a 1000-ton warship on the stern of an enemy's ship and rake with a laser cannon like playing Forza on high seas .
Limited use of boosters means that at some point your boat will slow down and feel reasonable weight – and the added sense of scale comes from being able to stroll along the deck anytime, anywhere. But naval warfare is usually quick and exciting. I found myself looking for battle while traveling between islands, a useful measure of how fun it was to shoot an enemy ship with a wide and wide one. Also: This comes from a guy who drove wisely on a Yakuza 5 taxi mission and read the entire Aubrey-Maturin series, so I admit I was at the center of this very specific Venn chart.
The larger navy encountered the final battles, which were huge, chaotic and extremely stupid. It wasn't until my first boarding action cutscene, my female ninja, septuagenarian gardener, Locke Billy Pro wrestler and a bikini-piercing bikini-like racing like a fanatical action that I realized my inappropriateness How frustrated the crew's collection. , AI-generated pirates in the Caribbean. I felt embarrassed and proud in some way. Go to the team.
The battle itself is bigger, lighter and more chaotic than many previous games. This is not a criticism, but it does feel different – don't be surprised if you see the dynasty warriors mentioned in the same breath in other comments. Majima's mad dog style is most similar to what hardened Yakuza veterans recognize, and the furry iteration is essentially like Cervantes who control Soulcalibur in an open-world cloak. It's intuitive and direct, but I do have a hard time finding a rhythm that makes me feel like I'm in total control of what I want to do.
In particular, smaller windows of opportunity, especially feel more limited. When you trigger them, there are still some movements that cause real joy, such as Majima grabs the enemy's sword between his teeth, but the choice of hot action feels narrower and less contextual. That said, there are as many useful tips you have in combat as you have ever had. I'm not sure I'll also Criticize a game that allows me to shoot ancient pistols, hit enemies with hooks, and summon ghost sharks with cursed violins.
Another element that feels new is the huge scale of the battle. Some battles are actually hundreds of characters, so here, the stereotypical, focused combat system will never work here. Sometimes the result of feeling is no longer my own ability as a player, but more about my stunning troop of nautical genius, but that maybe that’s what it means to be a pirate captain. Until the game tells me it's mine, it's not all about me.
All of this is merged into something that ignores oneself in some way. Although completely set outside of Japan, it still feels like a Yakuza game. If anything, it made me even more nostalgic to drink the stamen sparks in the glowing intestines of Madlantis, like an Englishman packing Yorkshire tea and digestive while on vacation in Honolulu. It also packs minor characters and callbacks like Tone Deaf Karaoke Oik Daisaku Minami, which most players will remember that Shun Akiyama Loafers in Yakuza 4 is often human gunpowder, and there isn't much damage, and There isn't much damage, there's a lot to anyone who's curious knows that Majima became the vice-chairman of the Tojo family in a deeply satisfying moment later in the game. It's a measure of the skilled Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (and the localization team continues to be good) whose criminal's pursuit of mysterious doubloons can somehow feel interesting, heavy, thrown, and attract all at once people.
Publisher SEGA provides a copy of “Like Dragon: Yakuza, Pirates of Hawaii.”
