Open World Action-Adventure Review: Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is an experimental spin-off of the Like a Dragon series. It brings back former protagonist Kazuma Kiryu as the playable character as well as the action role-playing game play for which the series was known prior to  . However, it also blends in new game play features while delivering a condensed, yet still enjoyable, game play experience.

The conception for the Gaiden games apparently came from The Kaito Files, the sidestory that was downloadable content for Lost Judgment. Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is roughly the same size as The Kaito Files. Like the latter, it focuses on a character other than the current main protagonist of the series. It feels weird to refer to the former series protagonist Kiryu in such a manner, but he was relegated to cameo status in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the game in which this game acts as a side story.

The game takes place after the end of Yakuza 6 and continues into the story of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. As the title suggests, Kiryu has erased his name and now acts as a secret agent of sorts for the mysterious Daidoji faction. They are a powerful organization that has its tendrils in both the legitimate political world as well as the illicit yakuza underground.

Kiryu tries to stay hidden as the secret agent Joryu, while being sent on missions for the Daidoji. He was given training for his new role, as he now has a secret agent fighting style in addition to his usual Dragon of Dojima fighting style. With these new abilities come an interesting spy gadget that brings changes in the way the game is played.

Joryu is given a thin line that he can use to pull enemies to him as well as to collect hard to reach items in the game world. This spider web-style gadget takes cues from the Insomiac Spider-Man games, allowing Joryu to have the quick Batman: Arkham style combat and surprise web attacks from the aforementioned Spider-Man titles. He is also given more gadgets, such as drones that can attack enemies in addition to his street-level fighting.

The game introduces a system that gives Joryu points based on missions he completed that were given to him by a mysterious woman that serves as a champion for the homeless. These points can be used to purchase new abilities, as well as to expand the stock available in the store.

Joryu is soon given an object that serves as an invitation to a secret, hidden city. Here, he can compete in the arena alone or with team members that he can recruit with cash earned from the fights or through various favors requested from potential recruits. Through downloadable content, some of Kiryu's most trusted companions can also fight for Joryu in the arena, including Goro Majima, Taiga Saejima, and Daigo Dojima, the sixth chairman of the Tojo Clan. As any fighter can also act as the leader, these characters are also optionally controllable, making it the first time in the series that Daigo has ever been a playable character.

The game length is extended through the usual often humorous side quests, as well as mini-games such as gambling and playable classic Sega games. This includes Sega arcade games, as well as the Sega Master System games from Lost Judgment. It also includes the Sega SG-1000 version of Flicky, which marks the first time that a game from that system has ever officially been released in North America. Pocket Circuit slot car racing also returns from Yakuza 0, however it is expanded here with harder courses that can be unlocked by completing competitions and winning one-on-one races with players from all around both Sotenbori and the secret city.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a successful experiment for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. While it is a bit of a shame that the Judgment games appear to have been superseded by the Like a Dragon Gaiden games, it's still a lot of fun to explore new and familiar areas with action RPG combat. While I love the turn-based combat of the Kasuga-fronted games, the beat 'em up brawls of the original games will always remain satisfying. With an immersive story, fun new play mechanics with the spy tools, and the usual fantastic voice acting and music, the first Like a Dragon Gaiden game is a grand old return to style for the series.

Final verdict:

4 out of 5

Lost Judgment Review

Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Review Coming Soon

Open World Action-Adventure Review: Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life was the conclusion of the Kiryu saga, and the last time the series used the Yakuza name in the West without using its Japanese name, Like a Dragon.  It is also the last mainline game in the series to be an action role-playing game, with the series switching to turn-based role-playing game mechanics  in succeeding entries. As a send off to both the character of Kazuma Kiryu and the game play of which the series has become known, it had large shoes to fill. It managed to do so, for the most part.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio released Yakuza 6 with only one protagonist. With Yakuza 4 containing four playable characters, Yakuza 5 including five, and even Yakuza 7 containing seven, it seemed odd that Yakuza 6 would only include Kiryu. However, the staff wanted to focus solely on Kiryu to give his current story some closure. Even with the lack of playable versions of the fan favorite characters that were playable in previous games such as Goro Majima, Taigo Saejima, and Shun Akiyama, the game still gave its lone protagonist a lot to do.

In Yakuza 6, Kiryu and his adopted daughter Haruka deal with the fallout caused by their actions in Yakuza 5. Kiryu discovers that Haruka was left injured and comotose by an unknown driver in a hit-and-run incident. On top of that, he discovers that Haruka had been protecting an infant during the attack. The infant was unharmed, so Kiryu acts as a grandfather as he protects the child and discovers who attacked his daughter by traveling to the last known location of Haruka before she returned to Kamurocho, Onomichi Jingaicho in Hiroshima Prefecture.

During his search in Hiroshima, Kiryu befriends the members of a small yakuza family known led by Toru Hirose. The new characters shine as they are all memorable, especially Hirose himself, who is portrayed fantastically by Takeshi Kitano, the star of the highly influential game show, Takeshi's Castle. The success of Takeshi's Castle led to shows such as Sasuke, also known as Ninja Warrior, and American shows such as Wipeout. Takeshi played a comedic role in his eponymous series, and while Hirose had many comedic moments, the dramatic moments are where his character really shined.

In addition to the main story, it still includes the often hilarious subquests for which the series has become known. It includes all of the expected minigames, from the playable classic Sega arcade games, to Japanese and Western gambling games.

When I was reviewing the Yakuza series, I deliberately skipped over this game because Kiryu had already returned in Yakuza: Like a Dragon at that point, so it was clear his story wasn't over after all. I wanted to wait and see if this game still worked within the series without it being Kiryu's swansong. Now that Kiryu has returned to the series proper in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the question of whether the story of this game still works in the overall series arc can finally be answered.

Surprisingly, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name actually made a very strong case for Kiryu's return while actually giving the ending to Yakuza 6 some contextualization while humanizing its protagonist. Kazuma Kiryu has always been depicted as stoic, often to superhuman levels. Pop culture's most popular stoic normal human displaying superhuman strength, Batman. doesn't even hold a candle to Kiryu.

However, Gaiden humanized Kiryu to a level the series had never shown before, and retroactively humanizes Kiryu in the ending of Yakuza 6, actually showing that Kiryu is not an infallible superhuman. This makes the growth of Kiryu from Yakuza 0 to Yakuza 6 work so much better. The ending of Yakuza 6 was controversial when it first released, and Kiryu's return is not universally welcomed, but the story of Yakuza 6 definitely now makes a lot more sense from a story perspective.

Yakuza 6 is a fantastic game, and is a fitting farewell to the classic Yakuza series. It has all of the hallmarks of the series, and the Japanese-only voice over work once again shines. The music is also fantastic, from the game's soundtrack to the always-enjoyable karaoke songs. It isn't perfect, as the reduction of playable characters compared to the most recent games in the series can definitely be felt. However, it is still well worth playing for any Yakuza fan, especially those who enjoyed any of the games in the series before its restructuring as Like a Dragon.

Final verdict:

4 out of 5

Yakuza 5 Review

Judgment Review