Yakuza 5, the first game of the franchise to reach ps4, closes a cycle of the saga with its relaunch within the Remaster Collection. The broadest game in the saga awaits us to go back to the bottom of Japan in search of fulfilling our dreams.
We defined Yakuza 5 as a game with “more”: more characters, more places, more minigames, more content… And still today is the best way to describe this amazing title. This was perhaps the maturity game of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. With the bases of the saga more than defined after the revolution that marked the passage to PS3 with Yakuza 3 and the polishing that was the fourth installment, this fifth was the opportunity to expand in those bases.
It is also by far the most choral and varied game of all those who have had the saga before and after it. Not only for offering us five main protagonists, but for the way it shows their interactions with others and the effect that the meetings and experiences they have had on them. It is not a detail: it is the essence of the game. This is reflected in the same subtitle of the game (unfortunately lost in location). "Those who fulfill their dreams."
Because of this goes Yakuza 5. Under the background of the criminal world, this delivery is explained in showing us the ambitions and frustrations of people who pursue their dreams and the effect that this has on their lives. From Kiryu trying once again to start a new life away from the Yakuza to Haruka and his quest for fame, going through the life of a former professional baseball player whose life seems, in principle, precisely devoid of all ambition.
A virtual trip to Japan
It is a huge game, with a still faithful reproduction today of the most significant “red” neighborhoods of 5 of the main cities of Japan. Obviously, this extension had the consequence that individually these cities are, especially in the case of Fukuoka and also Nagoya, slightly smaller than Kamurocho or Soutenbori have accustomed us. But in return it is compensated with a level of detail that overwhelms a game with its origin in PS3.
His loyalty to reality stands out especially when, despite developing in a relatively recent past (December 2012, coinciding with the time of the game's launch), we can notice the decade that has passed in the changes in technology (with mobile phones those that still abounded at the time), the way of dressing, and even the evolution of the buildings of the different locations (such as the Theater Square before the construction of the APA hotel and the new Toho building that we could already see in yakuza 6). It is like traveling in time almost a decade ago, and the sensations it transmits are completely faithful to those of traveling those same streets and squares in reality.
In fact, speaking of realism, this is perhaps the delivery with less speed towards the extravagances of the saga (without meaning that they stop making a presence), with a script perhaps more given to melancholy, although it is perfectly recognizable as part of the saga. Perhaps the biggest drawback is that precisely so many characters and contents make history lose weight. Although it is about linking between characters, it seems to be somewhat washed away. Something that is especially noticeable when compared to the great scripts of the saga and especially that of Yakuza 0, which was the next main title of the saga.
A huge game
Returning to the aspect of the content, this game has the largest number of mini-games in the saga. It is really surprising the amount of possibilities (with special mention to the "another drama", alternative stories to the main one for all the protagonists) and mini-games that groups this title. From serving Ramen to haggling prices, from facing gangs in clandestine races to participating in television shows … We even have a Virtua Fighter 2 and a Taiko no Tatsujin if we feel like playing. Bowling, baseball, snowball fights … Really few titles can boast so many possibilities.
All this comes to life again in a presentation that despite repeating platform (PS4) does show a slight graphic improvement, but without huge changes. In return, the game (although it maintains its short loading times between exploration and fighting) has the limitations of the games prior to the Dragon Engine. That is, there are clear loading times and modeling differences between adventure and kinematics. But that's not an obstacle to indicate that the game looks extremely good for a 2012 game, and its playability has barely aged. In addition, like all previous remasters, it still comes to us in English, although the location is supposed to have been revised.
CONCLUSION
3 years after its first European launch and 8 of its release in Japan, this veteran title continues to look and play almost as a novelty. As we concluded then: "The immense amount of content, the charisma and depth of the characters and history, the detail and care in the representation of the different cities and the variety of situations mean that in the tens of hours necessary to complete the game, there is an opportunity to get bored. "
THE BEST
- The setting remains masterful.
- The amount of content is still overwhelming.
- It is still the most complete saga game.
WORST
- The absence of the Dragon Engine is noted, with the presence of loading times and modeling of different qualities.
- The script suffers the large number of characters and settings and is less focused than subsequent deliveries.
