Yakuza 6: The Song of Life (PS4)
By: Sega
RAISE a cup of sake for Sega’s 12-year-old Yakuza series, which since 2006 has earned a loyal, if cult, following on Western shores with its curious cocktail of cutesy side-tasks, turgid theatrics and bare-knuckle brawling.
Yakuza 6 says sayonara to Kiryu’s Kamurocho capers in a suitably stylish swansong that mixes the series’ trademark soap-opera yarnage and hoopla-heavy exploration with shoving tongues to tarmac in brutal beatdowns.
After spending three years in chokey, Kiryu returns to a Civvy Street gone to pot. When his adopted daughter Haruka ends up the victim of a hit-and-run, the Dragon of Dojima is left holding the wee ‘un while investigating her final years.
Hair silvering and creaking with war wounds, an older Kiryu traipses Kamurocho in a bittersweet homecoming that tips its hat to Yakuza’s rich history as you juggle punching and parenting.
After the acreage and multiple protagonists of Yakuza 5, Song of Life can feel comparatively barren, with just one character to control over two locations – Kamurocho and the sleepy seaside town of Onomichi. A more measured, downbeat experience, then – though despite skimping on the stuffing, the meat of Yakuza 6 is deliciously dramatic.
Offering up more hilariously violent oriental hoo-ha, our loveable hard-ass seamlessly slips from changing diapers and buying milk to knocking seven shades of Shinto out of miscreants as he pounds the streets and street toughs in equal measure, truffling out nonsense distractions and goofy side quests en route to a fittingly epic showdown.
With a jack-of-all-trades fighting style, light attacks and heavy finishers are peppered with blocks, dodges and grappling. Once again, Japanophiles are given a plenty of scope to explore the game's dense neon jungle, and many an hour can be frittered on some virtual tourism.
During its 30-plus hours players can go spearfishing, manage a baseball team, belt out karaoke or track down stray cats. The arcades return, of course, this time hosting full versions of Sega classics PuyoPuyo and, incredibly, Virtua Fighter 5.
The fact a game good enough to buy separately is crammed into Yakuza 6’s window dressing (online mode and all) speaks volumes for the quality of its bells and whistles.
With blockbuster production values, an all-new engine ditches the loading screens when entering buildings while incredible textures are lavished on its dense world, right down to the wrinkles on Kiryu’s 50-something fizzog. Japanese legend and star of myriad Yakuza flicks Takeshi Kitano even puts in an appearance as a family head.
All good kickings must come to an end, though, and along with the last PS4 Yakuza – a remake of the original – this final hurrah book-ends one of gaming's great sagas.
A helpful recap and lashings of backstory mean that, while the end, it’s a perfectly accessible launchpad for virgins, and though the future of the console series is uncertain, Song of Life is an honourable send-off for Kiryu-san. Domo arigato. It’s been quite the ride.
