Recent reviews by Sonny Mastrangioli

Dont get me wrong, Yakuza is Yakuza as this game has a good story and graphics, but this is a DIRECT port and remaster of Yakuza 3 which was the first PS3 release of the series when the console launched in the mid-late 2000's. Which means this game is actually older than 0, Kiwami and Kiwami 2 from a release and game design point of view, as those games came out much later than 3.

Basically it means if you play 0/Kiwami/Kiwami 2/play the entire series in chronological order, you WILL be confused as hell as to why LITERALLY EVERY PERSON YOU FIGHT has barely unbreakable blocks after the first hit, and combat and controls are janky overall and 99 percent of all the boss fights and ESPECIALLY the running minigames (like the ones at the end of Chapter 5 and start of 6) are so infuriating. And to top it all off, you literally have to invest in only the tech tree to barely survive all this.

Sega should have given Yakuza 3 the Kiwami treatment so it at least retains the engine and combat, controls and mechanics from 0/Kiwami and Kiwami 2 so this is at least playable rather than constantly annoying and confusing people like myself and others playing this series for the first time that started with 0, but that cant be changed now sadly.

Can see why the majority of the fanbase calls this the worst in the whole series and collectively encourages playing solely for story once and skipping it if it gets too bad.

You basically walk around 1988 Japan in almost 1:1 recreation of Kamurocho (Kabukicho in real life) and Sotenbori (Dotonbori in real life) as two main characters in two distinct Yakuza families;

Kazuma Kiryu, a young upstart that has lots to learn and is framed for a murder he didn't commit in the Dojima family, and finds a new lease on life once he is ex-communicated as both a civilian and a real estate agent; and Goro Majima, an older, seasoned Yakuza that's living in a gilded cage by running a cabaret night club where he has to come up with an impossible profit in one night as a form of punishment for a misdeed before prior to the prequel happening until he is offered another, more “conventional to the Yakuza” way to free him from his internal imprisonment which ultimately changes him the very moment he chooses to accept that option.

Both characters stories eventually intertwine despite them never actually meeting until a certain point in the series' timeline, as Yakuza 0 is a prequel to the original Yakuza game on the PS2 and the entire series in general, so events that you experience here will eventually be called back/reminisced on all the way through from Yakuza: Kiwami to Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.

Simply put, Yakuza 0 is a gripping, dramatic, frantic, intense, chaotic, sometimes bat-s**t insane experience of a Yakuza drama story that somehow acts as a side quest to all the free roam features and substories you have to experience and see to believe for yourself rather than reading about it in a review.

11/10 recommendation, would have Majima unknowingly help invent Japan’s soon to be made tax system, Kiryu helping a dominatrix get her kink groove back on to save her “business” and attract her lost customers again, dance the night away at a disco, sing their hearts out at karaoke, eat/drink at all the restaurants, lose your entire hard earned wallet repeatedly to a LITERAL TANK patrolling the streets, catch fish and other weird stuff in the waters of Japan while fishing, play some baseball and bowling, and have WAY too much fun playing all the licensed Sega arcades all over again.

Default game is great, perfect blend of simulator approach and ease-you-in style for those that aren't sim racer serious or came here from Gran Turismo, Need for Speed, etc looking for something new.

Its even better with mods because you can download and add cars, circuits, mountain passes, speedways (Oval or figure 8), Novelty items, Highways/Freeways/10+ Kilometre drives, or even conversions/recreations from other simulators and of course the 1:1 realistic LIDAR scanned tracks that you would otherwise have to pay for in other simulators on some occasion if you know where to find them.

Its like modding an Elder Scrolls/Fallout game, but with road/race cars and tracks.



Updated Review 23/12/2020:
Driving is a thousand times better with a wheel and introduces a new learning curve to racing sims like Assetto Corsa. It actually motivates you to learn how racing works.

Varied and expansive locations with localised language of Hitman 2: Silent Assassin + literally everything from Hitman: Blood Money multiplied by Hitman (2016): Season 1 = Hitman: Season 2.

Ghost Mode is SO much fun because it's almost endless until you either be the first to reach a score of 5 or just rage quit because you keep screwing up epically or lowered your score with too much collateral damage when trying to kill a target.

Sniper Assassin is good too as it tests your aiming and you can have fun with all the modifiers.

Single Player main story ties up a LOT of loose ends from Season 1 and develops 47's character even further as you play towards the ending. Nods to earlier games was a nice touch too. I can't recommend this game enough...

Also, Sean Bean's Elusive target just dropped, get him while you can! He makes references to all his film and television roles, and the ICA briefing about him is hilarious.

IMPORTANT: those of you who are wondering whether you should play Hitman Season 1 before this, just get the GOTY Legacy Pack as it ports over ALL of Hitman Season 1's content to Hitman Season 2, with the added bonus of using 2's mechanics and features like the breifcase and crowd blending in Season 1's content.

You can play as John Wick where he INSTANTLY conceals his identity while robbing banks and whatnot simply by putting his glasses on and NOBODY suspects a thing.

3 men in a bar stabbed with a pencil/10

It's everything you loved (and sometimes hated lol) about the original 32 bit version Skyrim but better! The Special Edition is built inside a 64 bit engine which means improved lighting and Depth Of Field (DOF) blurring amongst other similar grahical features seen in Fallout 4 that Bethesda managed to put into Skyrim, and it can also render draw distances (how far you can see in the game's world) even further than the 32 bit version could ever dream of. It also manages to load more NPC's in one place (and that's without any NPC population mods!) as well. The new engine also allows smoother Modding capabilites. Just wait for when Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE) gets ported to this game, and then the REAL modding and gameplay fun can begin. What are you waiting for? JUST GET THIS NOW LEGENDARY EDITION OWNERS! (Unless you already recieved it for free from owning the original game and all of its DLC's (Or the Legendary Edition) that is, in case ENJOY!)

I don't know where to start! Life Is Feudal is by far one of the BEST sandboxes ive ever played. Its got unique systems and mechanics for crafting, forging, cooking, alchemy and other things like terraforming and logging. ALL of which have their own skill sets and levelling so you won't progess skills the same way twice, or find the same items & ingredients in the same place which is a nice touch. Depending on which server you are on, there are also variable stat & skill caps this means that if you specialise in a certain skill it can determine how useful you will be in building settlments, and once reach the leveling limit of one skill, thats it Reach the stat and skill caps and leveling up will be a distant memory as they will become rare occurences. This means prople of different skills will have to work together and pool resources and skills, especially if a battle takes place in nearby settlements/towns and repairs have to be made quickly. For example, one person of your group/guild might be a master blacksmith, while another will be a master Logger, so choosing which skill to level completely is CRUCIAL.

You basically start the game with nothing but food scraps and rags for clothes, so your first instinct is to create primitive gear which can be done quite quicker than you would expect. As you start to meet random people in your travels, you will also start to learn of the surrondings more and where developments have been started. I remember one time where I spawned into the world and I basically turned right and saw an ENTIRE FORTRESS built far off into the distance on the other side of an island, and as I explored around there was the odd camp/shack then a small town where groups have formed a guild. It cleary shows the sheer scope of how important working with people is in this game.

Another strong point is the combat mechanics, if you have played the Mount & Blade games you will feel right at home here with the directional movements and there are even group formations to be used in a battle! Formations like shield walls, phalanx/wedge, and defensive circle formations can be applied and changed on the fly in mid battle, VERY useful for when 2 armies or more are battling it out.

The final thing you will notice (and the most notable when you start the game and spawn into a world) is the graphics. At the moment there are Direct x 7 and 9 graphics, DO NOT let the discussions and reviews fool you! This game is a visual master piece considering the DX7 and 9 graphics closely resemble TES4: Oblivion's graphics, but with the fast approaching release date the Direct x 11 graphics will make this one of the most beautiful medieval themed sandboxes ever made!

Overall i give this game a 8.5/10 and thats just at an EARLY ACEESS point of veiw as Bitbox are at the moment of smoothing everything out for the release and beginning to implement future features upon post release. This has been one of the most comprehensive, immersive and challenging games ive played to date. Looking forwand to more!

11/10 would recommend this game to those who have never played sandboxes or similar themed games like MMORPG's as it is worth the experience.