Yakuza 3
| Yakuza 3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Studio | Amusement vision | ||
| Publisher | Sega | ||
| Senior Developer |
Toshihiro Nagoshi (Producer) Hase Seishu (Author) |
||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
JPN February 26, 2009 EU March 2, 2010 NA March 2010 |
||
| platform | PlayStation 3 | ||
| genre | Action adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Gamepad | ||
| medium | 1 Blu-ray disc | ||
| Age rating |
|
||
Yakuza 3 ( Japanese 龍 が 如 く 3 , Ryū ga Gotoku 3 ) is a computer game from the action-adventure genre and is the third part of the Yakuza series developed by Sega . The game was first released in Japan on February 26, 2009.
Yakuza 3 sold over 300,000 times in Japan on day one. In March 2009, 500,000 units were already sold.
Due to the poor sales results of its predecessors outside of Japan, the manufacturer initially did not want to market the game abroad and only decided to do so a year after it was published.
On February 25, 2010 Sega Europe announced that the content of the game had been shortened for the western market (Europe and USA). In the course of this, hostess bars and related missions were removed as, according to Sega, they are not understandable for western consumers. Since these elements were included in both previous versions, however, there was an outcry from the fans who responded by canceling their pre-orders.
The successor title Yakuza 4 appeared on March 18, 2010, and the fifth part Yakuza 5 in 2012 .
action
The protagonist Kazuma Kiryu tries to get out of the yakuza and has opened an orphanage in Okinawa for this purpose . There he wants to look after children who, like him, have lost their parents, and dedicate himself to Haruka Sawamura, the daughter of his childhood sweetheart Yumi, who has lived with him since she died. To do this, the player must also deal with the everyday problems of the children as part of the plot. But two politicians who are planning different construction projects are interested in the land on which Kazuma's orphanage stands. This leads to the yakuza getting involved in business too.
Some time later, both the Tojo clan's chairman, Daigo Dojima, and Kazuma's friend Shigeru Nakahara, who is the chairman of the Ryudo family based on Okinawa, were shot by a stranger. Both attacks bore the same handwriting. Thanks to Nakahara's foster daughter Saki, who has an incredible talent for drawing, they come into possession of a phantom image which, to Kazuma's great surprise, shows his foster father Shintaro Fuma. To get to the bottom of the incidents, Kazuma and his companion Rikiya, who reports to Nakahara, returns to Kamurocho. There he is attacked directly by a group of foreign men, but can defend himself against them.
Kazuma visits the commander of his former clan, Osami Kashiwagi, in the Millennium Tower. During a conversation, both are ambushed by a helicopter, which opens fire on them with a machine gun. Kazuma narrowly escapes, but Kashigawi is hit multiple times and dies. With the help of his old friend in the police force, Makoto Date, who now works as a journalist, Kazuma escaped arrest because his clothes were smeared with blood, which aroused the police's suspicions. He also informs him about the current status of the families and their possible plans. Kazuma suspects one of the heads of the family in one of the assassins: Tsuyoshi Kanda from the Nikishiyama clan, Goro Majima from the Majima clan, Goh Hamazaki from the Hamazaki clan and Yoshitake Mine from the Hakuho clan. Each of them has a motive because anyone could want to replace Daigo as chairman.
Kazuma first tackles Kanda, who actually intends to use all the might and money from Mine to become chairman. But Kazuma defeats him, but can find no evidence of his guilt. Goro Majima, who is very good friends with Kazuma, also has nothing to do with the matter. But after a victorious fight for Kazuma he offers him his help after the search and thanks to Kage also information that he collects in his camera room.
There they discover that Kamurocho is attacked by the Chinese Snake Flower Triad . Her boss Lau Ka Long sends his men to Rikiya to lure Kazuma out of the reserve. On a roof there is a fight between the two, from which Kazuma emerges victorious. But Rikiya is said to be beheaded by Long's followers, but he is saved by the Daigo and Nakahara assassins. Rikiya is sent back to Okinawa while Kazuma receives a surprise call from Defense Minister Ryuzu Tamiya and is invited to the House of Parliament.
Accompanied by Date, Kazuma accepts the invitation and learns that the building project is just a facade to attract an organization that has been known as Black Monday . The assumption is that this is a command from the CIA , which probably also includes Joji Fuma, the twin brother of Kazuma's foster father. The defense minister asks Kazuma to travel back to Okinawa to find and protect his renegade secretary Tano, who is on Joji Fuma's hit list.
Kazuma agrees, travels back to Okinawa and returns to the orphanage, which for the time has been protected by the Ryudo family. There Kazuma continues to look after his charges and the seriously injured Nakahara. A few days later, he received a call from the Secretary of Defense that Tano was having a meeting at a host club in the Hatsumachi entertainment district. Kazuma goes there and at the last second is able to prevent Fuma from killing Tano and defeat him in a duel. Tano regrets his turning away from Tamiya, who has forgiven him despite everything. Joji Fuma explains to Kazuma that it was not him but another CIA agent named Richardson who shot both Daigo and Nakahara.
During the conversation, Taichi, one of the orphans, appears and tells Kazuma about a terrible incident. With the help of the Tamashiro family, who are at odds with the Ryudo family, mine destroyed the orphanage, seriously injured Nakahara's assistant Mikio Aragaki and kidnapped Nakahara. After Kazuma calmed the children down in front of the ruin, he went in search of Nakahara and Tamashiro. In a bullring there is a fight in which Tamashiro tries to kill Nakahara with the help of wild bulls, but fails. He faces Kazuma and loses. However, he shoots Rikiya, who is now present.
Kazuma knows what Mine is up to. He wants to kill his role model Daigo in order to become chairman of the Tojo clan. With the help of a CIA plane, Kazuma travels to Tokyo after him. After finding out the secret whereabouts of the still injured Daigo, he goes there and is attacked by countless members of Black Monday. In Daigo's room, where Kazuma did not find him, there is another encounter with Richardson, who had already attacked Kazuma once after his arrival in Kamurocho. After defeating him, Kazuma arrives on the roof, where Mine is already waiting for him in the final battle, which is very hard for both of them. After Kazuma's victory, however, Richardson reappears, who wants to eliminate Daigo for good. Mine sacrifices himself after Daigo has spoken to his conscience and plunges into the depths with the American.
Some time later, Daigo managed to heal the injury. He thanks Kazuma in Theater Square when Hamazaki appears. Without warning, he stabbed Kazuma because his family had been destroyed by the Snake Flower Triad, who refused to let their leader's death go unpunished. After the credits, however, you can see that Kazuma survived this attack injured and is taking care of his orphans in the rebuilt orphanage.
Gameplay
The game consists of several missions within the framework of the plot that the player must complete. In addition to these missions, there are so-called side missions that take place outside of the actual story. The developers have also designed around 100 mini-games that the player can devote themselves to away from missions, such as shogi , bowling , golf , fishing , arcade games , karaoke and cabaret shows. The game world consists of two fictional cities, Kamurocho and Ryukyugai . In contrast to their predecessors, the duels are no longer played on a separate screen, but take place "on site" in the game world.
Because of the game principle, the game is compared to Grand Theft Auto . Compared to this, however, the game is not satirical, but rather serious. The game world can only be explored on foot. H. no vehicles can be used. <
reviews
The game received 38/40 points from the well-known Japanese game magazine Famitsu . It also received the “Award for Excellence” in the “Games of the Year” category of the Japan Game Awards 2009 for its detailed and dramatic story and lovingly designed graphics. In addition, Sega received the “PlayStation Award 2009” from Sony Computer Entertainment for the game for sales of more than 500,000 copies in the Japanese market.
Although Yakuza 3 will not be available in the West until March 2010, numerous online magazines have already tested the Japanese version. It was rated 9/10 points by Onpsx.net . The game immerses the player in an authentic underworld with a “bombastic presentation” and a “high degree of realism”. Another plus point is the large scope and length of the game.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c www.onpsx.net
- ↑ looki.de: Yakuza 3 - 500,000 copies sold
- ↑ onlinewelten.com: English voice actors for the West
- ↑ Sega.com: What's Up With Yakuza 3 ( Memento June 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ www.consolewars.de: Ratings of the current Famitsu
- ↑ Japan Game Awards 2009: Awarded Games - Games of the Year Division ( Memento of the original from October 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Official website (Japanese / English)