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What are the best beat 'em up games on PS4?

7

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Aug 14, 2020

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7 Games Considered

Best beat 'em up games on PS4	Price	Genre	Co-Op
-- Brawlhalla	FREE	Fighting	Online/Shared PvP
-- Knack 2	$39.99	Action-Adventure, Platformer	2 Player Local
-- Yakuza 0	$19.99	Action-Adventure, Action RPG, Beat 'em Up	-
-- Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition	$19.99	Action-Adventure	-
-- Yakuza 6: The Song of Life	$59.99	Action-Adventure, Action RPG, Beat 'Em Up	-

Brawlhalla

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You're able to test your skills against others via a ranking system

Brawlhalla offers a ranked game option if you're into competitive play. In ranked games, each player has 3 lives and you battle until one player loses all of them. Every player has an ELO rating, essentially a number that shows your rank. Winning games will raise your ELO, while losing will lower it. Every player also has two other ratings: the Matchmaking Ratio (or MMR), which is hidden from everyone, and an ELO for the character they're playing. Your MatchMaking Ratio (MMR) is a secret number that determines what other players you'll be playing, and how quickly your ELO will rise or fall with victories and defeats. The ELO for the character your playing has a distinct effect on your MMR - a character you're not as good with will place you against lower ranked people than the character you're best with. See More

Top Con

The community can be rather mean

Like most popular competitive games, it attracts a lot of people who are less than sportsman-like. The toxic community doesn't represent the majority of players, but a significant enough portion that it's a problem. See More

Specs

Steam Rating:Mostly Positive

Co-Op:Online/Shared PvP

Top Pro

Tons of different ways to enjoy the game

Brawlhalla is a 2D fighting game where you choose a character and fight in matches that are one of the following: 1 versus 1, 2 versus 2, 4 versus 4, and 4 or 8 person free-for-alls. Every game mode has a different reason to love it, from the fierce competitive feeling of the one on one match up, or the all-out ridiculousness of an 8-man free for all, Brawlhalla has a way for everyone to have fun. See More

Top Pro

Very rewarding gameplay

In game, some of the moves are completely over the top, and when you connect with them it's just so satisfying. There's not much quite like being deep into a game and pulling off a ridiculous combo that clinches the victory for you. On top of that, fighting games inherently have a lot of room for improvement, even for the top players in the world, and Brawlhalla is no exception. You can spend hours practicing your favorite characters and still want to get better. After spending all those hours practicing, it's great to put the beat down on an opponent in true Brawlhalla fashion. See More

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The controls are very good

Controlling a character in Brawlhalla is great because everything is so responsive and just flows perfectly. Not only does this make performing combos and special moves easier, but it simply feels good to play. See More

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Completely free to play

Brawlhalla's developers have a strict "no pay to win" philosophy. There's an in-game store where you can buy things like alternate looks for your characters, new taunt and KO animations, etc., but there's no power-ups, no new mechanics, nothing that would give someone putting money into the game an edge. See More

Knack 2

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Great co-op mode

Having two players on screen amps up the action and adds some fun new gameplay mechanics. You'll add a few new moves to your arsenal such as kicking your friend around, or bodyslamming them into enemies. Pushing your friend off the edge or watching them miss a platforming jump can also be quite funny. Thankfully, they respawn right next to you so you'll never have to wait for them to catch back up to you. If one player is having a particular issue with a tough section of platforming, you can just complete it and then warp your friend to your location. Nobody has to feel left out, and it keeps the action moving along at a steady pace. See More

Top Con

Characters are underdeveloped

Knack, the main playable character, seemingly only serves to pummel enemies and platform around the levels. He has very little personality, oftentimes only uttering generic lines such as "let's do this!". Additionally, he never seems to build up any kind of relationship with his human buddy, the protagonist Lucas. In fact, there's barely any meaningful interaction or dialogue between the two at all. This underdevelopment makes it really hard to have any connection with the characters. See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure, Platformer

Co-Op:2 Player Local

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Difficulty level feels just right

The platforming and puzzle solving feels like just the right amount of difficulty without being overly frustrating. Most environmental puzzles and challenges have pretty clear solutions while still requiring you think a bit. Most of the challenge stems from being able to execute the jumping or other platforming mechanics just right, as opposed to trying to decipher cryptic or unintuitive jumping schemes. If you fail, checkpoints are usually nearby, so you rarely ever have to replay much. See More

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Engaging mix of enemies

There's a good mix of enemies, and the game likes to change them up often enough to where adjusting your strategy is necessary. For example, some may have an electrical shield that will have to be disabled before you can hit them. Other enemies will throw projectiles at you which have to be dodged. Some carry heavy shields that you have to break before you can damage them. Each one requires a different strategy and use of your abilities. All in all, there's enough variety in enemy types to keep you engaged and keep the fighting fresh throughout your run. See More

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Solid gameplay with interesting platforming elements

Knack 2 has all the goodies and puzzles of most platformers - moving platforms, traps, tricky jumps, and pushing blocks onto pressure switches. But, what makes it interesting is that Knack can change his size and use various elemental armors to solve the environmental puzzles you encounter. If there's a small doorway or opening, you can shrink yourself to fit. If there's moving gear puzzles, you can freeze them in place with your ice armor to open and close passageways. You can also make a stone version of yourself to depress pressure plates. You can only jump so many platforms before gameplay starts to feel stale, so the addition of these clever mechanics is a refreshing change and helps keep you interested until the end. See More

Yakuza 0

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Brutal and entertaining brawler combat

The beat 'em up fights in Yakuza 0 are brutal, with impressive up-close-and-personal cinematics that make the fights a lot of fun. You can hear your opponent's bones crushing as you smash your fist or foot into them, with successive hits building your heat gauge over time. Once your heat gauge is full, you can use a special move against an enemy with a nearby trash can, bike, crowbar, or anything else you can pick up, showing a neat cinematic straight out of an action movie as you smash your makeshift weapon into your attacker. The best part is getting to play as either Kiryu or Majima and experimenting with their different playstyles. Kiryu has three battle styles that he can switch between: Brawler, which is his standard and balanced style, Beast, his slower and tankier build that lets him charge up powerful attacks and carry the heaviest makeshift weapons like whole motorcyles, and Rush, his lightning-fast style with speedy chains and combos. Meanwhile, Majima has three completely different styles: Thug, his equivalent to Kiryu's Brawler, Slugger, a fun yet overpowered style where Majima wields a baseball bat like a sword and nunchaku, and Breaker, a cool style where Majima chains stylish breakdancing moves in succession to keep his enemies stunlocked. The combat here is intense and varied, making you feel powerful while keeping your interest at the same time. See More

Top Con

Graphics aren't that impressive

Yakuza 0 has weak textures, stiff character animations outside of cutscenes, and too many repeat copies of NPCs around the city. Invisible walls also block off the city's boundaries. Thankfully the characters and facial animations look great during story scenes, helping to make up for the poor visuals elsewhere. See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure, Action RPG, Beat 'em Up

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Intriguing crime drama story with exciting twists and turns

Yakuza 0's story is genuinely gripping and well-written, showing the lengths people will go to in order to gain power and status or to protect the ones they care about. The story is set in 1980s Japan during a high point in the economy, with the plot kicking off with Kazuma Kiryu, a young twenty-something yakuza who gets caught up in his clan's internal battle to claim a lucrative plot of land in the middle of downtown Tokyo. He has a strong sense of honor to do what's right by his sworn yakuza family while getting to the bottom of the scheme against him from the higher-ups in his clan. And then the story shifts every two chapters to Goro Majima, who's the manager of a fancy cabaret club as a way to pay off his debt and get back into the yakuza. He soon gets thrown into an impossible situation where he has to murder someone for the first time to get back in the business, but this of course doesn't go as planned. The way Kiryu and Majima's stories intertwine and branch off from each other is filled with several shocking plot twists that feel natural and organic. It's definitely worth experiencing at least once. See More

Top Con

Starts off a bit slow

The first couple of hours or so are a little slow, with quite a few cutscenes that set up the story in between a tutorial for the controls. It's mixed in with decent exposition and a solid introduction to the characters as Kiryu spends the night out with his best friend Nishiki, so it's something of a slow burn that builds up to the more action-packed story. You need to know these foundations to help you appreciate the story, though, making the lengthier start a necessary evil. It's worth it for the rest of the story, so it pays off to stick with it and try to find some enjoyment. See More

Top Pro

Tons of side content

There's so much to do in between story missions in Yakuza 0, with plenty of quality and polish to keep you entertained for hours. All of the mini-games and side quests almost have a life of their own with plenty of variety and detail. There are dozens of side quests, some of which land Kiryu and Majima in hilarious and wacky situations that never seem too far-fetched. And there are a bunch of other mini-games, like singing karaoke, bowling, golf, gambling at mahjong, "watching" racy videos, managing a cabaret club and a real estate business, disco dancing, and many more. It's hard to get bored with Yakuza 0's plethora side content. See More

Top Con

Not for players who dislike long, involved story cutscenes

If you don't like games that have a lot of story cutscenes, then Yakuza 0 might not be for you. The story shares the spotlight with the gameplay, so you can't really escape the long cutscenes that weave the narrative together, unless you decide to skip all of them. Even though the cutscenes are long, they make sense and they keep you engaged, though players who just aren't into this type of thing may get turned off regardless. See More

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Dense and realistic open world set in Japan

Yakuza 0 takes place in the districts of Kamurocho and Sotenbori, both of which are painstaking recreations of the actual Kabukicho and Dotenbori districts in Tokyo and Osaka, respectively. They're not huge locations, but they're packed with details that make them seem much larger. Gleaming with city lights and brimming with people, Kamurocho and Sotenbori are filled with all types of restaurants with various cuisines, stores for you to shop at, and places for entertainment and mini-games. The districts are realistic enough that they make you feel like you're actually there. See More

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Incredible English localization

Yakuza 0 is fully voiced in Japanese with an amazing English localization for Western audiences. The localization team did more than simply translate the game -- they made sure everything is relevant for a non-Japanese audience to understand and relate with. Since there's no option for English voices, the subtitles do a great job at bringing the game to life for those who don't know Japanese but still want to appreciate the culture and support the Yakuza series. See More

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Perfect for newcomers to the Yakuza series

If you've never played a Yakuza game before, this is the best place to start. Yakuza 0 is a prequel to the other games, and it assumes that you don't know who any of the existing characters are, so it introduces you to everyone in a way that's welcoming to new players. There are a lot of winks and nods to veterans of the series, but they're not done in a way that will confuse newcomers -- in fact, they add some replay value to the game since you can go back after playing the rest of the series in order to understand these little inclusions. This game also has one of the best stories and gameplay in the franchise, with the Yakuza staples of memorable characters, and wacky side stories mixed in with serious crime drama as you get to know Kiryu and Majima when they were younger. It's an excellent introduction to the Yakuza games as the best of the best of the franchise. See More

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition

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The Definitive Edition has all of the DLC included in one package

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition comes with everything added to the original game. This is pretty good for new players who have yet to experience Sleeping Dogs at all, or maybe for someone who played the original game years ago and didn't want to buy the DLC. See More

Top Con

Not worth it if you already played the original Sleeping Dogs

Aside from the added DLC, there isn't much of an incentive to pick this up if you played the regular Sleeping Dogs. The graphical upgrades are okay, but might not be worth shelling out the extra money. See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure

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Really good open world set in Hong Kong

The open world setting is great. Modern-day Hong Kong is pretty unique for a video game, and thankfully it's a true-to-life recreation of what the metropolis looks like. There's a perfect mix of traditional temples, for example, with taller, Western-style glass buildings that you'd find downtown. You can go just about anywhere, whether it's on foot or taking a car for a spin down the roads and highways, with plenty of side quests and mini-objectives to find and complete. It's a good-looking world that's designed well and filled with a good amount of content. See More

Top Con

Unpolished

There are a lot of strange quirks about the game that make it feel and look janky. Controls aren't particularly seamless, with Wei's walking and running animations looking off, and driving animations feeling too loose and unrealistic. Even with the polished graphics for the Definitive Edition, they still look low-effort and low-budget, a lot like the rest of the game. One thing here and there isn't too bad, but adding them all up, they can end up as a bunch of distractions. See More

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Well-implemented hand-to-hand combat with cool environmental finishing moves

The hand-to-hand fighting system is rock-solid with some neat finishers you can pull off. Punches and kicks are snappy and responsive, with a good amount of weight behind your button presses to really make you feel involved in every fight. You can grab opponents and maneuver them however you want, mainly with guiding them over to the nearest shutter cage, window, the edge of a rooftop on a high building, and so on. Finishing your enemies off with these environmental finishers is tons of fun: you can throw them off a building, ram their head into glass, or slam down a shutter over their heads. It's a brutal spectacle that makes the combat here stand out from other games. See More

Top Con

Feels too similar to other sandbox open world games

If you've played a bunch of other open world games in a modern city, then Sleeping Dogs will probably feel too familiar to you. This is fine if you really enjoy these types of games and you're looking for something similar. For anyone else who wants something fresh from the genre, the samey gameplay mechanics, tons of icons dotting the map, and mission structures may end up boring you instead. If you're feeling burnt out from these types of games, you may want to steer clear of this one. See More

Top Pro

Great story that deals with plenty of gray moral issues

The story in Sleeping Dogs is done well, touching on some very human issues. Playing as Wei Shen, an undercover cop, you pretend to join certain gangs in Hong Kong in order to spy on their operations. You're technically not supposed to care about the members of the gangs, but Wei ends up growing close to them, genuinely wanting to help them and be a part of their lives. This conflicts with his role as a police officer, causing him to play both sides while he figures out his priorities and who he's really loyal to. It's an intriguing dynamic that lets you get into Wei's head and his emotions. See More

Yakuza 6: The Song of Life

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Improved graphics from the previous games

The jump in graphics from Yakuza 5 on the PlayStation 3 to Yakuza 6 on the PlayStation 4 is astounding, giving characters and locations more vibrant details than they had before. Kiryu in particular looks great, with just enough wrinkles on his face to show his age, along with protruding muscles and veins running down his arms that make him true-to life. The game's two main districts are also incredibly detailed, with Kamurocho's neon lights and bustling city life, and Onomichi's romantic view of the sea and cloudless skies at night. It's a stark contrast to the bland environmental textures and less-detailed character models from the previous games. The Dragon Engine improves on the graphical fidelity, making everything look incredible for the current generation. See More

Top Con

Noticeable animation issues with faces and combat

Even though the Dragon Engine significantly improves the graphics, the stiff facial animations and wonky combat animations are signs that the engine is still a work-in-progress. When characters speak during normal conversations, their mouths and jaws often don't move enough, making them look lifeless and robotic. It's not like this during dedicated CGI cutscenes where characters are much more expressive, but the difference is pretty noticeable. During combat, when you knock characters down or get knocked down yourself, there are a lot of weird ragdoll animations. Characters will crumple to the ground or flail about in ways that look lazy and unfinished. The Dragon Engine is beautiful for serious story moments and the open world, though it really needs some more work and polish in other areas. See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure, Action RPG, Beat 'Em Up

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Accessible for newcomers to the Yakuza series

With a cast of mostly brand new characters, a story that stands on its own, and helpful resources to help you get caught up on the previous games, Yakuza 6 is a fine entry for newcomers to the series. Other than Kiryu and Haruka, a large majority of the cast are introduced in this game, making the story self-contained with no need to know what happened before Yakuza 6. You won't feel the full emotional impact surrounding Kiryu and Haruka, but the story is written in a way to help you still care about what happens between them. The main menu also has brief recaps of the events from the first five Yakuza games, meaning you won't have to search around online to find them. If you've just recently become a fan of the series, or you're thinking about jumping in, this is a good place to start. See More

Top Con

Most of the beloved characters from the series are absent

Longtime Yakuza fans may be disappointed to find that most of the characters that they know and love are largely absent from the story. These characters are the backbone of the series that's been around since the mid-2000s, so it's bizarre to not see them feature for Kiryu's final game. If you're a newcomer to the series, this won't be much of a problem for you, and actually makes the story easier for you to follow since there are mostly brand-new characters here. However, dedicated Yakuza fans will more than likely miss seeing the old gang around, possibly souring their experience with the game. See More

Top Pro

Incredible English localization

Yakuza 6 is fully voiced in Japanese with an amazing English localization for Western audiences. The localization team did more than simply translate the game -- they made sure everything is relevant for a non-Japanese audience to understand and relate with. Since there's no option for English voices, the subtitles do a great job at bringing the game to life for those who don't know Japanese but still want to appreciate the culture and support the Yakuza series. See More

Top Con

Disappointing ending for Kiryu's final sendoff

Because this is Kiryu's final game in the series as the main protagonist, it's both disappointing and heart-breaking that he doesn't get the proper sendoff he deserves. All of the plot points are resolved by the end and wrapped up with finality, and yet this comes at the cost of Kiryu not getting proper closure. The writers should have gone a different route to give both Kiryu and Yakuza fans a more satisfying ending, because what's here is far too crippling to be an acceptable end to the Dragon of Dojima's saga. See More

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Tons of high-quality side content

There's so much to do in between story missions in Yakuza 6, with plenty of quality and polish to keep you entertained for hours. All of the mini-games and side quests almost have a life of their own with plenty of variety and detail. For the mini-games, you can play old SEGA arcade games like Fantasy Zone and Out Run, sing karaoke songs, have drinks and flirt with beautiful women at a hostess club, play full games of baseball, have a sexy video chat at an internet cafe, work out at a gym, and so much more. As one of the standout mini-games, working out at the gym pairs you with a personal trainer who guides you through workouts and a meal program. The video chats are pretty realistic too, with actual video footage of real-life women stripping for you and other people in chat who have hilarious X-rated usernames. The side quests are wacky and unique, standing out from the more serious main story missions. While wandering around Onomichi's graveyard, you'll get attacked by ghosts that you have to fend off, branching off into more mini stories from there. If you explore Kamurocho's buildings, you'll find a niche cafe that the owner wants to populate with cats for customers to hang out with, so it's your job to find stray cats and feed them, and then get them over to the cafe. There's also an optional Clan Creator game with its own storyline, where Kiryu assembles a band of specialized fighters for his own clan, with detailed strategic play similar to a real-time strategy game. With so much variety, it's hard to get bored with Yakuza 6's plethora side content that could take up an entirely separate game See More

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Dense and realistic open world set in Japan

Yakuza 6 takes place in two very different districts, Kamurocho and Onomichi, both of which are painstaking recreations of actual locations in Japan for you to explore. Neither of the locations are all that big, yet they're still packed with details that make the districts seem much larger than they actually are. Gleaming with city lights and brimming with people, Kamurocho is the red light district of Tokyo, filled with all types of restaurants with various cuisines, stores for you to shop at, and places for entertainment and mini-games. By contrast, the sleepy seafaring town of Onomichi is set in Hiroshima, with activities like spearfishing and drawing fortunes at the temple, peaceful venues for sightseeing, and nice touches like statues scattered around town that are engraved with thoughtful poetry. While the districts themselves aren't necessarily huge, they're so realistic that they make you feel like you're actually there. See More

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Nuanced and thought-provoking story about the bonds of family

Yakuza 6's subtitle, The Song of Life, is a clever thematic reference to the ways that the story explores the meaning of family in non-traditional ways. The main protagonist Kiryu doesn't have any living relatives, yet his father-daughter bond with the young woman named Haruka is a mainstay of the story and the series. In Yakuza 6, Haruka finds herself caught up in the middle of a yakuza war, and Kiryu is determined to protect her no matter the cost. Kiryu also struggles to come to grips with the decisions Haruka makes and the circumstances she finds herself in, prompting the player to wonder how they might react if their own daughter were in a similar situation. He also forms strong familial bonds with his yakuza brothers who fight for him and for Haruka, showing that the underworld syndicate isn't just about crime and intrigue, but also about finding a family among other outcasts of society. Seeing the lengths Kiryu will go to protect his family is a moving experience that almost anyone can find strength in. See More

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Brutal and entertaining brawler combat

The beat 'em up fights in Yakuza 6 are brutal, with impressive up-close-and-personal cinematics that make the fights a lot of fun. Each punch and kick you throw out builds up a certain gauge for you to pull off special moves, and you can use items in your environment as weapons against your opponents in punishing ways. You can hear your opponent's bones crushing as you smash your fist or foot into them, with successive hits building your heat gauge over time. Once your heat gauge is full, you can use a special move against an enemy with a nearby trash can, bike, crowbar, or anything else you can pick up, showing a neat cinematic straight out of an action movie as you smash your makeshift weapon into your attacker. Or you can choose to enter Extreme Heat Mode where your body glows with a cool blue aura as you throw out a flurry of swinging punches, culminating into a close-up where you can mash a button prompt as you break your fist through your enemy's jaw. The combat here is intense, making you feel powerful while keeping your interest at the same time. See More

Yakuza Kiwami

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New cutscenes add more depth to the main antagonist

In the original Yakuza 1, Nishiki's change from Kiryu's best friend to a cold-hearted villain didn't feel natural, but new scenes in Yakuza Kiwami flesh out this transformation. The cutscenes give more context and background on why Nishiki made such a drastic change, portraying him in a sympathetic light that helps the player understand him more. It helps a lot to see his sorrows and his struggles against his own subordinates in the yakuza who disrespect him, as well as his resentment toward his superiors who think he'll never live up to Kiryu. See More

Top Con

Graphics aren't impressive

Yakuza Kiwami looks like it could have been a PS3 game with weak textures, stiff character animations outside of cutscenes, and too many repeat copies of NPCs around the city. Invisible walls also block off the city's boundaries. Thankfully the characters and facial animations look great during story scenes, helping to make up for the poor visuals elsewhere. See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure, Action RPG, Beat 'em Up

Top Pro

Great amount of side content

In between story missions, Kiryu is mostly free to run around the city and engage in optional side quests or mini games. Side quests in Yakuza Kiwami mostly deal with various shady characters trying to scam Kiryu out of his money, like a supposed loan collector who calls his cell phone and demands that he pay up or get beaten up, and a thuggish guy collecting toll money on a street and also threatening to fight Kiryu if he doesn't pay. Mini games can be found in the SEGA arcades, like the classic UFO catcher, or elsewhere at the mahjong parlor, the shogi building, the karaoke parlor and much more. See More

Top Con

Majima Everywhere system is annoying

The Majima Everywhere system features the fan favorite character Goro Majima who sneaks up on Kiryu around the city and challenges him to random fights. It's an amusing idea at first, with Majima hiding in giant cones or manholes and popping out to surprise the player. But sometimes these encounters are too frequent, and they can go on for too long as Majima gains more health. See More

Top Pro

Memorable cast of characters

You'll encounter a diverse batch of characters in Yakuza Kiwami, like Kiryu's childhood friend Nishiki who goes down a dark path that changes him, creating an intriguing drama throughout the story. There's also Haruka, a determined young girl who is looking for her mother, and ends up forming a strong bond with Kiryu as he tries to protect her from the yakuza who want to harm her. Goro Majima, one of the antagonists, is a foil to Kiryu in how wild and unhinged he is, often throwing a wrench into the game's story with his over-the-top antics when you least expect them, such as driving a truck straight through a building. It's easy to grow attached to the cast in Yakuza Kiwami and want to follow their stories throughout the rest of the games in the series. For players who jumped into the franchise with Yakuza 0, they'll have even more backstory on these characters and their struggles in this installment. See More

Top Con

Boss battles are cheap

Getting stunlocked during boss battles is all too common in Yakuza Kiwami, like when the enemy uses a weapon to constantly hit you over and over. There's also an infamous battle against two gang leaders who enjoy knocking Kiryu to the ground again and again, leaving little room for recovering or dodging. Even if you love the game's story, these annoying fights could be a deal-breaker, especially on harder difficulties. See More

Top Pro

Compelling story

Yakuza Kiwami tells the story of Kiryu getting dismissed from the yakuza, only to get swept right back into their world once his loved ones are in trouble. As he tries to find out what happened to his love interest, Yumi, he meets Haruka, and learns to care for her as if she were his own daughter. While protecting Haruka from the yakuza who target her, Kiryu discovers more about how she and Yumi are both connected to a larger crime of ten billion yen that's gone missing from the crime syndicate, all the while his best friend Nishiki pulls strings from the shadows. Overall, the story leans successfully on its memorable characters and Kiryu's attachments to them. Finding out what happened to the missing ten billion yen also includes figuring out why Nishiki went down such a dark path, finding Yumi, and keeping Haruka safe. It's compelling to play through the game and discover these answers while also getting to know the characters more along the way. See More

Yakuza Kiwami 2

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Incredible English localization

Yakuza Kiwami 2 is fully voiced in Japanese with an amazing English localization for Western audiences. The localization team did more than simply translate the game -- they made sure everything is relevant for a non-Japanese audience to understand and relate with. Since there's no option for English voices, the subtitles do a great job at bringing the game to life for those who don't know Japanese but still want to appreciate the culture and support the Yakuza series. See More

Top Con

Annoying cliches with the love story

Kiryu and Kaoru's love story is nice for the most part, but it's really predictable. If you're seen any typical romance movie or read a romance novel, you will more than likely know how the two fall for each other. The love story doesn't change the overall plot in any meaningful way or add to it, either; it's just there for entertainment. See More

Specs

Genre:Action-Adventure, Beat 'em Up

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Tons of side content

There's so much to do in between story missions in Yakuza Kiwami 2, with plenty of quality and polish to keep you entertained for hours. All of the mini-games and side quests almost have a life of their own with plenty of variety and detail. There are dozens of side quests, some of which land Kiryu in hilarious and wacky situations that never seem too far-fetched. And there are a bunch of other mini-games, like singing karaoke, bowling, golf, gambling at mahjong, "watching" racy videos, managing a cabaret club, and many more. It's hard to get bored with Yakuza Kiwami 2's plethora of side content. See More

Top Con

Noticeable animation issues during combat

Even though the Dragon Engine significantly improves the graphics over the original Yakuza 2, the wonky combat animations are signs that the engine is still a work-in-progress. During combat, when you knock characters down or get knocked down yourself, there are a lot of weird ragdoll animations. Characters crumple to the ground or flail about in ways that look lazy and unfinished. The Dragon Engine is beautiful for serious story moments and the open world, though it really needs some more work and polish during the battle segments. See More

Top Pro

Dense and realistic open world set in Japan

Yakuza Kiwami 2 takes place in the districts of Kamurocho and Sotenbori, both of which are painstaking recreations of the actual Kabukicho and Dotenbori districts in Tokyo and Osaka, respectively. They're not huge locations, but they're packed with details that make them seem much larger. Gleaming with city lights and brimming with people, Kamurocho and Sotenbori are filled with all types of restaurants with various cuisines, stores for you to shop at, and places for entertainment and mini-games. The districts are realistic enough that they make you feel like you're actually there. See More

Top Con

Cut content from Yakuza 2

While Yakuza Kiwami 2 added content, like Kiryu managing a cabaret club, and fan favorite Goro Majima getting his own short playable campaign, there's also content that's missing. An entire area connected to Sotenbori is gone, with the story events there relocated and jumbled around. The substories from that cut area are gone as well. It's unclear why the devs made these cuts, but they take away from the game for longtime fans of the series. See More

Top Pro

Brutal and entertaining brawler combat

The beat 'em up fights in Yakuza Kiwami 2 are brutal, with impressive up-close-and-personal cinematics that make the fights a lot of fun. Each punch and kick you throw out builds up a certain gauge for you to pull off special moves, and you can use items in your environment as weapons against your opponents in punishing ways. You can hear your opponent's bones crushing as you smash your fist or foot into them, with successive hits building your heat gauge over time. Once your heat gauge is full, you can use a special move against an enemy with a nearby trash can, bike, crowbar, or anything else you can pick up, showing a neat cinematic straight out of an action movie as you smash your makeshift weapon into your attacker. The combat here is intense, making you feel powerful while keeping your interest at the same time. See More

Top Con

Too many melodramatic story twists and events in the finale

The story is mostly pretty good up until the end where things fall apart. Way too many reveals happen here with the villains, padding the finale with cutscenes filled with people talking and talking, giving away their true motivations, and taking forever to get to the point. The added melodrama surrounding the events during the final chapter is also way too much, like a bad, hokey Hollywood movie, pulling you out of any suspension of disbelief you might have still had left. The writers could have done with some serious editing here to keep things in line. See More

Top Pro

Mature crime drama with a strong main villain

The story in Yakuza Kiwami 2 is one of the best in the franchise. It starts off with a flashback to the 1980s where the Korean mafia gets wiped out, and a policeman arrives on the scene, helping the dead leader's wife with a young child. That type of humanity shows itself throughout the plot, where the villains and the protagonists are never quite black and white. This shows itself again when the protagonist Kiryu gets taken into protective custody by a fiery Osakan cop named Kaoru, who hates the yakuza, but eventually falls for Kiryu as she gets to know him. The powerful and charismatic villain, Ryuji Goda, also acts as a perfect foil to the honorable and stoic Kiryu, with their fights testing the strength of will between rivals. Learning about Ryuji's and Kaoru's motivations and discovering the true details of what happened with the Korean mafia gives the plot plenty of twists and turns. See More

Top Con

Feels soulless compared to the original Yakuza 2

Yakuza Kiwami 2 has a nice, shiny coat of paint for modern audiences, but it lost something from the original game during the remake. The tangible dark and shady atmosphere from the PlayStation 2 version isn't here, replaced with a soulless, sterile purity. Losing the old soundtrack with the hard-hitting rock and trip-hop tracks in favor of electronica music is another negative. While it's great that new players get to experience Yakuza 2 for the first time, longtime Yakuza vets may miss out on a lot of nostalgia, preferring to stick with the original game. See More

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