Yakuza Kiwami 2 Review (Dangerous Saiga)
Yakuza Kiwami 2 was released on the Playstation 4 around December 2017 in Japan and August 2018 for worldwide release. The PC version was released on May 9, 2019 and features the game’s engine, the Dragon Engine, for the first time on Steam. Kiwami 2 is a remake of Yakuza 2 from the PS2 era. The game takes place in 2006, just after the events of Yakuza Kiwami (or Yakuza 1) of which the Tojo Clan survived an internal, civil war and tragic consequences continue to affect all major characters. In Kiwami 2, the Tojo Clan faced a major rival, the Omi Alliance, who is led by Ryoji Goda, seeks to win all over Japan’s underground criminal organization. Yakuza Kiwami 2’s storyline is considered as one of the best, if not the best story in the entire franchise. Is Kiwami 2 worth purchasing?
The Dragon Engine on the PC is spectacular, beautifully impressive, and jaw dropping. The fictional Tokyo and Osaka urban environments are worthy for multiple screenshots. If the player can max out the game’s settings, the graphics are out of this world and highly realistic. Like Yakuza 0 and Kiwami, the number of miniature games is available for the player to access and doesn’t take as long which is a great convenience for those who want to 100% complete the game. Kiwami 2 core gameplay is like Yakuza 0 and Kiwami so I wouldn’t go further details on it since I wrote the reviews for the games already. The major difference is the protagonist’s combat style, which changed drastically and somewhat of a disappointment. The number of action moves are fewer than the previous titles and the game’s physics is inconsistent, wild, and unintentionally funny. Regardless, the moves are expectedly brutal for Kiryu to utilize against enemy NPCs and boss battles. The game’s greatest strength is the main story and the characters involved and the relationships among multiple characters. The voice acting performances from the cast are outstanding as expected from Japan’s notable voice acting culture and reputation.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 has a lot of good merits, particularly on the game’s highly realistic graphics engine and solid story line, but there are some negative attributes need to be considered. The anti-aliasing setting is oddly taxing, specifically on SSAA. The SSAA is ranged from 1.00 to 2.00 which each option increases by 0.25. If placing the SSAA on 1.50 or more, the game performance will dramatically decrease even with contemporary and latest PC systems. The game is not Crysis or the CryEngine, but it is worth noting and recommend to not go at SSAA 1.50 or more. Not worth the performance hit for minimal graphical enhancements. Additionally, the late sequences in the game’s storyline are painful because of the story’s twists and turns – perhaps a bit excessive and dampens the overall storyline.
Kiwami 2 is a solid game. I never played the original so I couldn’t compare what’s better or what isn’t, so the reader has to find other reviews to check. For me, the Yakuza series’ narrative and character evolution for the main protagonist stands out to me the most. This review applies mainly to those who are already invested into the series rather than new players. Regardless, Kiwami 2 has a solid recommendation, but a bit reservation on the later sequences on the main storyline. It’s worth for the $30 spent to give to SEGA and the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (for me), but it’s also better to buy the title when it’s on sale.