Yakuza Kiwami 2 Review (Maxonymous)
The 5 Pillars of Yakuza
---( Fighting )---
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 5
Kiwami 2 uses the Dragon Engine and because of this the fighting is superb. You can throw people into props and through windows. Enemies ragdoll and sometimes they flop around unrealistically but that is not a problem in my book. Moves and skills felt more balanced than other games. Kiryu only has one fighting style which I think was a great choice because that makes it simple. I also preferred Kiwami 2's skill system to the ones found in previous games.
---( Story )---
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 5
I really enjoyed uncovering the story of Sayama and seeing the return of our friends Majima, Date, and Haruka. The introduction of an adult Daigo was great too. The antagonists aside from Ryuji didn't feel too fleshed out but nonetheless I genuinely enjoyed progressing through the main story.
---( Substories )---
🟩🟩🟩🟩⬛ 4
Definitely has some Yakuza defining substories along with a mostly average body of missions and a few meh ones (not a big fan of the 3 substory chain that has you beating up a guy over and over until he joins Majima Construction). I found myself completing the most substories in this game than previous ones. These missions felt great to fall back on while taking a break from the main story.
---( Minigames )---
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 5
The return of Cabaret Club was really enjoyable, It actually motivated me to finish the entire story line. Clan Creator was also really good because it was different and collecting characters for it through sub stories was enjoyable. There's also some new mini-games in the arcade and elsewhere and multiple gambling locations. Also you can take selfies, I think this is the best pillar to mention that so yes.
---( Majima? )---
☑️ YES 🔳 NO
Probably contains the largest amassment of memorable Majima scenes in the whole franchise. The Majima Saga was kind of mid but you get to fight DIO and the ending gives us a lot of closure which I liked.
Total Aggregate Score: 4.80/5.00... "Majima Kensetsu... Shaka!"
Ranking of All Yakuza Games as I play them (chronologically)
1. Yakuza Kiwami 2 (hot take)
2. Yakuza 0
3. Yakuza Kiwami
4. Looking forward to playing the rest!