Yakuza 2 improves in every way a sequel should improve over the original, enhancing the good parts and ironing out the short comings along with an engrossing story.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a remaster that bring Yakuza 2 visuals to today’s standards and adds easy of life enhancements to make this the best Yakuza game yet.
Sega built over the success of Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami(Remaster of Yakuza 1) but Yakuza Kiwami 2 also takes notes from Yakuza 6 new dragon engine with improved combat and gameplay.
Kiwami 2 adds lot more detail and pushes the dragon engine, even more than Yakuza 6. Combat has been improved a lot from Yakuza 6 with the addition of charged punch and kicks, plus new combos add lot of depth.
Kiwami 2 also sees addition of weapons which were introduced in the original release, plus the number of heat moves have gone up too which add another level of excitement. The combat speed is much better than Yakuza 6. Plus, now the bosses have multi-color health bar which may seem daunting at first but it is fun to go through during combat.
The side activities and quests add a lot of depth to the game. You can create a clan and have to manage a cabaret club. The clan missions involve training clan members and lead them into battle in RTS style system. Cabaret club missions have you compete in cabaret club grand prix. It plays out like a hotel management sim and it is really engaging.
There are side stories the have you play as Goro Majima and it is an interesting change of pace. These story missions give you a good idea and new look into Majima’s life.
Yakzua Kiwami 2 features the best story in Yakuza game till date. The story it tells is some of the best chapters of Kiryu Kazuma’s tale. The game shows Kiryu in new light and makes him more human with scenes displaying weakness. This makes the character more relatable. Plus, Ryuji Goda is the best villain in Yakuza series till date and his characterization is done pretty well, displaying his side of story.
The soundtrack and music are also done well and complement the overall atmosphere of the game. The right song hit at the right moment intensifying the scene impact.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 is easily one of the best-looking games on PS4 in the recent times, SEGA has improved lot of things graphically. The amount of detail every frame has is staggering. Yakuza series is looking better and better with each release.
