Yakuza 6: Song of Life
Sega, 2016
Yakuza’s swan song
Ah, Kiryu Kazuma. Sega’s legendary former mobster turned hero is a living video game legend. Every time he defeats a heinous colleague from his past, he wants to go back to his honest life of taking care of his family of orphans. Sadly, no matter how much the Dragon of Dojima desires peace, new enemies arise with grand delusions of power to rule Japan in public and its underworld of crime. As always, Kiryu saves the day at significant risk to his physical and mental health. This time, those threats hit home with even greater secrets and risks that could unleash possible civil war in the criminal underworld (Again? Yes, again) in Yakuza 6: The Song of Life.
Taking place after the events in Yakuza 5, Yakuza 6 has our hero doing three years in prison. Various crime groups such as the Saio Triad and the Jingweon Mafia have taken advantage of the Tojo Clan’s vulnerability. When Kiryu is released, he finds out that his ward Haruka Sawamura, who was a rising pop idol, suddenly retired and moved to Onomichi city in Hiroshima where she has an infant son, Haruto. Kiryu then discovers that Haruka is in a coma at a Kamurocho hospital after a hit-and-run accident. With these explosive elements plus a mysterious secret in Onomichi that could cause a raging gang war through the country, Kiryu once again sets out to stop those who bring harm to his city and his family.
The control in previous Yakuza games that won me over remains and is improved thanks to the rebuilt Dragon game engine. When not in fighting mode, Kamurocho has been given a refreshed, crisp view. I appreciate the detail in Kiryu’s fighting scenes; he can use weapons to do massive damage and look nice while doing so. Another new feature is item storage. While stats must be increased to be able to carry more items, Kiryu can now use his smartphone to hold various food and health items and level up whenever he gains experience points. I especially liked the idea that Kiryu can obtain certain drinks from vending machines, including beer, which will increase his fighting power. I also love the clan battles feature where Kiryu can form a group to take down various characters in a time limit and win cash and experience for his fighters. And I also enjoyed the Club Sega section where I could play arcade games like Hang-On and Virtua Fighter.
The music is excellent and varied, making me feel that I’m watching a Yakuza movie than playing the game. If the game’s excellent detail to vital areas of gameplay was not enough to sell me on it, I was stoked to find that Kazuchika Okuda of New Japan Pro Wrestling and acclaimed actor/comedian Beat Takashi made appearance as main villains in the game.
However, as much as I love the game, there are some negatives in Yakuza 6 that didn’t make me stop playing entirely but gave me some pause. During the fighting scenes where Kiryu gets ahold of an enemy’s weapon, he dispatches them in true Yakuza fashion, violent and, at times, gory and disturbing. It was a bit much for me and seemed kind of unnecessary.
Another thing that bothers me is the rampant and obvious Sony product placement. It 
takes away from the game a little bit because it’s distracting and is also unnecessary. I know I’m playing the game with a Sony product; I don’t need it shoved in my face constantly that this was originally a Sony exclusive game.
Finally, there is a side quest that Kiryu can’t turn down. It’s not really a side quest but the game tries to present it as though it is. That’s annoying. If you want me to do the quest, just mark it as mandatory and move on.
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is a magnum opus to Kiryu Kazuma, but it also marks an evolution point for the series. Although Kiryu is no longer the primary protagonist, he has been in new Yakuza games such as Like a Dragon. For now, Kiryu and company can take a well-deserved break with this chapter in the life of the Dragon of Dojima.
One of the more nonsensical and cringe-worthy moments that stuck out to me was naming each stage after well-known movies and pop culture series. Toyz in the Hood, Stair Wars, Far Trek and Terminate Her Too were named after the movies Boyz in the Hood, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Terminator 2. Don’t get me wrong, I understood that Treasure was trying to seize the moment but should have found other ways to accomplish the task because it came off as goofy and grating, not cute.
While it’s a neat concept game, Chakan isn’t great at all. The many problems really start with the lack of hindsight to hire Kraus to consult on game development. This would have allowed more insight into the character. It’s also frustrating that Chakan’s time limit prevented me from locating his special weapons. Also, the various symbols representing alchemy were confusing. Trying to determine which symbol matched the element Chakan would need to fight multiple enemies was a chore. 
game’s music. While acceptable, Yuzo Koshiro should have been used since he has the most experience developing music that’s worthy of the Shinobi name. The music was choppy in some areas but still suitable for the game. Another problem I have is the supply of shuriken that you must conserve. By paying so much attention to maintaining your supply, you might miss other crucial elements and expose yourself to enemies unnecessarily. Joe should have endless shuriken to fight evil.
increases with the anime-inspired designs of heroes and villains, which encourages replay of all the collection’s games. This first disc also has a lot of interesting elements that include presenting 16-bit and anime-style intermission screens that were included when the games were originally released. Capcom also introduced a high-resolution filter, giving the game’s graphics a streamlined yet colorful approach and a unique box frame for each game. A music player containing all the music from the original games also rounds out the presentation extras, which were nice. 
One of the other cool additions is the X Challenge, which pits you against two legendary bosses of the series while choosing three weapons to use. This requires some forethought and understanding of the series’ mechanics, which is a welcome change of pace when you want something different from the story modes. I also thought that the art gallery and the animated movie focusing on Sigma was a nice touch. 
establishes itself on the island of Vie de Marli. Arius’ true goal is to find holy relics called Arcanas so that he can obtain the powers of the ancient demon Argosax. Now locked in a race against time, Dante and Lucia must battle against Argosax and put an end to Arius’ madness before the world is plunged into eternal darkness. 
in and out oddly in underground areas. And, it was too rigid when it needed to move with Dante. The controls were tank-like — Capcom’s normal standard operational procedure — but it was more annoying when I was shooting at enemies long distance and wasting ammo and mobility. The tanking of Dante is counter to him being agile, which was a major selling point that catapulted him to stardom. Another issue was that the in-game store sold various skill and weapon upgrades including health items but were ridiculously expensive despite me having the ability to gather more coins seamlessly here than in the original game. That’s a major turnoff because it’s a chore. More work for more expensive rewards is not fun.
the demon world, a civil war erupted with Firebrand as the victor claiming the crests of Earth, Fire, Wind, Water and Time. Firebrand fought another demon named Somulo, who held the crest of Heaven, and secured a victory over the rival demon. However, another demon named Phalanx attacked Firebrand while he had low health, taking possession of all the crests. This allowed Phalanx to summon another crest that controls infinity. While Firebrand recovered, he was imprisoned in an arena guarded by the revived Somulo. After defeating Somulo, Firebrand begins his quest for vengeance and recovery of his well-earned spoils of war.