Movies

Yakuza Meets Pirates in Hawaii: The Wildest Game Yet!

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Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £54.99)

Verdict: A pirate’s life for me

The Yakuza series is known for its eccentricity amidst its portrayal of organized crime in Japan. Despite being a complex saga spanning generations and multiple plotlines, it doesn’t shy away from allowing the player to don a sequined suit or engage in battles against a chimpanzee-operated digger.

But now, with Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii, they’ve reached peak wacky.

As a lifestyle connoisseur, I must share an intriguing tale about my latest discovery – a gaming masterpiece titled “Yakuza: Like a Dragon.” In this captivating narrative, you’ll follow the journey of the fiery and ink-adorned Goro Majima, who finds himself stranded on a tropical paradise in 2024 – none other than the lawless Hawaiian isles. Here, the pirate’s life seems to be the way of life, offering an exhilarating twist to our hero’s story.

Yobs swagger round with cutlasses and tricorn hats. Ships broadside each other on the open seas.

Moreover, despite having scant recollection about his identity, Majima chooses to associate himself with them, even if he could effortlessly and violently overpower them, as he discovered.

The game ends up being quite delightful. As expected from a typical Yakuza game, you’ll find lengthy cutscenes, action-packed combat requiring rapid button presses, and engaging minigames. However, this time around, it also includes elements like sailing the ocean, swashbuckling on deck, and, indeed, singing sea shanties. It seems like quite a lot – and it is – but these extra features perfectly align with the character of our main protagonist.

Besides, Pirate Yakuza has been made with such flair and care that all the parts cohere.

The process for hiring and developing crew members is exceptionally effective, almost turning the challenge into a separate game as you test them in the fiery arenas of Madlantis. (More informal: The way we’re handling crew recruitment and development is pretty impressive; it feels like testing your sailors in the heat of battle at Madlantis is an entire game on its own.)

To be honest, I found it so delightful that even my initial reservations about Yakuza venturing beyond Japan in its last release have vanished. Now, I’d love for the Majima gang to take us on a lunar expedition instead!

 

Avowed (Xbox, PC, £69.99 or included with Xbox Game Pass)

Verdict: Skyrim 2025

Welcome to the Living Lands, a colourful island with one hell of a fungal problem.

If you’ve experienced the Pillars of Eternity series by Obsidian Entertainment, you’ll find this setting familiar, as you’ve previously explored its world. However, unlike your previous visits, this place appears strikingly different.

Instead of navigating small fantasy characters across top-down terrains reminiscent of the original Baldur’s Gate (1998), this game offers an immersive first-person perspective adventure, akin to the style of Skyrim (2011).

To put it simply, it’s clear that Avowed bears a strong resemblance to Skyrim, a connection that might make some feel as though they’ve stepped back in time. This similarity is striking, even considering the enduring appeal and lasting popularity of Skyrim.

The game, Skyrim, excels particularly in exploration aspects, making it a joy to traverse new landscapes, venture into caverns, and uncover the secrets hidden within. It’s about more than just the main storyline; there’s always something intriguing to discover, even if it’s not directly related to the primary quest.

Apart from that, Avowed refines the classic Skyrim structure in several aspects. The storyline, where you play as an enigmatic emissary with peculiar abilities, sent to the Living Lands to uncover strange, fungal activities, is significantly deeper. The movement within the game has been smoothed out. Additionally, there are more extensive opportunities for personalizing your character.

However, the combat aspect shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s actually quite good, particularly when compared to the simplistic hack-and-slash style of Skyrim. Yet, the sheer volume of it, presented in first-person perspective, causes the immersive role-playing experience in Avowed to take a backseat and the game begins to resemble an unusual installment in the Call of Duty series.

Living Lands? Dying, more like – after my merciless berserker has burnt his way through them. 

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2025-02-21 03:20

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