PlayStation 5 played
The idea for Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii seemed obvious. In Infinite Wealth we went to Hawaii — islands washed on all sides by the Pacific Ocean — and among the heroes of the series there is Goro Majima, with an eye patch like a pirate. At the same time, no one could have guessed that the series would get such a branch — “Yakuza”, of course, is famous for crazy scenes and situations, but the main plot in them is always more or less serious. And here the developers decided to make it absurd, too, although the seriousness of the themes inherent in the series, such as friendship and loyalty, still remained in place.
⇡#Clean slate
Japanese games often feature at least one amnesiac hero. Previous Like a Dragon games didn’t overuse this trope, but Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii gave the stereotypical character to Majima himself. However, there’s a difference between an amnesiac “no-name” you’ve never seen before and a character you’ve been watching develop over the years (and even played in Yakuza 0).
Good!
The hero, washed up on the shore of a tiny island, doesn’t remember anything, not even his name, and for the scriptwriters this is a great opportunity to show him from a new side. This is not the Majima who behaves like a psychopath and waves a knife with a crazy grin. This is a person who doesn’t remember his past and psychological trauma, more open and even trusting – but the inner spark that makes him so charismatic and memorable has not gone anywhere.
Majima is brought to his senses by a blue-eyed boy, Noa, who shows him the island and introduces him to the locals. Not everyone immediately believes in his amnesia, but they still briefly tell him about what is happening around him: about the annoying pirates, about the religious cult on the neighboring island and the yakuza who have sailed there. There is also a certain Madlantis – an island where all sorts of dark personalities and criminal gangs hide. Of course, we find ourselves drawn into all this – including because Noa is tired of hanging around on a tiny piece of land and wants to see the world. His father is against it, but it is difficult to resist Majima’s charisma, so we all set off to sail the Pacific Ocean together – having first stolen a pirate ship, of course.
Among the collectibles there are plenty of decorations for the ship – you can change the appearance of the stern and the colors of the sails
For those who are fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean aesthetic, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will be a great gift – there are not many games with such a theme, especially from large publishers. Here you need to sail on a ship, and board enemy ships, and look for treasures. The romance of pirate life is perfectly conveyed, and even the stereotypical corsairs in cocked hats look organic and do not stand out from the overall picture. And the plot is structured in such a way that it will be interesting to both a new audience and “old-timers”, who will certainly be pleased with the appearance of familiar characters. The result is a bright pirate adventure – in terms of drama, it does not reach the level of numbered parts of the series, but in its own way it is unusual.
This is not the type of branching where everything is turned upside down and never mentioned again in the next games, although the description might suggest so. That is, we visit different islands and look for treasure chests, but we mainly do this in story missions or when sailing from one place to another. The additional content is mostly scattered around Honolulu, the city from Infinite Wealth. It looks exactly the same, there are no new areas, but this is not a problem – just as we have enjoyed exploring Kamurocho over and over again over the years, so here we are probably not visiting the capital of Hawaii for the last time.
You can’t ride around Honolulu for long – after a couple of seconds you’ll want to get off and get distracted by some kind of entertainment
All the usual entertainment is in place: a shopping mall with shops and slot machines, karting, mahjong, karaoke, a photo hunt for perverts, a parody of Crazy Taxi, and so on. But the most interesting thing here is the side quests. Partly because there are a lot of madness, for which you enthusiastically hunt for “side quests”, and partly because of the development of characters familiar from Infinite Wealth. For example, there is a touching story of a taco seller who in that game did not actually cook anything and forged passports for bandits, but over time decided to abandon it and really take up cooking. True, it turns out so-so, but with our help this should change.
⇡#New concerns
For some entertainment, you need to go to Madlantis – a small settlement inside a rock in the middle of the ocean. There is baseball, familiar from previous games in the series (only this time you have to hit cannonballs into exploding barrels), golf, a casino, and so on, as well as the “Coliseum” – arcade ship battles. According to the plot, we are required to improve the ship and recruit a crew to get access to the “Coliseum” at all, but in order to fully complete all the tests, there is a lot of work to do.
There are also fights during matches, but only in some scripted episodes.
With the ship it’s clear – you save money, collect resources and buy new guns in the workshop, and in the upgrade menu you improve the characteristics. With the crew it’s more difficult – both on Madlantis and in Honolulu you meet many people ready to join the adventure, but they all need something first. You’ll have to either just fight with them, or achieve some results – for example, a high level of reputation, which you get for each action. You can also recruit heroes familiar from Infinite Wealth – for example, the bartender from the Revolv dive bar, where we constantly hung out and spent the night in that game.
All team members have stats that affect their ability to fight, and the coolest teammates have special traits. With them, either the ship gets some bonuses (for example, increased damage to the enemy stern), or during boarding you can activate a useful “passive” like increased defense and resistance to bullets. Boarding is implemented very simply – you empty the enemy ship’s durability bar, swim up to it, press a button and after a short video, your entire team fights the enemy crew. This works both in story missions and in the “Colosseum”, where you have to do this in almost every test.
In rainy weather the battles are especially spectacular
Boarding should be one of the most fun moments in ship battles, but Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has a less than stellar combat system. Fights happen in real time, like in the Yakuzas with Kiryu, but Majima’s fighting styles are unusual for the series. While Kiryu seemed like a “heavy” character, whose every blow was felt through the screen, Majima is much more agile – he can even jump. And his attacks are much more sweeping and fast, even when using the Mad Dog style, in which the hero mainly fights with fists and a knife. There is no need to talk about the Sea Wolf – here you have the ability to throw saber-boomerangs, and a hook that pulls you to enemies, and powerful techniques with shooting at several opponents. Because of this, the fights with the bosses turned out to be unremarkable – they can’t really do anything to counter such a barrage of moves.
The ship battles themselves are not very impressive either. Of course, you shouldn’t expect a full-fledged brigantine simulator from Yakuza, but everything turned out too simple and arcade-like. Soon after arriving in Honolulu, you manage to unlock energy guns, which are 6 (!) times more powerful than usual, and they make any fight with enemy ships a cakewalk. You just shoot from a machine gun, then from the left guns, then from the right ones, dodging the weak attacks of the enemy, which cause minor damage. Fun, funny, takes about as much time as meeting thugs on the streets of the city, but if there you can at least switch styles, then here everything is very simple and unpretentious.
Not all side quests are somehow related to the pirate life
***
Despite its shortcomings, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii remains a good old Yakuza — with an interesting plot, charismatic heroes, and an open world filled with various entertainments. The pirate theme adds even more exoticism to the series, but does not turn the game into an endless farce, as one might have assumed after watching the announcement trailer. The combat system and ship battles are not very impressive, and the story is not as good as in the numbered parts of the series, but it is still a successful and very bold experiment that not every publisher would dare to undertake.
Advantages:
- An interesting plot with a touch of absurdity and the atmosphere of a pirate adventure;
- The opportunity to look at another Majima, who does not remember his dark past and treats others differently;
- A large selection of fun entertainment, some of which were already loved in Infinite Wealth;
- The side quests are, as always, filled with crazy and touching stories.
Disadvantages:
- Melee fights are unusually simple and chaotic due to the protagonist’s excessive agility;
- Naval combat lacks depth and powerful equipment is unlocked too quickly, making naval combat feel routine.
Graphic arts
No improvement over Infinite Wealth – at times it even looks a little worse. But the naval battles are always spectacular.
Sound
An audio player is available both on land and on the ship: dozens of tracks from various Sega games have been added here, which perfectly complement the pirate atmosphere. As for the voice acting, I recommend paying attention to the English version – Majima is brilliantly voiced by Matt Mercer, familiar from many games and anime.
Single player game
Classic “Yakuza”, in which you are constantly distracted from the central plot for several hours for the sake of side entertainment. Only now also outside the main city.
Estimated time of completion
If you don’t stray from the storyline at all, the game will take 15 hours to complete. But that’s not the case with games in this series, so be prepared for at least 25 hours.
Collective game
Not foreseen.
General impression
An unusual and fun spin-off that offers both a repeat visit to the beloved city from Infinite Wealth and the chance to feel like a real pirate – modern video games very rarely provide such an opportunity.
Rating: 8.0 / 10
More about grading system
Video: