The Yakuza series has no shortage of weird and wonderful games. From the serious but goofy at times mainline entries to its plethora of historical spinoffs, prequels, and side stories. There’s something for everyone here, really. Whether you’re looking for the next installment in the long running Like a Dragon series, or just want to play something a little different, our last hands-on with Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii ahead of release suggests that it’s shaping up to be another solid spin-off that will plunder dozens of hours from you.
Ever since Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag dropped way back in 2013, I’ve been itching for another worthy pirate adventure. While there have been a few decent attempts released since then, none of them managed to capture my attention and made me excited to get to pirating until I got the chance to play Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. At first glance, Pirates and Yakuza may seem like a combination that’s about as compatible as oil and water. But upon closer inspection, Like a Dragon’s world, eccentric main character, and not too overly serious presentation makes for a surprisingly competent and fun pirate adventure.
In Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii you assume the role of longtime series favorite Goro Majima after he loses his memory and winds up on an Hawaiian island. From everything I saw during my few hours of hands-on time, the series’ weirdness is cranked up to 11 here. Outside of beating up roving gangs of pirates and the occasional bounty with my small tiger companion, I found myself recruiting a wide assortment of weirdos to my pirate crew, playing a plethora of fun and surprisingly addicting minigames – such as a home run derby, karaoke, and sailing the pacific ocean in my pirate ship, complete with ship-to-ship combat and aggressive weather. To put it bluntly, there’s a lot to do here.
Island Time
During my preview I spent a lot of time in the pirate city of Madlantis, an area overrun by pirates, criminals, and some genuinely strange people even by Yakuza’s standards. I was able to participate in numerous minigames and side activities such as claw games, ports of classic SEGA arcade games like Virtua Fighter, and the Pirates’ Coliseum, an area where I was able to engage in ship-to-ship combat to battle it out with an assortment of unique pirate crews, as well as other combat-based minigames.
Speaking of combat, in main gameplay, it strays away from the JRPG turn based style of the two previous Like a Dragon games in favor of a more traditional beat-’em-up combat style. Majima has two fighting styles: Mad Dog and Sea Dog. While both fighting styles are rooted in the standard “heavy and light attack mixed in with dodges” formula, both styles play differently enough that I found myself swapping between them in order to keep the momentum on my side and deal out as much damage as possible. In Mad Dog mode, Majima will don his familiar getup and use a plethora of fast combos to quickly dispatch an enemy. Sea Dog, on the other hand, has Majima wearing a pirate getup and relies on pirate-themed weaponry such as two cutlass swords, a pistol, and a grappling hook. While Mad Dog was fun to play, the majority of my combat time was spent in Sea Dog due to its diverse assortment of weapons and abilities. Regardless of what fighting style I had selected, though I found myself having a ton of fun beating up dozens of rival pirates.
That’s not to say combat didn’t have its shortcomings, though. Blocking and dodging took a bit of practice to get used to, and the enemies can range from a total pushover to a challenge that had me seeing the game over screen more times than I had expected to in a Yakuza game. Still, once I figured out how to effectively switch between fighting styles and take advantage of every tool and ability I had available, the combat became a challenging but rewarding experience.
Set Sail
Naval combat is a welcome addition to the Like a Dragon universe. While some games tend to over complicate ship combat, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii goes with a “less is more” approach to its maritime warfare sections. My ship had a few methods of destroying enemy vessels the port side of my pirate ship was donned with short-range flamethrowers that could deal immense damage as long as I was close to my target, while the starboard side of my ship was equipped with long-range cannons. Firing off these two options in addition to the front-facing machine guns is how I spent most of my time in ship-to-ship combat. The third option was to leave the helm of my ship and use Majima’s rocket launcher. While this didn’t do as much damage as the other options, it was pretty fun to jump around my boat and take pot shots at enemy ships. Regardless of which method I chose to engage in, I found myself having fun drifting my boat around and sinking enemy vessels.
Based on everything I’ve played so far, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is definitely shaping up to not only live up to the high standards of the Like a Dragon series, but it also has the potential to become one of the better pirate games released since Black Flag. With its fun and creative combat, intuitive ship warfare, and genuinely interesting and wacky world, you’re going to want to pack your Hawaiian shirt.
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