Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
MSRP $60.00
“Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is fun bottle episode that’s a bit too invested in its schtick.”
Pros
Fantastic substories
Great treasure looking hook
Fast, enjoyable brawling
Crew administration is engrossing
Cons
Dull story
Glacial pacing
Slow crusing
Repetitive naval battles
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Long-winded story
A pirate’s life
Slow crusing
Stop me if you happen to’ve heard this one earlier than: Goro Majima has amnesia.
When the absurdly titled Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii begins, the Mad Dog of Shimano washes up on a seaside along with his reminiscences left behind within the tide. After just a few scuffles with some scalawags, he’s reborn as a pirate. We nonetheless get flashes of the eccentric antihero we all know all through his seafaring journey to discover a misplaced treasure, however he’s a person misplaced in schtick. His lengthy historical past of eccentric habits has change into a fancy dress gown draped over his true identification.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii finds itself in an analogous boat. The beefy spinoff of final yr’s Infinite Wealth is an act of cosplay. While many of the items that make the long-running sequence so beloved are there, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio trades in robust writing for pirate pastiche with combined outcomes. Majima’s nautical journey is at its greatest when flashes of reminiscence break by its amnesia, reminding me that there’s extra to Like a Dragon than its memeable moments.
Long-winded story
Though Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii presents itself as an motion RPG starring Goro Majima, it’s not precisely the want achievement followers expect. Since Majima has misplaced his reminiscences, we’re not a lot following the character we all know and getting extra perception into his unknowable mind. Sure, he’s nonetheless a loud mouth foil to the cool and picked up Kazuma Kiryu, however we could as properly be following a totally new character. The story solely barely will get into his psyche, as a substitute specializing in his fatherly relationship with a younger boy named Noah and his cat (undoubtedly not a tiger cub). As quickly as Majima takes the wheel of a ship and begins assembling a pirate crew, he’s a brand new man.
On paper, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is smarter than its title suggests. It attracts a connection between its imaginative and prescient of the prison underworld and pirates of yore. Both have comparable politics, with competing clans and crew hierarchies. Both are nefarious operations out to get wealthy in seedy methods. It’s a enjoyable little bit of self-parody, translating the form of story Ryu Ga Gotoku has advised for twenty years right into a style send-up that attracts a line between a historical past of skullduggery.
It’s the sequence’ weakest story but …
Or no less than, I want that’s what it was focused on. While that thread is there, the story itself doesn’t have a lot to say about any of that. Instead, its focus is on weaving an ordinary story of journey and riches, as Majima races rival criminals to seek out the fabled treasure of Esperanza. His journey intersects with different pirate gangs, an underground ship preventing ring dubbed Madlantis, and Palekana, the eye-rolling non secular cult on the heart of Infinite Wealth’s weakest story arc. You received’t notice simply how long-winded Like a Dragon’s cutscenes might be till you’re sitting by hours of round dialogue about treasure looking with little substance. It’s the sequence’ weakest story but, stretching the premise for a jaunty DLC right into a 25 hour marathon that drags greater than the 70+ hour sport it’s spun off from.
Part of it’s a pacing drawback born from an identification disaster. Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii can’t set up a rhythm because it lurches by every of its 5 ever-changing chapters. Numerous my playtime seems like filler that doesn’t progress the story or any characters arcs ahead in a significant method. The worst offender of that is available in Chapter 4, the place I’m advised I would like to easily beat a rival pirate in Madlantis’ enviornment. That easy job turns into hours of exhausting diversion, as I’m bounced backwards and forwards between crew conversations, journeys again to Honolulu City, and repetitive battles — all resulting in an anticlimactic conflict that hardly feels price all of the hubbub.
Sega
It’s all a bit disappointing coming off the glossy and at instances emotionally shifting Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, although Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has one benefit over that spinoff. Its 31 substories could be my favourite batch within the sequence. It’s right here the place Ryu Ga Gotoku’s strengths bubble again as much as the floor. They oscillate between absurd and honest on a dime. One story follows a avenue performer, dressed as a bronze statue, determined for his craft to be revered. Another turns a girl’s secret dominatrix fetish right into a constructive assertion on intercourse work. It’s in these moments that the amnesia clears, revealing the guts beneath the costume.
A pirate’s life
Though the pirate schtick doesn’t make for a fantastic story, it does enable Ryu Ga Gotoku to experiment with some new concepts. The journey is the sequence most radically reimagined entry thus far in some methods, even when it makes use of the identical beat-em-up motion RPG components from the sequence’ previous. Yes, Majima can nonetheless wander round a metropolis, smack folks round, eat at eating places, play darts, snap photographs of perverts, compete in Dragon Kart. Just about each system and exercise current in Infinite Wealth returns right here. Those acquainted moments are its most constant, even when they aren’t shocking a second time round.
The tried and true brawling advantages most from the pirate theming. In addition to a primary brawling stance, Majima can activate a sooner swashbuckling mode the place he can reduce foes up with two swords. A pistol lets him choose pirates off from afar, whereas a grappling hook permits him to latch onto far off enemies and yank himself to them. It’s a preventing model constructed for a personality as unpredictable as Majima; he can bounce round a battlefield with the grace of a drunken grasp.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii goes as huge as it could possibly at each flip …
There’s a whole second sport dumped on high of this although, for higher and typically worse. The concept right here is that Majima runs his personal pirate ship, the Goromaru. He must recruit crew members, assign them to jobs, sail searching for treasure, and take down different ships in sea battles. None of that is left to easy minigames; Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii goes as huge as it could possibly at each flip and feels extra distinct for it, even when it doesn’t land.
The core of that change is constructed round crusing. When not on a fundamental island, I can take the Goromaru out for a spin round a sequence of small ocean maps. The fundamental factor I can do out there’s dock on small islands and full bite-sized fight gauntlets to plunder treasure, the worth of which can be utilized to improve my abilities. Treasures may also be earned by reaching hidden excessive spots on the mainland with my grappling hook and partaking in minigames. It’s a wonderful change of tempo from the sequence’ typical open-city exploration, giving me small challenges that yield clear, helpful rewards. Some of those encounters even attain in the direction of Dynasty Warriors’ Musou components, pitting me and my crewmates towards 100 pirates. That’s the form of violence that feels becoming for the Mad Dog.
Sega
Ship administration is a spotlight too, giving Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii a powerful RPG layer constructed on the muse of minigames like Majima Construction. I have to outfit my vessel with cannons and machine weapons, rising its offensive and defensive talents as I progress. Crew members must be assigned to every place and I have to handle their morale to ensure they’re working at 100%. I can do this by giving them items and throwing events catered by meals I cook dinner. A internet might be connected to my ship to choose up supplies and fish. It’s these moments that greatest promote the excessive seas fantasy. Majima actually does really feel like a captain by the tip the extra the ship features like a well-oiled machine.
Slow crusing
Though I like the trouble put into all the things, the ship system creates its justifiable share of issues. Sailing requires me to navigate round just a few small maps that look equivalent to at least one one other at an unbelievably gradual tempo. The ship strikes inches alongside at a glacial velocity until it’s in a boosting by a present. The solely approach to quick journey to an space is to make it to a lighthouse and warp from there. That determination doesn’t simply discourage me from exploring the seas, nevertheless it instills some unhealthy habits in me too.
Since getting from location to location is such a ache, I’m inspired to do as many open-world actions as I can as soon as I attain a metropolis. I don’t know when the story will take me again there naturally and I merely don’t wish to make the journey until I’ve to. When I attain Honolulu City in Chapter 2, I wind up gobbling up over a dozen facet tales and finishing a piece of bounties directly, stalling the primary story out fully. On one other island, I get to handle my very own little zoo stuffed with critters who will give me provides once I feed them. I barely ever have interaction with that system because it requires a visit. The identical goes for Madlantis, the place I can compete in fight tournaments. It’s in my greatest curiosity to do as many as I can directly somewhat than come again.
Sega
Even if crusing had been sooner, it could nonetheless endure from tedium. When I’m on the seas, I finally cross paths with small fleets of rival pirate ships. The core concept of naval battles is nice: I have to execute large turns so I can level my cannons in the direction of a ship and allow them to rip. It’s a blast the primary handful of instances I do it. I throw some cannons on one facet and an power laser on the opposite, wedging myself between two ships and urgent down my controller’s triggers to hit them each directly whereas boosting away from their very own assaults.
This rapidly turns into repetitive busywork, as ship well being bars get larger and greater. The harder that battles get, the tougher they change into to handle. I’m in a position to zoom all the way down to Majima’s perspective throughout battle to place out fires on deck or hearth a rocket launcher, however doing so leaves my ship a sitting duck for incoming assaults. I’m higher off simply powering by battles, one thing that turns into straightforward as soon as I’ve spent sufficient money on my ship. All of this makes my lengthy journeys even longer, too. Fleets are particularly positioned in the midst of currents, so the one approach to keep away from them is to take a gradual detour that doesn’t save a lot time.
I’d be extra in favor of all of those completely pleasing concepts in the event that they had been working in service of one thing higher.
That concept fares a bit higher in battles towards bigger vessels. After I incapacitate a rival ship, I board it with my crew and partake in an enormous brawl on deck. These fights are delightfully hectic, with dozens of our bodies (together with weirdo recruits from the sequence’ previous) reducing one another down in a blitz. Even that too will get outdated after some time, although, as technique is traded in for larger physique counts.
I’d be extra in favor of all of those completely pleasing concepts in the event that they had been working in service of one thing higher, however Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii hardly ever goals to be greater than a pirate-themed schtick. If Like a Dragon had been a TV present (one other one, I imply), this is able to be its gimmicky bottle episode; suppose Lost’s divisive Nikki and Paulo one-off. That’s not a foul factor — I really like that episode, for the file. A lighthearted diversion is typically a essential breather. That’s very true coming off Infinite Wealth and Kiryu’s combat towards most cancers. There’s worth in a Like a Dragon chapter that’s simply having enjoyable taking part in costume up. I simply want there was extra to Majima than his wacky antics.
I feel again to that substory about that bronze avenue performer. He’s the butt of the joke in Honolulu City, with onlookers mocking his dedication to standing completely nonetheless. It’s a type of tales that goes from hilarious to unhappy as I be taught to empathize with him. He’s made out to be a weirdo at a look, however there’s an actual man underneath all that physique paint. He’s not only a sideshow attraction in a foolish costume. I hope that’s true for Majima someday too.
Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was examined on PS5 Pro.