Against the odds, the next game in the beloved Yakuza game series, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii, is shaping up to look like it will live up to its outlandish name. At a themed preview event in Buena Park, California, just outside Knotts Berry Farm, I and other journalists got to take a stab at heretofore unseen parts of the game — and combat at sea seems like it’ll be a fun highlight among the many activities.
Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii is a new adventure from Sega studio Ryu Ga Gotoku starring series favorite Goro “Mad Dog” Majima, a wild eye patch-wearing gangster stepping up from manic sidekick in Yakuza 0 and Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth to main character. Picking up right six months after Infinite Wealth, Majima washes up on an island shore with no memory of his past (mis)deeds. After getting a first look at the game late last year, this new preview introduced me to a trio of activities teased in the trailers — ship-to-ship sea combat, coliseum fights and the returning minigame Dragon Kart.
More importantly, I got a feel for the flow of the game, as the first preview session dropped me into the second chapter of the game. Though bereft of many abilities and upgrades, I could still switch between Majima’s two fighting styles. The first, the pirate-themed Sea Dog style, had me flailing around swinging twin cutlasses (or throwing them like boomerangs), shooting my flintlock pistol and using a chain whip to pull myself into enemies. The second, Mad Dog style, will be more familiar to Yakuza fans who fought Majima in earlier games: He lunges around with a knife like a back-alley brawler, even summoning doppelgängers to even the odds against masses of enemies.
Both styles are fun, and although I got by with button-mashing, I was pushed to use my small pool of skills and tools when enemy groups pulled guns on me (and actual modern ones that put my wee flintlock to shame). While the game is lumped into the Like A Dragon subseries, it wisely ditched the turn-based RPG combat in favor of real-time fighting like the mainline Yakuza series, and it’s better for it; flailing around with boomerang cutlasses in a pirate outfit is the kind of zany action that’s feasible in nonstop motion (which could fall apart if players are given a moment to think).
In that first free-roaming play section, I faced roaming gangs of island tough guys, but mostly I ran around learning the game’s odd and pleasing corners: planting herbs to harvest later, cooking stat-buffing meals, winning the favor of animal friends and stocking up on health items and energy drinks. Even on islands, I’m buying supplies for the next lopsided fight.
The next play session brought on the good stuff, namely the ship battles teased in earlier trailers. As gamers yearn for the swarthy sea dog days of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, enjoy Sea of Thieves and mourn what Skull and Bones could’ve been, the cannonball-stricken waters of Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii will surely appeal.
Sea combat, coliseum clashes and more
The second play session opened up in the wondrously grimy pirate dreamland of Madlantis, the game’s big addition to the Yakuza landscape. Scalliwags prowl the rusted metal walkways spoiling for fights and neon signs point to bars, shops and a casino (where you can play poker and blackjack). But the centerpiece is the Pirates Coliseum, which lets you engage in four different kinds of fights with escalating difficulty.
The first, Quick Clash, puts your ship in the flooded coliseum to take on enemies in a quick fight. At the lower ranks, you’ll take on single ships, but more difficult fights will pit you against multiple vessels of varying sizes. Sea combat is a bit more arcade-style Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag than the more realistic Sea of Thieves, as you’ll sail with a birds-eye view as attack reticles pop up for your three slotted weapons: forward-firing machine guns as well as a set of cannons each for port and starboard. These can be traditional cannonball-firing guns, short-range flamethrowers or even laser cannons (stay awesome, Yakuza).
While you’ll mainly careen between ships to get the best angle for your next cannon salvo and scoot out of range of your opponent’s rejoinder, there are a few reasons for stepping away from the wheel to prowl the deck of the Goromaru (as your vessel is called). Most notably, you’ll need to do so if your ship catches fire, as putting out the blaze will stop ticking damage as the less health your ship has the less damage it will do. While walking around your ship, you can also man a deck-mounted machine gun or run around firing rocket launchers at enemy ships (never change, Yakuza). Keep in mind that you’ll crawl to a stop away from the wheel, so watch out for enemies pouncing on your immobile ship.
Once you’ve defeated the enemy ship, it’s time to board, and you’ll automatically leap into hand-to-hand fighting with your crew against the other vessel’s captain and mates. It’s a fun end to the fighting, especially in the second Pirates Coliseum mode, Tournament of Captains, wherein your opponents will sport increasingly zany themes — I played against the Biker Pirates, for instance, who not only dressed like extras in Grease or The Outsiders but after boarding, drove across their deck in motorcycles.
The third Pirates Coliseum mode, Madlantis Mania, was a series of deck battles against enemy crews and a bit less exciting than the others. But the fourth mode, Swashbuckler Showdown, was a merry hand-to-hand melee on an island arena pitting you and your crew against dozens of enemies — a bit like Dynasty Warriors brawling into crowds of goons with some champions sprinkled throughout. It’s here where I fought long enough to charge up the Sea Dog style’s Madness gauge and summon one of the four dark gods of the sea (shark, parrot, ape or jellyfish) to trounce my enemies en masse.
Your crew, by the by, are pulled from a gleefully wide assortment of oddballs you’ll pick up as you play through the game, some with different abilities suitable to man the cannons, be squad leaders or make your first mate. From chefs to brothel madams to accountants to gangsters, you’ll fill out your squad with a who’s who of who’s that. During one fight, my preset crew surged on to the enemy ship’s deck with me, including one dude wearing a ram’s head atop his business suit while another brawled in his underwear.
Gangster, pirate, what’s the difference?
Sadly, we weren’t shown much about the story, though we do know that the amnesiac Majima at the start of the game will revel in his freedom and affection for friends he meets. This gets complicated, though, as his memories return of the crime boss he was at the end of the last game, Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth.
This preview was more about exposing us to the pirate yakuza vibes awaiting players — and the vibes are just shy of being too ridiculous. The Yakuza series balances melodrama and zany hijinks in ways that are somehow complementary, and amping up the wilder aspects in Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii works for Mad Dog Majima. It’s pushing the envelope for what players can take seriously, but with many familiar features returning from the main games to ground it.
One of those recurring perks is the beloved Dragon Kart, which we got to play in the preview. While I was no master of RGG’s take on the go-kart racing staple minigame, it was pretty fun to stuff Majima into a mini-vehicle and blast around corners, and there’s even a battle royale-like duel mode (which sounds a lot like Mario Kart’s battle mode). Of course, no Yakuza game would be complete without karaoke, which you can sing on your ship.
But it’s the fun new pirate-themed touches that drew my attention, from adorning all of Majima’s 10 fingers with different exotic rings (to boost stats and abilities) to acing the cooking minigame so I can set a rowdy feast for my crew to raise their morale and strength. I can sail the waters between the game’s four major land areas to fight marauding ships and find secret treasure ashore on remote islands.
The game’s themes of freedom from rules and supporting your crew nicely replicate the same dynamics in many other Yakuza games, making the earnest silliness more charming than alienating. With snappy combat on land and sea, Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is shaping up to be a fun jaunt expanding the world of the series without straying from its central message of keeping true to your chosen family (through violence).
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