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I feel like the narrative has shifted quite a bit when it comes to the first two Shenmue games. It was once considered one of the best Dreamcast games around (and still is by many folks, granted), but that changed when a bunch of Gaming YouTubers and their ilk started voicing their negative opinion on the game, and much like SEGA's own Sonic games, impressionable folks who probably never played the games wondered if the Shenmue was ever really good at all, and basically had their minds made up for them.

Come 2017, and Yakuza 0 gets dropped in the west and becomes a surprise hit, which as an after-effect not only helped give the previously floundering crime drama series a much needed shot in the arm, but also got people thinking about that Shenmue game which seemed sorta similar. Bing, bang, boom, and a remaster is out and now everyone can actually play Shenmue without having to dredge up a 20+ year old console or resorting to emulators.

And that's where we are today, with the overall critical narrative surrounding Shenmue being more that of a stepping stone to a future series than as it's own work that had it's own impact. This happened with much of Fromsoft's works prior to Dark Souls, with every game before 2011 being shoved into some half-baked narrative that all them were just building up to Dark Souls. And, yeah, that just ain't it...

Admittedly, I am glad that the consensus on Shenmue isn't as negative as it was prior, mostly because I think that reputation was largely unwarranted (and I should clarify that I played this game for the first time 13 years after it came out, so I don't have much in the way of proper bias with it, and I will admit it has it's fair share of faults). However, I believe that looking at this game as "Proto-Yakuza" is not only kinda dismissive, but you will no doubt walk away disappointed.

Yakuza is a sandbox game filled with zany ♥♥♥♥ to do with a larger life story to tie it all together, Shenmue on the other hand is a sort of "Life-Simulator" that just so happens to have a few fun distractions and a revenge narrative that borders on the occasional grandeur, but never looses grip on it's realistic roots even when some more "unusual" stuff does happen.

Shenmue is not a game (or set of games) that will appeal to everyone, and it was never going to. But it's a work that I believe deserves a bit more respect than it gets these days. For new folks who want to give it a try, I believe it's best to come in with as few preconceived notions as possible. I can't say y'all will like it, but some might find a unique world and story worth exploring.

Before Halo 3 came out, I feel like Dead Rising was the first real "Must Have" Xbox 360 exclusive. I played it for the first time just a year after it came out, which was late 2006. I was around 9 or so, and I helped my dad do some work, in which I managed to snag enough money to get a new Xbox 360, just a month before Halo 3 dropped. Not sure if y'all remember, but the Xbox 360 (the early models, that is) were kinda ♥♥♥♥. They were built poorly, were prone to breaking and the standard models didn't even come with a proper hard drive. So when I returned from Hollywood Video after picking up Dead Rising based on the box art alone (I did that a lot as a kid, which got me to play a really wide range of games), I wasn't able to save the game. However, as much as that annoyed me, I still kept playing the game, because I was just that invested. I think I restarted the game like 5 times till it was returned the following week. Dead Rising clicked with me, a lot.

I'd rent it on an off for about a year and a half till my 360 broke for the 3rd and final time, and my folks opted to get me Wii that Christmas instead of forking over the money dollars for Microsoft to keep fixing it. I actually really dig the Wii, and I think it's the closest thing we've had to the PS2 in terms of AA gaming output, however, I was a bit bummed out that I couldn't get to play Dead Rising... until 2009. I remember watching G4TV and seeing that announcement trailer with the zombies singing in Japanese, and being hyped as ♥♥♥♥ that they were somehow dropping Dead Rising on the Wii. We of course know how that turned out, but hey, it's a pretty cool RE4 total conversion.

So it took basically till late 2011 for me to snag another Xbox 360 (a slim variant which still works to this day), for me to buy the original Dead Rising and actually finish it. Since then I have gone on to get all the other port for it to (I intentionally got the Xbox One version, but this Steam version and the PS4 version came with two separate bundles I got). So with all this rambling, what do I think of Dead Rising?

It's good!

Granted it's a game that was plagued from some odd design choices and quirks since the beginning. Companion A.I. being terrible, anything other than a zombie being largely un-fun to fight, and some attacks stunning you in place till you drop dead. And while it doesn't bother me all that much, the visuals have aged to a fair degree. This is especially evident in the character model department, as humans often look creepier than the zombies themselves. But I tend to expect this with earlier 7th gen stuff.

With that being said, I tend to look over these faults because the base game is just so fun! The game gives a mall yoinked straight from Dawn of the Dead (Romero please don't sue) and basically lets you do whatever you want in it. Sure, all the main and side story content is timed, but the game allows you to roam free and do as you see fit. Wanna skateboard or bike around the mall? You can! Can you mix a bunch of ♥♥♥♥ in a blender and make an unholy concoction? Do it! Like playing dress up? Express yourself! Need to practice your photography? Snap Away! Wanna use anything and everything as a weapon? Go for it! Basically anything you think you can do in Dead Rising, you probably can.

A lot of zombie games would take cues from Dead Rising, I don't even really think the sequels really "nailed it" like this gem did. I really think Yoshinori Kawano, Keiji Inafune and Co. really captured lightning in a bottle here. Just a neat little sandbox where you can live out your zombie apocalypse dreams!

While Resident Evil 2 (1998) might still be my favorite game of all time, Dead Rising is my favorite "Zombie Game". No game that I've played before or since has made fighting the hoards of the undead quite as fun as this one.

Give it a go!

DooM 64 is one of the few games in the N64's library that didn't age like milk just five years after the console and it's horrific trident-o-torture controller were put six feet under. And that's probably because DooM 64 was really out of season back in 1997. 3D shooters like Quake, Goldeneye, Turok and Descent had already hit the market, and the faux-3D Build Engine games like Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior and BLOOD did a lot in order to make it's worlds as fleshed and "3D"-feeling as they could. But here comes DooM 64, with all the abstract levels and lack of vertical aiming one would expect from a pure DooM game, which in '97 had gone out of fashion. Thus, the game received pretty average reviews upon release, with folks praising the atmosphere, but criticizing the dated design.

I've been a DooM fan probably longer than folks who say "DooM Slayer" instead of "Doomguy" have been alive, with the first game I remember playing was my dad's burned copy of Ultimate DooM for Windows 95. I even got the Collector's Edition of DooM 3 for my 7th birthday (yeah, my folks kinda didn't give a ♥♥♥♥), which came bundled with Ultimate DooM and DooM 2. However, DooM 64 really just kinda slipped my grasp until I retroactively started collecting 5th gen systems and their games. While the Saturn's 2D and first party offerings alongside Playstations cavalcade of RPG and survival horror bangers have held up well (reminder, I played these with no prior nostalgia), I found the N64's library kinda anemic, and stuff that was praised to range from middling to downright cumbersome.

Yet DooM 64 was different. Much like the 2D games on the Saturn (that almost never made it to the west), DooM 64 used it's rather humble gameplay and visual style to make something really tight, atmospheric and visually interesting. While the game had to be played using the N64's god awful controller, it didn't feels as awkward to use thanks to the relatively simple gameplay. ♥♥♥♥ just kinda worked in DooM 64's favor in a way that it hasn't for it's more "graphically impressive" contemporaries.

I played DooM 64 EX a bit later down the line, and it's kinda everything one would have wanted from an unofficial source port of the game by included QoL like mouse and keyboard support, higher resolutions and even mouse look (if you care for that sorta thing). For a while, it was probably the best way to play DooM 64 on more modern systems. But here comes Nightdive, remastering the game and dropping it on basically every modern platform alongside DooM Eternal. And like most Nightdive remasters, it's really good, especially on the Switch with it's gyro support.

Basically, what I'm saying is, this game is really good, and if you like classic DooM, you'll probably really enjoy this moodier take on the game. It's a bit more focused on puzzels, probably to a fault, but the overall gameplay, level design and V I B E S more than make up for that.

So play it...

*NOTICE: I originally played this on the GameCube and the Xbox One some years later)

I think the general consensus for RE0 is that it's "okay".

There are some interesting ideas presented here, like the character switching, item disposal, and a look at what happened to Bravo Team prior to the Spencer Mansion incident. Yet for every cool thing this game tries to do, there is always some sort of caveat. Character switching just sorta becomes a hindrance after a while and never really feels all that baked in. Disposing items anywhere sounds good on paper, but more often than not you will be dumping them in the main lobby, and really, the only thing we learn from this prequel is that Umbrella really loves killing off their staff and that Rebecca was with some dude in the "NOT-SPENCER-MANSION" mansion, which feels A LOT like the Spencer Mansion. One could make the argument that the RPD from RE2 is also a throwback to the Spencer Mansion, and it admittedly is. But RE2 attempts to streamline the labyrinthine residence to aid the flow in service to the game's more action-oriented design. The training facility is just a sort of revamped Spencer Mansion, but a lot less memorable.

If you play this right after playing Resident Evil Remake, it feels like a really wonky pseudo-retread of that game, with a bunch of odd, half-baked ideas thrown in (along with countless ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ chimps). It's an okay game in it's own right, but it's nothing amazing and just sorta fades into the background where this series is concerned. Though if I had to give this game one thing, it probably has the best pre-rendered backgrounds this series ever offered. The environments presented here are simply gorgeous, and this remaster does well to highlight that aspect of the game.

So yeah, it's sorta just meh. You won't miss anything by just skipping over it. Still a lot better than Code Veronica though...

*NOTICE: Excuse the playtime, I have this game on a fair few different platforms*

I want to love Resident Evil 2 Remake more than I actually do...

That's not to say that I dislike this game, far from it. Out of all of the games from this REvival period (that I have played), RE2 Remake is probably the best of the bunch. It's a real top quality game and one of the few truly good triple A horror games from the 2010s, trailing behind Dead Space 2 and The Evil Within 2. There's an evident passion and love for the source material, and that reverence pours through with just how meticulously crafted this game is. What I am saying is that Resident Evil 2 REmake is really, really good... but I feel like it just didn't click with me like I would have wanted.

I'll admit, I'm biased to the classic game this spawned from. In fact, the classic Resident Evil 2 from 1998 is my personal favorite game of all time. Is it objectively perfect, no, but it vibes with me like no other game. It's classic RE at it's most refined. As Simon Pegg in Spaced put it "It's a subtle blend of lateral thinking and extreme violence". ♥♥♥♥'s good basically, and there was no doubt that I was extremely excited when the E3 2018 reveal trailer dropped and I got to see my favorite twunk cop, trenchcoat daddy, and Claire in HD on the stunningly beautiful RE Engine. It was the first game I pre-ordered since L.A. Noire in 2011.

There was a vocal minority of Survival Horror Boomers that were upset by the game not being done in the style of the original (e.g. tank controls and fixed camera angles). I am not one of those people. I love classic survival horror games, from the popular series like Resident Evil, Silent Hill and Fatal Frame, to the more obscure and offbeat like Koudelka, Illbleed and D2. I've been around the block, and I generally know my stuff when it comes to these sorts of games. That being said, the time when that sort of horror game was at the forefront of the tripple A landscape is over, and has been for about 20 years now. For Capcom to spend millions of dollars on making a game in a niche style to appeal to the rather small niche of folks who deem themselves as "TRUE SURVIVAL HORROR FANS" is honestly kinda stupid.

These folks wanted a remake in the way of the classic REmake from 2002, but aside from impracticalities of that pipe dream that I listed above, REmake was born out of an ideal of fleshing out the original game. The original Resident Evil is what feels like a half finished painting, you can tell that there was probably a lot more that Shinji Mikami wanted to do with it but just couldn't at the time due to financial or technical difficulties, or even just lack of experience. People forget that REmake came out only six years after the original hit store shelves in 1996, and it wasn't because that style of survival horror went out of style (though it would in just three years), but because the game had been superseded by it's follow-ups in just about every way. So with the advent of more powerful tech and with a lot more experience under his belt, REmake was Mikami's chance to finish that painting.

In that same sense, RE2 went through a similar process all before the original came out. As most know, RE2 was an almost completely different game (dubbed RE1.5 by the fans) and development was rocky. The team behind 1.5 was not happy with their work, and it was basically almost complete before they scrapped it and made the RE2 we know today using all the experience they gained from the last project, keeping what worked and scrapping what didn't. Unlike RE1, the painting was finished by the time RE2 was released in 1998. So the question was never about tweaking and filling in the gaps of the original game, but rather adaptation.

And I think that's where a lot of my problems are, with the adaptation (or translation) of elements from the original work. I feel that in the bid to make the game more palatable to modern audiences, a fair bit of the charm was lost, and in some cases, I just think they kinda went overboard and disrupted the flow of the original.

Regarding the former point, the lack of real music in the game is a bit disappointing. Sure, one can just switch on the classic music switch (that's behind payed DLC), but it doesn't always mesh well with this new game. The original remake had both new tracks and redone old tracks to fit the tone, and they didn't do that here save for one of the boss fights iirc. It's become a trend in horror games to have most of the music be diegetic and forgo a proper OST for most of the game, and that's a shame, cause Resident Evil has some really iconic music over the years. I mean, it was iconic enough for them to slap the original OST in the game, so why not make a soundtrack that actually compliments the game? They've done it before.

The re-created police station is pretty neat and the level of fidelity is astounding, but I'd be lying if I said the areas really stood out like they did in the original, save for a small few like the lobby, Chief Irons' room and the central lab area. They kinda just fade into the background as largely dark, gray, indistinct hallways whereas the original game had them all be visually unique.

The lack of a proper A/B scenario here is just sad. They have a halfhearted attempt here to do that, but now you have some real story consistency issues that are somehow more baffling than the originals. You characters that get killed by a boss, only to show up in another character's scenario, to get killed by the same boss... again. It's like the worst fusion of RE1's separate-but-both-canon scenarios and RE2's A/B scenarios. It's just really dumb.

As for the latter criticism, they made three big tweaks to the game that I'm really not the biggest fan of, those being Mr. X, the side character bits and the sewer.

I'll be the first to admit, I just kinda hate pursuer characters. I don't really find them scary, rather I find them to be just kinda annoying, especially when they are unkillable. They turn the game into a hide-n-seek simulator, much like Clock Tower or Amnesia, which is not fun (to me). And when you do down Mr. X, there really isn't any reward like with Nemesis or even Mr. X in the original. No ammo or weapon upgrades, you just get him to stay down for like, 20 seconds or so, and it's almost never worth the ammo to do so.

Secondly, the side character portions where you play as Ada or Sherry were never great in RE2, they were just a box puzzle and ammo collection snippet that only last like, 5 minutes each. Here they have a fleshed out section dedicated to themselves, and they are fine on a first playthrough in how they break up the pace, as well as how they contrast with original game's section, but they feel like pulling teeth with each subsequent revisit. ESPECIALLY on hardcore mode. Ada's is not great, but it at least it doesn't drag things to a halt like Sherry's section.

On the subject of dragging, the sewer is just bad. They extended it to be a somewhat sizable area rather than just a transitional place where you grab two medals and ♥♥♥♥ off on the tram to the lab. It just keeps going for ages, and the mini-boss they turned into a regular enemy here sucks to fight against. This area is my least favorite in the original, but it's quick. Here, it's both bad and longer than it needs to be. Once again, it's mildly bearable in the first run through, but sucks on repeats, and that's been a real problem with most of the REvival games, where the first playthrough is prioritized, and each playthrough afterwords is diminished due to long set pieces that drag ass (like RE7 intro and 8's village raid and House Beneviento).

I've dragged the game hard in this review, but I do wanna say that I do really enjoy most of this game and respect the work put into it, but there's just too many things keeping me from loving it like I wanted to when I saw that reveal trailer at E3 2018, which is a damn shame.

I feel no hesitation when I say that Disco Elysium has the best written narrative of any game I've played, and that it is probably one of my top 10 favorite games of 2010s.

I didn't know what to expect when I picked up Disco Elysium basically on a whim one day. I only knew it was a CRPG (a genre that I have only dabbled in a few times here and there) and that it was very well liked, and that it even snagged a few awards. What I didn't expect was to laugh hysterically as my hardcore superstar cop protagonist busted a move in an abandoned-church-turned-night-club and became the God of Dance. I didn't expect to feel my guts churn when I dialed a familiar number subconsciously on a payphone near an abandoned pier, just to hear a tired voice respond. I didn't expect to cry because of a stick-bug. I didn't expect to relate to this as much as did, but as someone who used to love to self-sabotage and to self-destruct, it hit so close to home it shattered my window.

And this is all takes place in a world hanging on by threads. Tensions are high in Revachol, a place with a torn apart by a revolutionary war, followed by an occupation headed by a foreign coalition of nations, decades worth of generational trauma, inequality and unsettled scores. Martinese, a district in Revachol, is home to numerous folks from all walks of life. Be they Union Men with a distaste for the police, young leftists who are well versed in Communist Theory but do little in the way of praxis and old hardliners, stuck in the past with no vision of a future, bitter at the current world. You have centrists who assume this is merely the natural order of things and doing little to better anything beyond minor issues, and capitalist profiteers with hired fascist goons whom they use to enact their will.

The game is basically a big ♥♥♥♥ you to the "Get politics out of muh video games" (aka "Get YOUR politics out of my video games) types that have been cropping up. It's a game where one has to engage with many sorts of people, many sorts of outlooks, and many sorts of ideologies. The game is certainly left leaning (ZA/UM thanked Marx at The Game Awards, a person who I'm told lives in gamers™ rent free, seeing as he nationalized it), it has much to say (and critique) about all of them. And man, it's just refreshing to see a game be this direct when discussing politics. It doesn't feel the need to obfuscate them with allegory or allusions to be more palatable for the audience, so thumbs up for that.

But while it's great that Disco Elysium engages in politics with nuance and doesn't treat the audience like a toddler, all the while espousing takes colder than frozen gazpacho (looking at you, Detroit: Become Human), I personally found it's dive into the personal introspection things to be of more interest.

See, there's a palpable humanness to this game. It's messy, chaotic and conflicted, just like your amnesiac detective, but through all the critique and cynicism, there is empathy, understanding, and catharsis. Qualities that many games often lack. Hell, they often seem lacking in the real world, but it is there if you look.

While Disco Elysium might ask "What kind of cop are you?", it is really asking "What kind of PERSON are you?" This question has been asked in many games before this one, there are no delusions of grandeur (aside from your characters own actually delusions of grandeur, but they are just that, delusions), you can't fix everything, no single person alone can. The world won't snap into place just because you're there, that just ain't reality. The idea of "special individuals" who define history is thoroughly mocked.

Instead, Disco Elysium offers you something else. You can't change the world alone, but you can always change and better yourself, even when you've fallen into the darkest pits of the self. If you can reckon with the past, you can move forward. And If more folks did that, the world itself could very much change.

And I think that's worth a lot...

When I first played Cruelty Squad, I was pretty sure that it would fit into that odd little category of "W H A T" games, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Kenji Eno's D2 and Goichi Suda's Killer7. Games that defy standard conventions and are basically impossible to narrow down into just one or two genre labels. Basically stuff that's like, really out there, dude...

And on the surface, yes, Cruelty Squad is certainly "out there", with it's visual aesthetic being intentionally garish and a-typical, but underneath this neon pink and green skin sits a clean cut immersive sim, and a really good one at that. The game is very segmented. Each mission being it's own separate level with the goal of each basically being "Find and eliminate the target(s) and escape" (think Hitman), but the game really leaves you to your own devices. It allows you to really EMERGENT your GAMEPLAY as much as possible within these large, open levels. This corporatist hellscape is your oyster, and repeated playthroughs are encouraged through the scattering of secrets and new navigational paths that can be unlocked through new upgrades one can purchase after completing levels.

I think there are a fair few people out there that were put off by the game largely in-part due to the purposefully grotesque visuals, offbeat UI design, and some of the more odd design choices in-regards to the controls. For instance, you have to hold the right mouse button and drag your mouse down in order to reload, rather than pressing a singular button like a good 99% of shooters, with the exception of another immersive sim classic, System Shock, which I believe this game shares a lot of DNA with, probably more than any other immersive sim (save for it's more Deus Ex-inspired, multi-pathed level design structure). Which is a shame, because once one gets past these small quirks, the game is as fluid as any of the classics, at least in my humble opinion.

There are folks who have deconstructed the gameplay beats and overall message of Cruelty Squad better than I ever could, like Super Bunnyhop and Leadhead, but I'd just say that if you are looking for a surprisingly competent game with a fair amount of variety and replay value with a subversive edge, give Cruelty Squad a go. The game has an "Overwhelmingly Positive" score on Steam for reasons beyond just a mass collective troll ♥♥♥♥♥ and giggles.

DISCLAIMER: I'm one of those weirdos that actually owned a Wii U and played this game, so while my hours are low with this port, I have played through this entry before. I will be talking more about the game itself, though I will touch on my experience so far with the port.

The Fatal Frame franchise is, in my opinion, probably the most interesting member of Survival Horror's "Big(ish) Three", which include this series (as stated), Silent Hill and Resident Evil. It's never achieved the popularity of either, but no other horror gaming franchise has filled the "third place" of AA / AAA horror mainstays like Fatal Frame has continued to do for 20 years now. Though it's had to drag itself to this point seeing as this latest entry is in fact 7 years old at this point, but to be fair, considering number of people who actually played Maiden of Black Water when it was a Wii U exclusive can be counted on one hand, it might as well be new. And hey, with this remaster, Fatal Frame is technically more alive than Silent Hill has been, which is a pretty crazy accomplishment for a quasi-niche series like this.

I was admittedly a bit surprised to see this game somehow get out of the Nintendo gulag, seeing as they've been publishing these games since 2008's Mask of the Lunar Eclipse. However, unlike Fatal Frame IV, Maiden of Black Water (and the Fatal Frame 2 Remake) were only published by Nintendo, rather than co-developed, so I guess retrieving the publishing rights back from Nintendo as to release the game on multiple different systems instead of leaving it to languish on Nintendo's unsuccessful middle child was probably an arduous task, but clearly (and thankfully) not impossible.

So, as someone who has played all the mainline Fatal Frame games, my opinion on Maiden of the Black Water is that it's pretty decent. It's far from being the best in the series, it has some really odd story choices (The creepy incest subplot involving Miku that retroactively destroys her character growth in Fatal Frame 3) and the obvious padding can sour the experience, but overall game is a pretty fun, spooky romp. It's basically a classic, middle-ware survival horror game, and those just don't really exist anymore, and really haven't since the 7th gen (and they were mainly relegated to the Wii, much like Fatal Frame itself) . There is a pretty large rift in the horror market these days, with either multi-bajillion dollar giant franchises or smaller indie games really representing the genre, so seeing a game like this come out when it did and even now is admittedly refreshing, even if the game has some rough edges.

What really made Maiden of Black Water stand out was it's really neat use of the Wii U gamepad, which I loved but some people hated (but they're wrong and stupid). Luckily for some, you can now play the game using a standard controller which is way less fun, but hey, to each their own. I don't know if this PC port supports the dualshock 4's gyro seeing as I always use an Xbox One controller, but if it does, that'd be neat. But I do know what the game for sure doesn't support! Mouse and keyboard! Which ties into the whole port thing...

As of writing, this port is kinda wonky. As you can see, a lot of folks are complaining about the numerous glitches and the really annoying choice of tying the game's framerate to your monitor's refresh rate. It's pretty not great honestly, and when you throw on a lack of mouse and keyboard support, it kinda leaves a bad taste in your mouth. That being said, KoeiTecmo have said they are going to patch it, which admittedly doesn't excuse the poor release, but at least something is being done.

There is one inclusion that was added that I really enjoyed in my short time with this port, and that's the ironically brand new photo mode! ♥♥♥♥'s great, and as you fight more monsters and find new characters, you get to add them into your dumb photos! It's such a simple inclusion that actually adds a lot of fun to the game, especially when you toss in the new costumes.

Overall, Fatal Frame Maiden of Black Water is a pretty wonky entry into the series, and this port itself is even wonkier, but there is a lot to love here, both if you enjoy the Fatal Frame series or if you are a newcomer. I do admittedly hope this game does indeed do well, or at least well enough to get more Fatal Frame games in the future. But even if it doesn't, at least more people will get a chance to play an entry in a beloved survival horror franchise that many weren't able too for years, and it might even get some new fans too, who knows!?

Fatal Frame Maiden of Black Water ain't perfect, but then again, what is?

Also, thank ya' again for the gift, Stone!

EDIT: They fixed the FPS issue! Now my ♥♥♥♥♥♥ PC can run the game without it going into slow-mo!

I'm really tired of steam not giving us a neutral option...

Resident Evil 5 is kinda "eh". It's not terrible, but it certainly isn't anything memorable. In many ways it's just a retread of Resident Evil 4, but with less atmosphere, colorful characters, and most importantly charm. And while game certainly has some genuinely fun moments, they tend to be pretty sparse, and are mainly present in the game's last couple of hours which also features the game's one series highlight, Matrix Albert Wesker, played wonderfully by D.C. Douglas.

If it weren't for the co-op, I would give this game a negative review, as it can be a real slog, but as a co-op experience, it's decent. Playing with pals and just goofing around really softens the blow and puts it just above the passing line, but only barely.

Sometimes I really wish there were a neutral option...

It's hard to gauge my feelings on Yakuza Kiwami. On one hand, I think it's a remake that does well to expand on the original's wonky, often-stilted ground work (that would massively be improved it's sequel in less than a year), and adds depth to the plot were admittedly, it was lacking. It doesn't outright change anything, but it expands the story in ways that I often consider more beneficial.

Yet on the other hand it basically lives in the shadow of the games it borrows heavily from, many of the bosses move sets are outright yoinked from other Yakuza games, and while side quests are a bit better handled than the original, they lack any real depth or polish that we see in the later games (which is more of a problem with the source material, but the new stuff ain't all that memorable either), and I honestly believe the Majima Everywhere system is just flat-out annoying and really only serves to flanderize Majima, which became a real trend after 0. PC folks and those who have only played 0 and the Kiwami remakes/haven't played the originals or have progressed past Yakuza (Kiwami) 2 love the FUNNY MEME MAN Majima is in these are gonna be a bit disappointed when they play the latter games in the series and realize he's way more of a simple side character that occasionally engages in semi-psychotic antics rather than full-blown MEME-ery every few seconds.

I don't really mind the combat being lifted from Yakuza 0 however, as Yakuza 0 shares a lot of threads with the original Yakuza more than any other game, though, once again, the Majima Everywhere system gets in the way by being reliant on RNG and also being tied to Kiryu's 4th style, the Dragon Style. So while I don't mind that it lifts the combat, it's implementation is lacking.

Having the original Japanese dubbing is a plus though. As the English dubbing, while not completely awful (it does have some talent behind it), reeks of mid-2000s edge and that really doesn't match the tone of the source material. It's one of the things that really holds back the original Yakuza's presentation (at least here in the west) and really distanced it from it's sequels (they were all in their original language with subs). I'm not one of those folks who hates dubs (Yakuza Like a Dragon and Judgement have fantastic dubs) but seeing the original dub back is a welcome, uh... sight... for my ears.

Overall, Yakuza Kiwami is a flawed remake of an even more flawed game. I would still recommend this version of Yakuza over the original PS2 game, but it's a weaker game in the series overall that has a few new blemishes and tonal clashes (the Majima stuff) that weren't there in the original. Still, it's largely better as a package than the original ever really was.

It's a weaker Yakuza game, but still, a weaker Yakuza game is better than a lot of other stuff that hits the market nowadays.