Ranking the Yakuza Series: ‘Yakuza 3’

by Flora Merigold · Published March 19, 2021 · Updated March 19, 2021

Yakuza 3 kind of sucks. Or, at least, it’s easily the weakest entry in the series. To be clear, Yakuza 3 is a perfectly competent video game. But when stacked against the giants of Yakuza 0, Kiwami, and Kiwami 2, all of which we have covered here at Epilogue, Yakuza 3 holds no candle to its predecessors. Part of why I think Yakuza 3 is so obviously inferior as a game is due to its moorish setting. Unlike the earlier games, Yakuza 3 takes place at an orphanage in Okinawa. While it’s admittedly adorable that Kiryu has set up and run a safe environment for children that are growing up the way he did, the opening several hours are tedious and, frankly, boring. Kiryu’s interactions are almost entirely fetch-quests at first, with no combat to speak of. For a series that is partially defined by its action combat, it took more than half of the game’s total runtime for me to face any serious test of Kiryu’s skills.

Another reason Yakuza 3 is such a weak entry in the franchise is the narrative pacing, which is all over the place. The opening orphanage section takes far too long to develop; by the time Kiryu makes his way back to the mainland, I had already spent more hours than I’d have liked with this game. With Kiryu back in Tokyo, combat finally returns to the game’s focus and the story’s pacing evens out at last. That being said, the downgrade in combat is jarring throughout Yakuza 3. With only one playable character and a limited set of moves, every fight feels stiff and clunky. Perhaps I can’t help but view Yakuza 3‘s combat critically due to how I played this entire series back-to-back in a few short months, but these gameplay limitations don’t cohere with the rest of what the series has to offer. Given the game’s initial abandonment of the combat, I felt like I hadn’t truly unlocked all of the skills I would have wanted Kiryu to have by the endgame.

What Yakuza 3 gets right, however, redeems some of these faults. The relationship that Kiryu establishes with the orphans, Haruka in particular, can be touching at times. Some of the story beats involving the yakuza clans on the mainland are thematically compelling and feel right at home with how the previous games in the series told their stories. There are even some silly gags that, despite my reluctance to spend time in Okinawa, cracked a smile on my face. Yakuza 3 has a clear vision that it mostly delivers on, but I’d argue that the remastered collection doesn’t quite redeem this title. It would instead be ideal to one day see Yakuza 3 get the Kiwami treatment.

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Fun

Is the Game Fun?

So much of the early game in Yakuza 3 is tedious and feels divorced from what I loved about its predecessors. The combat never quite has the satisfying feel of those games, either.

Performance

Does the Game Perform Well?

The remastered collection runs at a consistent 30 frames per second on the Playstation 4. While it might not hit the same graphical heights of the titles that can run on PC, Yakuza 3 did a remarkable job of never making me question its performance.

Art

Does the Game Have a Fitting Art Style?

Again, this score probably suffers because I am stacking this entry against the graphical giants of the early Yakuza games, but the character models and cities just feel underbaked in Yakuza 3. Certain character animations and clothing choices grind up against the tone of earlier games. But I will admit that Kiryu rocks his Hawaiian dad shirt, at least.

Story

Does the Game Have a Unique Story or Premise?

I respect what the developers were going for with the orphanage plot line, which I think makes Kiryu’s reluctant return to the Tojo clan that much more compelling. Yakuza 3’s story could have been split apart or turned into a spin-off, which, all things considered, I think would have been the stronger option.

Lasting Power

Does the Game Have Replayability or Lasting Power?

Unlike its peers in the Yakuza series, I have no intention to ever revisit this game. Yakuza 3 is the weakest link in the chain, one that I would generally prefer to forget about when there are so many better games in the series.

Verdict

In terms of gameplay, graphics, and storytelling, Yakuza 3 is the least compelling game in the series. Unless you are a die-hard Yakuza fan who feels the need to be comprehensive with these games, I would recommend skipping Yakuza 3 entirely.