Spent a good portion of the night playing this, got a great deal on GOG.com , but it ends tonight. Specifically, the Yakuza collection was going for $30, instead of $130, so I bit.
At first, I thought the game was like sleeping dogs, but it really isn't/ That's why I'm not sure if I like it or not. It feels a bit "On Rails". While it says it's Japan in 1988, it might as well be hallway simulator. Granted, I'm only on Chapter 2.
I do like the plot, even if some of it feels foreign to me. It is Japanese after all. I absolutely failed the karaoke challenge. The game implores you to use a gamepad, and mine has been in storage for about a decade so... That's an issue. Mouse and keyboard certainly feel wrong, I found the QTE's and suddenly facing the wrong direction extremely frustrating.
Back to the plot, it feels like The Sopranos through a Japanese lens. I was fully with it in Chapter 1, but Chapter 2 is truly strange. You are taken off the street by a real estate developer, and he has your clothes laundered while you shower at his home.
You then decline his employment offer and find yourself back on the street. You are then accosted by "Mr. Shakedown". You're supposed to fight Mr. Shakedown, but I suck and he took all my money.
So I closed out of the game and went to bed.
I really hope I can "get good" and enjoy the title more. I absolutely loved Sleeping Dogs, and so far, this feels lesser. Which is interesting, because when I was playing Sleeping Dogs, it felt like a lesser GTA title. I was wrong there, the game merely focused on martial arts over guns, and had a truly rich story of revenge. I might say Sleeping Dogs is my favorite Xbox 360 title.
