Yakuza 3 might have been a long time coming, this game is going to be release later this month, but it’s another great PS3 swansong. And it’s easy to see why Sega took its time bringing the game to Europe. On the one hand it’s a very good beat-em-up packed with cool gangsters, the sort of stuff which translates easily but on the other it’s basically an upperclass Japanese lifestyle simulator, which is understandably a much harder sell. You play, Kiryu Kauma, who spends his life alternately brutalizing thugs and dosing around swanky Japanese towns. This is a set against a relentlessly paced mob story that sees our man – the former head of the Tojo clan, now retired called upon a crisis hits his old gang.

The plot is tangled and the telling takes its time – there are literally hours of cutscenes here. Still, at least the translation is subtitled, rather than the godawful sub-American soap dubbing Sega used in the previous Yakuza. And the really good news is the upshot of all the HBO-style intrigue is fighting, Loads and loads of fighting. Your Yakuza can use a huge number of weapons and has some of the most brutal finishers you will see outside of Manhunt.

The basics seem limited initially, but that’s because the early enemies struggle to give the system a proper work-out. By halfway your foes became smarter and tougher, and real strategy comes into play. Kiryu can be leveled up almost constantly, which rather than simply boosting stats opens up new moves and styles: by the time you are drop-kicking thugs to the floor and following up with a crack to the face, the combat has completely transformed from cumbersome to Chuck Norris.
[via Gamespot]