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Two Yakuza games within eight months? Maybe 2017 isn't so bad after all. Kiwami isn't a new game, however, but a remake - a sweeping visual overhaul of the 2005 original, with a number of systemic and narrative tweaks besides, bringing it more in line with this year's 80s-set prequel Yakuza 0. But while Zero explored the lavish excesses of Japan's bubble economy, it's Kiwami that suggests you can have too much of a good thing: in many ways the remake's greatest asset might also be its biggest problem.It's a change that makes a lot of sense at first. Goro Majima has always one of the series' most memorable characters, and his elevation to a starring role alongside series stalwart Kazuma Kiryu in Zero was long overdue. He rather stole the show from his popular rival, in fact, and so it's no surprise that Sega has decided his cameo in the original game should be significantly expanded.
This manifests in the form of the Majima Everywhere system, which sees him strolling around Kamurocho, constantly spoiling for a fight - specifically with Kiryu. Majima typically frames it as if he's doing Kiryu a favour: the latter's ten-year stretch in prison during the game's opening act has left him a little rusty, and these scraps are designed to help him get back up to speed. Kiryu's three fighting styles from Zero - the dash-heavy Rush, the slow but powerful Beast and the more balanced Brawler - can be developed by spending XP. The fourth, Dragon of Dojima, can only reach its full potential if you keep facing this crackpot with the eyepatch and the snakeskin jacket.
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