13. Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. The ultimate best PS4 exclusives
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What's that about? Between karaoke sessions and fishing, Kiryu Kazuma fights his way through the armies of Japanese criminals.
The Yakuza series is somewhat recognizable in the West for a few years now, which is still long overdue. Thanks to the fact that Europeans and Americans finally began to show more interest in the adventures of the Dojima Dragon, Sega even decided to move part of the series onto PCs. A "part" does not mean "all of it" – PlayStation 4 owners are still the only ones who can get acquainted with the final chapter of Kazuma's adventures, entitled The Song of life.
Yakuza 6 strongly resembles its predecessors and is just as much different from any other game. It is an action-adventure game set in a small open world that consists of the iconic fictional Tokyo district called Kamurocho and the small fishing town of Onomichi. The game consists mainly of street fights with the use of an extensive (though not as much as in Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami) combat system derived from brawlers.
Inbetween combat sections, players indulge in dozens of optional minigames - from karaoke, through managing a baseball club, to fishing (while diving and shooting them at close range with harpoons). You can even play the full version of Virtua Fighter 5 in one of the arcade halls.
The greatest strength of The Song of Life is above all a great representation of modern Japan – the atmosphere of the Land of the Rising Sun is pouring out of the screen, and if you can not afford a ticket to the other end of the world, this is probably the best possible substitute to check what this country looks like today. The plot, which requires a tolerance for some slightly exaggerated ideas of the writers, but in fact is a juicy crime story full of secrets, action, sacrifice in the name of honor, friendship, and family ties, is also fascinating.
