If you manage to SURVIVE the oh-my-God-this-game-goes-nowhere-initial chapters you'll find a rich, deep and engaging story, with many special characteristics that make this franchise so unique. People tend to compare Yakuza to GTA - and that's a HUGE mistake. If I had to compare, I'd say it resembles Shenmue. This is not a sandbox game, where you can roam freely, doing whatever you feel like. There's a very linear structure of chapters and events with some sidequests in the middle. And a LOT of brawling. It's all about values, family and doing what it feels right. Great game, hidden gem.… Expand

I am only about 2-3 hours into the game, but so far it is quite good but im getting bored of re taking shots on the golf course lol, there is a lot of text to read and loads of cut-scenes but i cant help think i would give my right arm for sega to make shenmue 3.
I mean all the crap sonic games that keep coming out, bayonetta although it was quite good but i was ****** off with gamestation stealing my pre-order gun, and all the other **** arcade games they keep releasing like crazy taxi and sonic adventure 1 (we all know that SA2 was the best) but please sega pull your finger out other wise ryo hazuki will have died before he can get the dragon seal back 0.o… Expand

I enjoyed this game very much, despite of its outdated graphic. The combat is really fun, thanks to the simplicity. The storyline of the game is interesting, and has a lot of humour. The revelations made me LOL all the times. It is not those dark story, but more like macho japanese man story. I liked it and I will play the up coming titles for the series. =)

A dream come true for any Japanophile and quite a proficient sandbox game featuring an intriguing story and the most charismatic cast of characters ever. The game dares to be different and apart from cut content, plenty of invisible walls, and repetitive random encounters, succeeds at that. Not perfect but loads of fun just the same.

An enjoyable game that just drags on a litttttle too long. If not for the tedious cut scenes that seem to never end and the repetitive fighting mechanics this game could have been a lot more. Still, overall this game is definitely worth a play.

At times I miss last gen's games, and this game reminds me of the PS2 era. While some may see it it as an insult, I say it as a compliment. The game is the third in the Yakuza series, and while I'v never played any previous title, I thoroughly enjoyed Yakuza 3. The game has recap videos that summarize the last two games nicely, and help you understand it's story. As a former Yakuza, Kiryu Kazuma is trying to escape his criminal life by building an orphange(he is an orphange as well) and living a peaceful life. At times the story can be very interesting and tense while it can also be obtuse and over the top. Not looking at the story, you can enjoy a really good beat-em-up with a ton of brawls with other yakuzas and street gangs. There are many bosses, and some of them can be really difficult. The game is very fun and flows really well. There are many sidequests, which are varied and unique enough to encourage you to complete more of them. The game is lengthy and fun and It has a "last gen" feel to it and I think it deserves more attention. give it a chance.… Expand

Who would've thought being a message boy could be so fun? I didn't expect much from this game, but I have to say it held his own pretty well. The combat is intense and visceral, it may be clunky at first, but once you aquire more skills and moves it gets the depth you were waiting for. Never since the day of the final fight/double dragon era has a beat em up game given me such fun. The game starts incredibly slow, and in the first hours you just ache for something interesting to happen, story feels boring and cheesy, combat is lacking, and you can only wonder why do such banal sidemissions exist? (teaching a dog tricks? making banana juice? do shopping?). But before you know it, yakuza gets it's claws on you, you develop an addiction to finish sidequests, just for the sake of seing what will happen next; characters become charming and likable; story becomes interesting (although it remains cheesy); and the combat becomes the most rewarding skull bashing parade I've seen in years (with some minor annoyances). It has many rough edges, and many will hate it, but I can almost say that if you can get past the first few hours you won't be able to leave it before finishing it.… Expand

this game is a masterpiece there are tonnes of things to do and the Yakuza series is reborn on the PlayStation 3™ and all our favorite characters are back including Kiryu,Majima,Daigo etc. along with some new awesome characters with an amazing storyline as usual great graphics and gameplay boy this game made my day! MUST BUY!

I gave Yakuza 3 a 7. It's a patchwork combination of clunky gameplay and an awe inspiring attention to detail with it's environments. It has both touching emotional moments with genuinely likeable characters, and over the top campy camaraderie that suits this uniquely Japanese adventure.
Yakuza 3 most certainly comes across as labour of love, and despite the shortcomings that tend to come hand in hand with an ambitious open-world natured title as this, it brings a great deal of fun and variety to the table.
I feel as though the engine is somewhat holding back the ambitious vision the games creators had, and the vast array of mini games and fun gimmicks that we're given to enjoy come across as a 'jack of all trades, master of none' in that - there is a lot of content for us to dip into, but none of it meets a standard we would expect in other games. It's understandable however, because no other game sees you enjoying karaoke, playing a round of golf, escorting a young girl to various ice cream parlous and fighting street thugs amongst the streets of an almost surreal depiction of real life Kabukicho (or Kamurocho as the game would have you call it).
Yakuza 3 essentially offers a fun adventure and a promise of great things to come for the Yakuza franchise… Expand

I have not played the full release of this game. I have only played the demo. But I actually took the initiative to sign up on Metacritic and post this review based on the demo. I was completely turned of by the text box dialog, with having to press X to continue. What makes it even worse is it is interlaced in typical cut scenes that have Japanese dialog and English subtitles. Then it changes to a box, with no audio cept that of a typing out as it prints out the text. Then it migrates back to cut scenes. Was completely turned off by that. The fighting felt natural and solid.… Expand

This game is the defination of **** gameplay sucks. Seriously a total waste of time and money.
The only thing a bit good about this game is the combat but only a bit. I even found the story lame.

When i picked up Yakuza, I did so due to my interest for the culture, the dramatic pronounciation of the language and facial expression and the adventure that came in the background. The characters are lovable even the children and villians have perfect dept and history. The main protagonist has charm and presence on screen however for the free roaming areas of the map, they could have made it more accessible than the 4 streets and 2 side roads per location, surely in this day and age, recreating TOKYO in a game can't be that hard especially when TAKE2 recreated NEW YORK. The gameplay and fighting was solid, especially the brawls, I loved that completedly and couldn't wait to bump into people who wanted to beat my character up just to reverse the roles. The Story was addictive and a perfect length, well acted out with brilliant animation. Picking up new weapans is also a blast. I bought this for less than £20 from Play.com "Its like STREETS OF RAGE in 3D."… Expand

best game ever best story awesome combat a lot of stuff to do its so japanese that even japanese people say damn that game is japanese an all around fun game that I believe everyone should experience

Yakuza 3 is a highly underrated game which was overshadowed on release by the bad press it received for not including all of the side quests of the Japanese version. (Most notably, the ability to visit hostess clubs was removed.)

Nevertheless, Yakuza 3 is well worth your time, especially if you are into Japanese culture and/or enjoy games with detailed story lines.

Some will complain about the lengthy cut-scenes, but I think this is a bit overblown. The game always gives you an opportunity to save before showing you a long cut-scene, plus the scenes themselves are skip-able, and you can also re-watch them from the menu. So there's a good deal of flexibility there. Even without the removed content, Yakuza 3 has upwards of 50 hours of content to enjoy. If you're only interested in finishing the story, this takes about 20 hours.… Expand

For someone who loves Japanese culture and wants to experience living there, this game is definitely a must have. Of course there are lots of absurd and unrealistic situations but it's all fun. Gameplay is similar to previous titles but loading is faster in the PS3 so the game is more enjoyable. Fight mechanics are good, mini-games great. People like to compare this with GTA because of the free roaming atmosphere but this game is more like Shenmue (also from SEGA).… Expand

Thoroughly enjoying my time playing this game. Having never played the previous two Yakuza titles, It was the PSN demo that persuaded me to give Yakuza 3 a chance. I'm really glad I did because it has been surprisingly addictive. This game has great atmosphere and is very cinematic. I love the combat, the storyline, the weird and wonderful characters, the cut scenes, sub quests and mini games. Superb value for money.… Expand

Most of the negative comments for this game seem to be from people who A) Are too used to be shovel-fed the usual tripe from EA and Ubi, or B) Way too used to playing the latest Call of Duty or Battlefield clone. Just play the game for your own sake and don't let the reviewers skew your opinion; this game (really, the whole series) is a rarity in gaming.