Yakuza 3 Critic Reviews

Let me reiterate: this is a fantastic game, with so much fun to throw your way you'd think you were playing wide receiver with Santa Claus as QB.

Yakuza 3 is workmanlike and archaic in many ways, barely taxing the graphical horsepower of the PlayStation 3, but it's also unique. Most games make the big city a playground for the absurd. Yakuza 3 is only as absurd as an actual big city.

Its old-school design may turn some people off, but the more open-minded among you are in for one hell of a ride. Besides, any game that can make running an orphanage seem fun has got to be doing something very right.

No other Japanese PS3 game to date provides quite such a vivid game-world in which to play.

An impressively huge game.

A deep, involving, endearing adventure with heart. And ?sts.

Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 (Yakuza 3) is that place where games and films make sweet music together. Stick around for the climax to this outstanding cinematic adventure and you'll go away with a big smile.

Whether shockingly real or fiercely dramatized, the experiences of Yakuza 3 are wholly Japanese, completely riveting, and absolutely worth the price of admission.

Yakuza 3 combines visual splendour with superb sound design to create an unparalleled atmosphere.

If you're in the market for a sandbox game that's more RPG than GTA, but still want just a smidge of that GTA craziness, Yakuza 3 would be a great a choice, long as you can handle the slow beginning.

A smart crime caper with incredible variety and slick fighting mechanics.

Those who can look past such things and embrace Yakuza's very Japanese brand of oddity will find a game to make them laugh, make them cry.

As an action game it holds up very well, as an RPG it will keep the average quest junkie enthralled, and as a fishing/karoke/arcade sim, it also manages to tick each of those apparently mutually exclusive boxes with a defiant stroke. As a whole, and, more importantly, as a game, it works.

It's tons of fun to play whether you're working to actively advance the story or just spending a few hours goofing off and running errands for others.

Yakuza 3, in short, is worth every penny. It contains a compelling story, intense beat-em-up action and more fun than most games dream of providing.

Yakuza 3 is an astounding success in bringing the Japanese culture over in a great package of emotions and raw combat.

If its "only English" status is not a problem and you like Japanese culture, Yakuza 3 becomes a must-buy for a PlayStation 3 owner.

If you can get over the fact that there was quite a bit of content removed from the North American version of the game, you'll find that Yakuza 3 is a very high-quality title.

While I hesitate to call Yakuza 3 a sandbox game, it certainly provides you with an open game where you can participate in a huge number of minigames and side quests. It also offers a fairly lengthy and intriguing main storyline.

North American gamers are getting a more streamlined game, however, as key features in the Japanese version have been cut for fear that Western audiences wouldn't understand them. Still, the core of the game is here, and even with some of the extras missing, there's more than enough content for would-be Japanese mobsters to sink their teeth into.