Yakuza 6: The Song of Life - Essence of Art Edition - PlayStation 4

If you're a fan of open-world action games, then Yakuza 6: The Song of Life is a title you won't want to miss. This latest installment in the Yakuza series takes players on a thrilling journey through the underworld of Japan, complete with stunning visuals, engaging gameplay, and an immersive storyline that will keep you hooked from beginning to end.The "Essence of Art" edition of Yakuza 6 comes with a beautiful art book that showcases the game's stunning character designs, environments, and concept art. The book is a great addition to the game and gives players a deeper appreciation for the artistry and detail that went into its creation.As for the game itself, Yakuza 6 boasts a compelling story that follows the journey of series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu as he navigates the treacherous world of organized crime in modern-day Japan. Along the way, you'll engage in pulse-pounding battles, explore a detailed open-world environment, and interact with a cast of memorable characters that bring the game's world to life.One of the standout features of Yakuza 6 is its attention to detail. From the bustling streets of Tokyo to the smallest details of character animations, the game is filled with tiny touches that make the world feel alive and vibrant.Overall, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life - Essence of Art Edition is a must-play title for fans of the series and newcomers alike. With its engaging story, stunning visuals, and immersive gameplay, it's a journey through the underworld of Japan that you won't soon forget.

The booklet/case inside is high quality but the outside sleeve is just normal cardboard. Glossy and nice quality but not durable, BUT this was packaged excellently with bubble wrap so the product was in perfect condition which you can't say about all of these kinds of things on here.The game itself is just excellent. Haven't finished it yet but already put in a lot of hours just exploring and doing side quests. So much wackiness but also a really serious and engaging main storyline. As my first Yakuza game this has easily convinced me to pick up more from the series.

I initially bought this version of the game because it was cheaper than the standard version. The art book itself is a love letter to the series any any fan will appreciate it.As for the game itself, Yakuza 6 is a worthy “swan song” for Kiryu. The recent decision to bring him back undermines the finale a bit but it’s a satisfying game all the same. Combat and graphics are the best in the series to that point. If you liked Kiwami 2, you’ll like this.

The game started with an a full 60 min long cutscene, broken only by a single, short, combat tutorial.Yup, story of the rest of the game.This was my first foray into the Yakuza series and the starting 60 minute cutscene nearly lost me. If anyone else intends to play this series, it looks like long cutscenes where mutually frowny and scowly dudes stare at eachother and speak slowly in menacing ways is par for course.The game good, but not great. some parts were very grindy, literally composed of "Go to your apartment, sleep, go to the bar, cutscene, go back to your apartment, cutscene, go back to bar, cutscene." Normally it's not super obvious (most games are composed of heading to some location for the next story), but there was one segment where this back and forth happened several times in a row in short sequence, so it really jumped out at how ridiculous it got. Other parts are hilarious and incredibly fun to watch, if only to have this super seriously, Dragon of Dojima ultra cool badass character dress up in ridiculous mascot outfit and saying hilariously out of character dialog.the story is...interesting - i find it to be overly dramatic, and made me feel like the game was trying way too hard. THAT SAID, sounds like this is another par-for-the-course for this series (I'm playing Yakuza 0 right now, and it's also like this). Maybe it's because this is the world of Yakuza, obviously something i'm never going to "relate to", but it's really hard to take any of the drama seriously. Spent a lot of time facepalming (but in a fond way?). The characters aren't bad either, but again I can't really relate to any of them (I find the female characters utterly illogical, and the male characters, due to perhaps being yakuza, also illogically angry lol), so when good or bad things happen to the characters, I had a hard time really caring that much.Where the game really shines are the "sidequests" and the minigames. Not all of the sidequests are that great, and most of them composed of talking to an npc, hear their woes or whatever, do something for them, watch another cutscene. It's actually pretty standard/dry/boring if not for the fact that many of the sidequests are just utterly hilarious. As said before, there was one sidequest where your ultra serious, hardcore main character had to wear a ridiculous mascot outfit to entertain children. there's another where Kiryuu, ultra manly protagonist, gets the kabedon treatment from a drag queen. There were some absolutely hilarious minigames as well, like the chatroom where Kiryu types with his index fingers trying to have a sexy livechat with girls. Altogether, utterly ridiculous, but also utterly charming.Unfortunately not all of the minigames are that interesting - the street gang thing was rather boring for me, but i think it's meant to take a huge chunk of the player's time (Y6 is relatively short, but from the list of trophies just for this minigame, i can tell the developers hoped that i would sink hours into it). The baseball stuff was the same. The cabaret/hostess club side stuff were also only soso. I'm not very fond of games using these kinds of tactics to pad play them, but at 27hrs or so just doing the main story and some random extras, it's not too bad.combat system is okay - i don't love it, but also don't hate it. some parts are fun, like picking up stuff and bashing people's heads in, but it gets rather repetitive. i think it may also be that i just wasn't trying too hard to learn all the tricks, but I don't find the combat system very reactive, so i tend to just stick with tried and true methods just to get the fights over quickly. when all you have to do is pick up a bench and swing it around...I liked the game overall, enough to make me buy Y0, but I think I'm gonna stop at Y0. So far, these games are incredibly similar, to the point where having played one, i feel like i've already played them all. Good games, incredibly quirky, worth trying one or two of them, but not a series that i'm going to really invest in, i think (unless my friend talks me into them anyway).

I wouldn't recommend this as a first entry in the series but if you followed the Kiryu and friends up to this point I think you owe it to yourself to finish things up for the last game where he is the playable character. The art and book it comes in is high quality, especially for the price. A nice gift to anyone who's a longtime fan. The game itself is good, while not my favorite in the series it's high on the list and feels familiar while also adjusting and reinventing certain aspects like all yakuza games do. Shipped and arrived fast too so there were no worries there. All around a good buy and a good game, hope you or a loved one enjoy.

The Yakuza franchise is one of the best series' I've played. This is the final Kazama Kiyru game and unlike 4 and 5, you play as him the entire game. If you are interested in playing this series, go in this order... Yakuza 0, Yakuza Kiwani, Yakuza Kiwani 2, and then 3 through 6. Combines final fight like battles with rpg elements, and so many side quests and mini games, classic Sega arcade games and more.