Let me go to Hawaii: the entire batch of "GTA killers" has been sold out in Russia
The video game Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was brought to Russia at the same time as the rest of the world on February 21, but it soon became clear that retailers had underestimated demand. All the discs were sold out, and the leftovers can now only be found in relatively small stores.Experts attributed the hype to the fact that users are tired of GTA 5, the sixth part will appear at best at the end of the year, and there are no large-scale imitators on the horizon. Izvestia reviewed the PS5 version and compared it with the cult GTA crime saga from Rockstar Games.
What is Like a Dragon
The series of video games about criminal Japan Like a Dragon celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year — the first part of the franchise was released in 2005 under the name Yakuza. For many years, the project line was associated with this name, but after the success of the eighth part of the main series, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, it was decided to change the name. The authors wanted to get away from the negative connotations that the word "yakuza" evokes among American and European gamers, because it refers to the Japanese mafia, known for its brutality and harsh rules.
Screenshot from the game Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
On February 21, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii became available in Russia and the world — another offshoot that ranks alongside the hits of 2023: Like a Dragon: Ishin and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name. An unusual decision of the authors was the choice of the main character — Goro Madzima. This character appeared in many games in the series and was even a playable character in Yakuza 0 and Yakuza: Dead Souls, but he got the central role for the first time in 20 years.
For Russians, Like a Dragon has become a product that can partially replace the lack of new releases in the Grand Theft Auto series. The previous, fifth, part was released in September 2013, and since then everyone has been waiting for GTA 6. At the same time, the developers from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio and the publishers from Sega do not promote their project as a "GTA killer". In fact, he is more of an ambitious imitator who has managed to find his own niche through unique finds. The Izvestia editorial board received a copy of the PS5 game from Achivka, Russia's largest video game distributor.
In the new part, the choice of location again fell on the Hawaiian islands. In the previous game Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, gamers traveled to the Hawaiian city of Honolulu. Unlike Infinite Wealth, the new game expanded the geography to four major regions in Hawaii: the islands of Rich, Madlantis and Nele were added to the notorious Honolulu. Everyone has their own trick — the headquarters of the Palekana religious group is located on the island of Nele, and Madlantis is a kind of pirate Tortuga, where criminals and pirates mix.
After the release of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, it quickly became a hit among PC gamers. The release set a record among Like a Dragon offshoots, second only to Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth in terms of the number of simultaneous participants. In the latter, more than 46 thousand users played on Steam at the same time, and in the version about Goro — over 22 thousand gamers. This is one of the most successful PC cases in the Sega publisher's portfolio.
How does the game feel
The action takes place in an open world. Gamers can explore locations, assemble their own team and upgrade the protagonist's personal ship, Goromaru. You can sail the seas and fight enemy ships on it. You can board them, as in popular pirate games like Skull & Bones and Assassins Creed: Black Flag. All battles take place in real time, the main task is to defeat the enemy captain in a fair fight and commandeer all the valuables of the captured crew.
All fights, including land ones, are made according to the template of the early games in the series, the developers use the "beat-em-ups" system. This means that Majima can beat up groups of enemies using one of two fighting styles: "mad dog" and "sea dog".The first style focuses on the speed of attacks using hands and feet, the second style includes pirate upgrades, among which there are paired sabers and various pistols. Gamers can perform a series of combo strikes, including in the air.
Screenshot from the game Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
The choice of location is also interesting. Most likely, it is due to the historically strong Yakuza presence in the Hawaiian archipelago. In modern history, there is an example of Operation Tropical Storm, which allowed in 1993 to expose and arrest an entire gang of Yakuza who conducted covert criminal activities, just like the residents of the island of Madlantis. For example, you can see this operation in popular culture in the second season of the TV series Tokyo Police. It is impossible to avoid such reminiscences during the passage of the game.
Various activities increase diversity — the series' signature mini-games such as karaoke and go-karting in the spirit of Mario Kart have been preserved. In addition, Sega hid its classic games in the form of arcade machines. Retro fans will also be able to play Poseidon Wars 3-D, Space Harrier 3-D and Star Jacker. A separate interesting find was the little-known arcade game The Ocean Hunter, poorly known outside Japan.
How was the project evaluated in Russia
According to the head of the "Development of games and the gaming community" group, M.Video-Eldorado" by Sergey Mezin, both the Yakuza series and its offshoots are popular among Russian gamers — they are called spin-offs among fans of popular culture. Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has become one of them. The expert believes that the projects from the creators of the series, Sega, are appreciated for their unique diverse gameplay, slightly exaggerated image of modern Japan and branded humor.
— Immediately after the announcement, customers contacted us on social media asking if we would bring a new game, and, of course, we could not disappoint them. Of course, Pirate Yakuza will not become a megahit of the Assassin's Creed Shadows level, but this project will definitely find its own player, — Sergey Mezin added.
Screenshot from the game Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
Yasha Haddazi, CEO of Achivka, agrees with him. According to him, the very fact that Sega has consistently supported Russian localization in all projects of the Like a Dragon franchise still serves as the clearest proof of the popularity of this franchise in Russia. The expert noted that the combination of serious themes and black humor in cultural expressions such as video games can be called one of the many common character traits of Russians and Japanese.
— According to Achivka's forecasts, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will enter the top three in new game sales in February, along with Sid Meier's Civilization 7 and Monster Hunter Wilds," Yasha Haddazi recalled.
Console copies of the game have become scarce, as long as they are not available in the catalogs of such large stores as GamePark or M.Video". During the time spent in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, Izvestia did not encounter any noticeable bugs or technical crashes. The game has support for texts and subtitles in Russian, and English and authentic Japanese are available from the voice acting, which is preferred by most fans of the series.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
