Matthew Fronsoe

Jirard Khalil was involved, so no.

It's a little janky but basically used GoW 2018's combat system for melee, has some neat combos you can do with the revolver, and a weak point system you can take advantage of with the rifle. The feeling I get is kind of like "Shadows of the Damned" which felt like a AA version of the AAA RE4. The setting and B movie machismo are a good time. It's just a good time.

This game does an excellent job explaining what Kazuma Kiryu is up to while Kasuga and Co. are tackling issues in Yokohama. The gameplay is as tight as always with the addition of the "Agent" fighting style is very interesting as it turns Kiryu into something of a super agent in the fighting ring. The narrative is, as always, emotional and well acted; it's another banger Yakuza joint in the narrative regard. The downside is size and value. The game released at $50 but is so light on content that it would have been better sold at half that price. The only city you have any real freedom in is Sotenbori, which is a very small area. There is a Coliseum that acts as the meat of the game, but the fights are repetitive and even the teammate system doesn't really help. The most disappointing thing is that major criss-crossing story beats between this game and "Like A Dragon" are handed via montage, a wasted opportunity. In summary, this could and should have been a $20 DLC for Like A Dragon but corporate greed won out. I'm hoping this is just a stopgap game and not an indication of the future of the series. If you like Yakuza, you'll enjoy this game. It's more of the same, just not much more and, in my opinion as a longtime fan, not nearly enough to justify the $50 price tag.

I'll never fault a movie for having a message and the message against gentrification and the exploitation of (specifically) black communities is certainly a welcome one. That being said, time and place. The preaching in this movie was front and center, coming across as blunt, left-field exposition rather than the filmmaker using visual medium to actually SHOW it. First rule of good filmmaking: Show, don't tell. I have to compare here: "Get Out" was amazing because I didn't get racial messages thrown in my face; the exploitation of young black people to literally prolong the life of rich white folk was a fantastic metaphor that didn't require anyone to explain to me. This movie does the opposite: It has a chance to use Candyman as a metaphor for black anger surrounding gentrification and, instead, keeps him as a mindless killer who slaughters all the evil white folk who dare step into what used to be "the hood". All the while I have characters basically holding up signs telling what I'm supposed to be feeling because the direction and acting simply don't or can't convey it naturally. It's as subtle as the person shouting "Message" in "Don't be a Menace" except the movie is taking itself way too seriously. To finish out, this is a one-time watch at best and only because some of the scenes with Candyman being visible in reflections were really dope and well shot. As a horror movie it falls on its face. As a piece of social commentary, it's so lacking in subtlety that it probably did more harm than good.

Final update: After two months, dealing with the black screen glitch, then the texture warping issue, the game has been patched again and again. Unfortunately, the game now crashes within 10 minutes every time I try to play. This is a fully digital copy and this issue did not happen prior to my purchase of the anniversary edition. I'm leaving the review at this: Once again, I paid Bethesda an additional $20 and they broke my game. I'm unable to obtain a refund; they properly swindled me on this one. Thankfully, the Microsoft acquisition means I won't have to worry about this on future Playstation consoles. For fans of this studio, I hope they do well, though their increasing disregard for QA testing to any degree coupled with their lack of support for such an old game's update doesn't bode well. I'm actually bummed; the 360/PS3 era of Bethesda was amazing and I've personally been enjoying the studio since Daggerfall. The PS4/Xbox 1 era, though, showed the company can't compete in the present, making it unlikely they'll be able to hold steady for the future. I'm hoping an injection of Microsoft money can assist, though I also know that money comes with more demands from bean counters that will likely tank the studio (a la Rare) or make them even more of a soulless, bland money machine that cranks out subpar games before vanishing into obscurity (see again: Rare). If I could give 0 stars, I would. I purchased the PS4 Anniversary Edition and it completely broke the game. All my saves now load to a black screen, meaning I literally cannot play my game anymore. I paid $20 for Bethesda to break my copy; DO NOT BUY! Uodate: As of 11/23/2021, I am able to play my game again. That being said, it's JUST playable. The framerate shudders when I open menus, environments just unload sometimes, and the screen flashes accompanying the random deloads and reloads would likely trigger an epileptic seizure in a vulnerable individual. I'll upgrade to 2 stars as it's now PLAYABLE, though it's still very disappointing that something as simple as this re-release was and is being handled so poorly.