I took this game with me on a half year long trip abroad so I wouldn't get homesick. Rural summers in the company of children and Tokyo night life among yakuzas somehow coexist in a single cohesive storyline deeply rooted in its meticulously recreated miniature Japan. I missed an opportunity to go to Okinawa, and am currently outside of Japan, but this game is the next best thing.
The game spends a good portion of the plot developing your relationship to the new characters, which might throw you off a bit until you reach that point when events call you back into action, and your new "family" becomes what you fight for. And the ass-kicking business has never been this good. I played through the fourth game, which introduced three new playable characters and entirely new points of view on the plot along with distinct fighting styles, making for an awesome experience, but I still don't mind coming back to play the third game.
The game spends a good portion of the plot developing your relationship to the new characters, which might throw you off a bit until you reach that point when events call you back into action, and your new "family" becomes what you fight for. And the ass-kicking business has never been this good. I played through the fourth game, which introduced three new playable characters and entirely new points of view on the plot along with distinct fighting styles, making for an awesome experience, but I still don't mind coming back to play the third game.