Galllery | "DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!"

While Sega could have done a basic HD remaster of the original 2005 Yakuza game and gotten away with it, they thankfully did a great deal more with a full-on remake running at 1080p and a pretty solid 60fps. Yakuza Kiwami is a total hoot that, while packing in a few old-school problems, makes for quite a hilarious and always entertaining game experience.

From over the top (and none to complex, thank you) combat to plenty of mature content snipped from the earlier North American PS2 version or added specifically to this version, it’s just good to see this game hold up as well as it does and remain mostly a blast to play. “Mostly” gets a point here thanks to the camera getting wacky in tight places and a few instances where the older game’s plot wonkiness step into the update and keep a few elements a bit confusing. Overall, though – the game is makes for a really great time from its opening moments.

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Welcome to Tower of Samsara

The wheel of life runs indefinitely. Just like the path that you’ll take through the planets of our solar system living your adventure and making your choices so you can build yourself to reach nirvana.

So many Kickstarters, so little time (and money)! That said, Martelo Nero’s interesting-looking indie game Tower of Samsara has enough going for it that I shot a few dollars its way as soon as the funding went live. It’s been a few days since and guess what? A Vita version has been announced as a stretch goal. Hmmm. Time up up my pledge, it would seem. The stylized visuals and karmic elements of the gameplay noted on the KS page are what lured me in, and with time to go before pledges are all taken and a 2018 release date, it’s a hopeful sign that ToS is climbing its own tower to its goal.