Reviews

I've been a fan of Neil Breen for a good few years, now, so I entered this film with high expectations. It was everything I could have wanted and more. Neil and the crew more than delivered on this sequel to one of the best movies of all time, and I feel a new person after having seen it in the theatre. The audience erupted in applause when our leading man first burst on screen, and that set the tone for me quite well. Cade is a hero, devoted to defending the weak and innocent by any means necessary. We are shown this with him fighting off a gang of kidnappers with his superpowers. The one-liner: "damn! Looks like we have to make this an even fight," got a chuckle out of me. After he saves the victims, he gets right on his way to a benefit for a hospital he's helping restore. Cade, although a man of action, doesn't only live by those means.

The villains in this piece of art are second-to-none. We witness the pain and turmoil that they bring to runaways and mental health patients as the film goes along. Multiple shots and scenes are devoted to the psychological melting down of these poor, poor people, all the while juxtaposed by the luxury the traffickers live in.

The film is told non-chronologically, perhaps to understand the mind of Cade a bit more. He is a humanoid chosen by a cosmic force, always daring, always doing. "In order to find the limits of what is possible, we must transcend what is impossible," is a line that has stuck with me. Cade has powers beyond even what we see. He understands these tortured minds more than anyone, and we get the story in the order he perceives it.

The largest emotional through-line is Cale, Cade's twin brother. His arc from Twisted Pair is extended and expanded upon in this film, and his unravelling only continues. We see his addictions expand as he tries to redo the genetic alterations he had removed, but only fails and falls apart. It was harrowing and powerful to watch a character fall apart so horribly through the film. I ended up crying as he begged for his brother to kill him, but smiled as he was sent off.

Cade the tortured crossing is a beautiful masterpiece about bravery, fighting the good fight, family, and love. Thank you, Neil. I hope to see another one.

I can not help but spoil this masterpiece: the final installment in the Kiryu saga of Yakuza. The protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu is brought to one of his greatest journeys, in the mystery of who hit his surrogate daughter, Haruka Sawamura with a car. On his way, he finds that she had a son, Haruto. Kiryu takes on the responsibility of finding the father, finding the person who hit Haruka, and taking care of Haruto. Kiryu shows his most vulnerable and powerful in this game. He heads to Hiroshima and gets in the good graces of a Yakuza clan. He makes friends and enemies in the town and the story culminates in Kiryu fighting to save everyone he has cared about in the franchise. He is shot multiple times, but wins the battle. Haruka holds her father in her arms as he says he loves her and dies in her arms. Having played all prior Yakuza games, the loss of Kiryu hit me like losing a family member. The story is beautiful.

The substories are endearing, one in which Kiryu helps a little girl with cancer find happiness in her final days. They can also be zany, one where Kiryu fights a rogue roomba. Standard Yakuza substory material, but with extremes on all ends, zany and sympathetic.

The combat feels weighty, as though each hit you take and hit you give could break someone in half.

The game overall is a great journey that I recommend to anyone who's played through the other Yakuzas released before this one. A beautiful game.