
Yakuza 3 is the sequel to Yakuza 2 and the fourth installment in the Yakuza series, developed by Amusement Visionand published by Sega exclusively for the PlayStation 3 video game console. It was released in Japan and South East Asia on February 26, 2009, and will be released in North America and Europe on March 9, 2010 and March 12, 2010, respectively.
The sequel Ryū ga Gotoku 4 is currently under development for the PlayStation 3 in Japan.
Yakuza 3 introduces PlayStation Network Trophies to the series with 50 trophies. It also add four new gameplay elements as listed below:
* Seamless Battle: The Seamless Battle is a streaming data-based loading-free system that allows the game to directly connect the adventure mode and the battle mode (called "Kenka") without the usual loading black screen.
* Chase Battle: Chase Battle is a new battle mode which replaces the regular brawling (Kenka) with a running sequence set in a certain map. Both chaser and chased have a running gauge that decreases as the character runs and or is hurt by someone or something on his way. When the running gauge is empty the exhausted character stops the chase. Somewhere in the game a minor character, Mack Shinozuka will train Kazuma to improve his running performance.
* Revelation : Ten revelations will allow Kazuma Kiryu to learn new Heat Actions in the Adventure mode, it is rather similar to the system introduced in the previous game Ryu ga Gotoku: Kenzan !. This time Kazuma uses his cell phone built-in camera to record new moves and techniques. These are acquired through hints and incidents spotted in First Person View. Learned Heat Actions are posted on Kazuma's his personal blog, called Kamuroblo, which uses the same template as producer Toshihiro Nagoshi's own blog.
* First Person View: When pressing the Sixaxis/Dual Shock 3's R3 button during the adventure mode the standard third person view switches to a brand new first person view mode. This perspective allows a better observation of the streets and people as well as posters reading, but looking at a distant villain in his eyes using First Person View will provoke him and engage an Encount battle. First Person View is disabled in some indoor places.

Event Mode uses high polygon models and Magical V-Engine facial animation.
The main story spans over twelve chapters plus a prologue. As with the earlier games, each chapter is preceded by a cinematic, called "event scene", which later becomes available in the Gallery mode. Yakuza 3 features 295 minutes of cutscenes according to the BBFC.
Six sub-scenarios, e.g. Date's Pride, Two Fathers, Hometown Girl, The Finishing Touch, Silver Screen Dragon and Murder at Café Alps are special Missions featuring "event scene" cinematics. Holding R1 button and pressing CROSS button will activate an automatic mode that skips the cutscene dialogues.
The main story is completed with 133 unique side stories called "sub-scenarios" These sub-scenarios are divided into two classes Mission and Hitman. There are 113 Missions, some of them are made up of different episodes, and 20 Hitman sub-scenarios, fifteen of these bounty hunter sidestories are located in Kamurocho, the remaining five are in Ryukyugai.
Twenty minigames are available within the Adventure mode. These are aromatherapy massage, darts, billiards, karaoke, bowling, mahjong, chinchirorin, shogi, chō-han, koi-koi, oicho-kabu, roulette, poker, blackjack, Answer & Answer, UFO Catcher, batting cage, golf, surf fishing and Boxcellios. 2-player support for some of these mini games and an expansion for Answer & Answer are added through DLC; as well as main menu direct access.
Beating the Adventure in "Hard" mode unlocks the "Ex-Hard" difficulty (extreme hard). Completing the game in any difficuly mode will create a "cleared data" gamesave and unlock "Premium New Game" and "Premium Adventure". The first allows to restart the game with all accumulated money, items, experience levels and fighting techniques. The latter is a free run mode dedicated to exploration and completion as it doesn't include the main story, sub-scenarios remain though (and Extra battle modes are added through DLC).

As with the previous games, the Underground Arena is available. An illicit mixed martial arts competition sponsored by Majima is held in Kamurocho's Purgatory underground area. The Arena is inspired by real life Japanese cage fighting competitions such as K-1 World Grand Prix; the gameplay of this game within the game is similar to fighting games Toshihiro Nagoshi previously worked on such as Virtua Fighter 5 and SpikeOut. Single Tournament has 50 unique international fighters (a minor character with its own profile) and 11 grand prix. These 3-round competitions have various rings, rules and difficulty levels, there are Exhibition Tournament, Street Fight GP, Breakout GP, Heat GP, Bounding GP, Bomber GP, Golden Glove GP, Weapon Master GP, Hyper GP, Magnum Force GP and Maximum GP. Tag Tournament is a two-partner team match including 20 unique teams. Each team is made of paired Single Tournament fighters enhanced with a special duo attack. There are 2 available grand prix named Tag Match GP and Twin Dragon GP. Three Single Tournament fighters and two Encount Battle characters will join Kazuma Kiryu's "Team The Dragon" as tag partners once he finds them in the Adventure Mode; these are boxer Maxim Soldatov, kenpō Blues Ebinuma , puroresu Daiji Hiyama, Keigo Kanno and Masaki Hatae. Orders can be given to these partners using the Dual Shock 3's arrow keys.
Beating the Adventure mode unlocks 35 additional Battle Missions gathered in a bonus mode called Final Competition. First category has 10 missions and is called "Melee Competition", second has 5 missions and is called "Showdown Competition", third has 10 missions and is called "Trial Competition", the fourth category has 5 missions and is called "Cooperation Competition". Completing these four categories with a "S" rank (the lower being C, B and A) unlocks the Final Competition;this fifth category has 5 missions.

Once the Adventure Mode is completed the player can start a Premium Adventure and meet a hidden minor character (a clairvoyant woman) who allows to play four extra battle modes added through DLC. Survival Battle is an extra Hitman mission where Kazuma Kiryu must find and again defeat the "Last Boss", Yoshitaka Mine; eight bonus bosses are disseminated within Kamurocho. Survival Onigokko, Onigokko is the Japanese term for the tag game, in this extra sub-scenario Kiryu Kazuma is chased by Bob Utsunomiya in Kamurocho, there are ten missions to complete (go to a specific location as requested by the Game Master) in three minutes. All Star Tournament is an extra Arena single tournament that involves all 8 boss characters plus Goh Hamazaki; the latter is a main character that doesn't normally fight since he only appears in the game's Event Mode. All Star Tag Tournament is an extra tag tournament that allows to play with Kazuma Kiryu and his fighting partner Goro Majima against 7 teams of bosses and again bonus characters such as Kazuki, Yuya, Goh Hamazaki and Komaki.
Yakuza 3 main characters are Kazuma Kiryu and Haruka Sawamura though it has a casting of three hundred and sixty characters appearing in the main adventure and sub scenarios.
Downloadable content
Eight DLC were delivered through a weekly game update campaign starting on March 5, 2009.These downloadable contents consist in eight Item packs and eight S.Item packs delivered in-game by a minor character named Bob Utsunomiya (a clown), 2-player support for some mini games (billiards, darts, bowling, golf and Answer & Answer),
a Yakuza (a.k.a. Ryu ga Gotoku) extra quizz series for Answer & Answer, three alternative costumes (one per character) for Kazuma Kiryu, Rikiya Shimabukura and Haruka Sawamura.
Four Premium Adventure extra battle modes are also added through DLC, these are Survival Battle, Survival Onigokko, All Star Tournament and All Star Tag Tournament.

Versions
Limited edition Ceramic White 80GB PlayStation 3 "Ryu Ga Gotoku 3 Rising Dragon Pack".
As part of the pre-ordering campaign, the Japanese and Asian first prints were bundled with a limited item, a monography called Kamutai Magazine (February 2009 issue).
Sony celebrated the Japanese release of the game with a 10,000 pieces limited edition of the Ceramic White 80GB model PlayStation 3 called "Yakuza 3 Dragon Rising Pack"
The PAL version is uncut, features the Japanese voice cast (with localized subtitles) and includes an additional 18-minute video interview of Tamiya according to the BBFC.
A free trial version was released on the Japanese PlayStation Store in February 19, 2009.
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