GameCentral goes hands-on with the remake of Yakuza 3 and its new spin-off, as one of the lesser entries gets a substantial makeover.

If you looked at any respectable ranking of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series, Yakuza 3 would routinely be near the bottom. Released in 2009 on the PlayStation 3, Kazuma Kiryu’s third outing was a meditative, left-field swerve, where the usual gangster operatics are bolted onto a quieter, slice of life tale featuring the Dragon of Dojima as the owner of an island orphanage.

Story-wise, it’s one of the series’ most distinctive titles, despite its uneven tone. Yet, as the oldest Yakuza game which hasn’t so far received the remake treatment, playing Yakuza 3 today is a painful rewind to stiff combat and tedious tussles with the AI. Of all the games in Kiryu’s s

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