awoolcott's Full Review: Ryu Ga Gotoku 2 (yakuza 2) Ps2 The Best, Ps2 Japan...
The current form of Sega is something of an empty shell – the once mighty hardware and software producer has been reduced to a handful of awful Sonic games, publishing projects from western developers, and occasionally spitting out a moment of brilliance...something that's been getting rarer and rarer as the current generation progresses. Step back a couple years though, and you'll find a diamond, a diamond forgotten by all, save for the remaining base of hardcore PS2 gamers who gave it a try. Yakuza, a crime drama/beat 'em up, can be considered a spiritual successor to the failed Shenmue franchise; the open world feel and entertaining action along with RPG elements is something Shenmue tried to popularize and succeeded, if only because it left in its wake a hugely dedicated fanbase of gamers who still to this day say their prayers and take their vitamins hoping Shenmue 3 will show up. The sequel is finally out in 2008, two years after its Japanese release, but before going that far, the original must be experienced for its gritty, violent world and twisty, interesting story of yet another sect of the organized crime world.
Kazuma Kiryu is the Dragon of the Dojima Family, one of the Yakuza gangs under the Tojo Clan, which in the crime world could be compared to say, The Commission of the Sicilian/American mafia. When the story begins, Kazuma (who you learn over time is the awesomest dude ever) is out collecting money for for his family, from some cheats who weren't paying back money loaned to them. This is really the tutorial for the game, as it explains the main fighting mechanics, but it's a fun mission. However, things go sour fast when back at Kazuma's hideout, the bar Serena, he finds out that his “girlfriend”, Yumi, is kidnapped by the boss of his own family. His other friend, Akira Nishiki, takes off after her, and ultimately kills the Dojima leader for his abduction of the girl. For whatever reason, Kazuma takes the blame for the murder and goes to jail for 10 years, only to come out in time to see the Tojo Clan going to hell in a handbasket thanks to 10 billion yen that suddenly went missing. In the beginning, Kazuma just wants to stay out of Yakuza business and live his life, but of course, things never go that way. It's a complicated, page-turner type story, no surprise seeing it was penned by a Japanese crime novelist.
Imagine the open-world of Grand Theft Auto, the RPG elements of Final Fantasy, and the duke it out quality of Streets of Rage were melted together, and that'd be the best way to describe Yakuza. The red-light sector of what's basically Shinjuku, Tokyo makes up for the map, which Kazuma can usually traverse at will, whether its going on a mission or simply wandering through town looking for sidequests. Or trouble, since while wandering, random hoods or other Yakuza members will pick a fight; something they probably shouldn't do. When one of these “random battles” is triggered, the beat 'em up aspect kicks in, as the entire thing is a pure brawler...with experience points. Beat the crap out of these enemies with the usual punches and kicks, and you earn EXP which is used to learn new moves, increase the health bar, or alter the HEAT gauge, which allows Kauzma to execute even more awesome moves, such as slamming guys into walls or stepping on their faces. I told you, this guy is awesome. What's not awesome is the funky engine for all this; there's no real lock-on to target an enemy, leaving times when Kauzma is punching air while the enemies sneak up from behind and kick him in the junk. Or taze him. Or in later chapters, get shot in the butt with a gun. To balance things out Yakuza isn't a brutally tough game; if you're smart and effective with attacks you might be able to get through it without dying much, if at all.
Needless to say if you're not into the whole brawler aspect, maybe Yakuza won't be your thing, but they do a decent job of mixing things up with a ton of stuff to do. Some of it is a bit crazy, like going to batting cages or partaking in pit fights, and some is a bit seedy, like visiting strip clubs (it is a mature rated game, after all) and “Hostess Bars” which are practically legal prostitution. These are pretty amusing to tackle; with enough yen to cover the charges of such establishments, Kauzma can visit one of these and build a relationship with a variety of women, ultimately leading to...well you know. Other times you'll encounter a ton of people on the street who need things accomplished for them, whether it's stopping a stalker, finding lost items, or helping some drunk dude get even more smashed, etc. The only issue with these sidequests is they're obtuse in direction; a woman has her purse snatched, but it took a long time to find the culprit, and then it took ages to find the woman again, as there's no marking on the map like for mission locations. One could fly through the game in maybe 10 hours if the story is all you care about, but if you spend time doing everything, it'd take probably three times that, giving pretty good value. The map itself isn't monstrous, but its made larger by both the amount of activities and the lack of vehicles to get around since Kazuma walks or runs everywhere. Alas, there's no sailors around...but there is a mission on a boat.
Yakuza is one of those games that's greater than the sum of its parts; the main gameplay mechanics are fun in that beating people up is cool, but it does occasionally get repetitive, especially the random encounters on the streets. They can be avoided sometimes by outrunning foes, but they tend to be right on your tail before escape is possible. Because they're rarely tough, they get pretty annoying, despite earning much needed yen for winning the majority of them. Within the missions though, the fighting gets a bit more depth as you encounter more enemies with melee weapons or guns, which Kazuma can procure and use. The guns usually only have a single bullet though, so it's better for pistol whipping. Boss fights can be strategic and even challenging if not careful, partly because bosses are usually surrounded by cronies, and partly due to the unique attributes of these characters making direct attacks infrequent. Because Kauzma can stock up on a decent amount of items, refilling HP is pretty easy, making even hard battles merely lengthy as you whittle away their HP. The item thing is another mess; the Resident Evil mechanics of item boxes are here, setting a limit of things to carry. In the long run it doesn't matter much, but if you come across someone who wants something that you have, but an item box is miles away...not much fun.
Because we're dealing with a PlayStation 2 game, Yakuza looks aged in our modern gaming world, but it generally looks good. Lots of neon and tons of characters on the screen at once, even if most of them can't be interacted with. The district the game takes place in is cramped like a lot of Tokyo is, with businesses shoved next to each other and usually small in size. Navigating is fairly simple due to the on-screen map with marks for the various locations, but the camera can be downright awful at times thanks to the pre-rendered angles. The right stick merely pans the mini-map around, rather than adjust any vision. In battles the camera can be reset to better see enemies, but without not having the other analog stick used for swinging the camera around is insanely old-fashioned. At least the sequel has gotten with the times. But the engine itself is fast and fluid, without slowdown to ruin the brawls with opponents, even with dozens of enemies at one time. The sound is a compliment of the typical Sega cheese rock for battles and good, ambient tunes for story scenes and general adventuring during missions...when not on a mission there's no music, just the sounds of a busy district full of people doing their thing. The voice acting is a point of controversy; the insane use of profanity might be a bit off-putting for some. But there's an interesting assembly of talent; Rachel Leigh Cook & Eliza Dushku playing the two lead female characters, and Michael Madsen & Luke Skywalker (better known as Mark Hamill) playing two rivals of Kauzma, who is played by a relative unknown but does a great job.
Wrapping It Up Yakuza is practically a throwback to the days when Sega was still in their peak; a great game with some flaws that are overcome simply because the whole thing is just a blast to play. It's the kind of game that could appeal to numerous gamers; the type looking for another (albeit smaller) sandbox, an RPG fan looking for something different, and an old-school gamer who really enjoyed the days when beat 'em ups were all the rage. It doesn't change any of these genres in any way; it simply blends them together into something fun and interesting. With Yakuza 2 on shelves now, with hopefully the Kenzan spinoff and recently announced Yakuza 3 headed to PlayStation 3 outside Japan, now is as good at time as any to give this criminally ignored series a peek...dust off the old PS2 or warm up your backwards compatible PS3 and give the adventure of Kazuma Kiryu a shot for a look at a game that shows the once mighty Sega at their best.
Yakuza authentically re-creates the city streets and illicit haunts of Tokyo's nightlife district -- with memorable characters, a gripping story, dead...More at Amazon Marketplace
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