First time making a bit of an effort with the image placement. I know it's a bit rough, but this review definitely needs the pictures to make the whole thing look a bit more interesting. Any feedback on the picture placement or tips on how to place them better would be very much appreciated . I know I haven't commented on the graphics, but the graphical style should be evident from the pictures and it's just so solid that there really wasn't much to comment on.
I'm obligated to start this review by restating the obvious: this game is about the titular, Japanese organised crime syndicates which are a large part of the country's culture. Their influence being so strong, an "Act for Prevention of Unlawful Activities by Criminal Gang Members" was only passed in 1995, and they are still estimated to be the world's largest organised crime group with over 87,000 active members worldwide. While it doesn't explore their activities in full, Sega's 2005 PS2 game Yakuza is reputed to be an authentic insight into these gangs' world.
Yakuza takes a serious look at crime, avoiding bawdy humour and obvious satire. Its efforts toward verisimilitude lend it a maturity that many games fail, or never attempt to achieve. The level of profanity and brutal violence is appropriate given the setting, and adult locales like strip clubs and brothels are treated respectfully, although from a Yakuza perspective. Despite the game's 18+ rating, the circumstances behind the criminal activities prevalent throughout the game aren't explored. Prostitution, drugs and other heavy subjects are acknowledged, but the full extent of the Yakuza's involvement isn't examined. Facets like the importing of foreigners to work as prostitutes and strippers, smuggling and their commercial business links are mostly ignored in favour of protection racketeering and family feuds. The full implications of the more controversial issues are never explored beyond their immediate relevance. This romanticised view of the Yakuza, while depicting nearly all of them as thugs or devious masterminds anyway, still presents them slightly more favourably to players, as not all their crimes are revealed. A violent nature isn't a particularly shocking trait in a video-game, although the callousness, treachery and ritual violence casually exhibited by the villains leave players with no doubts as to who where their sympathy lies.
Most games never aim to provide a treatise on society, so the incomplete picture of the criminal outfit is forgivable. One of the game's major failings is less forgivable: the level of immersion in the game world. "Immersion" has become something of a buzzword since a certain internet personality's Oblivion review, but in plot heavy games it's a widely recognised, vital aspect of game design and the developers keep undermining their own efforts in this game. They've created a small but bustling metropolis that begs to be explored as a backdrop to a sweeping crime thriller, but niggling issues pile up and drag the player out of the experience. Suspension of disbelief is difficult to maintain in the face of such a cracked fourth wall. The number of loading screens between battles, areas and cutscenes prevent the game ever approaching the seamless action of GTA. Puzzling inconsistencies between the game world and the plot dilute a potentially potent experience (a little girl repeatedly asks "where are we going?" when a speech box above her head says "follow me"). Street thugs repeatedly confront the legendary Yakuza you control, their problems with the way he walks or dresses a pretext to an invariably foolish attempt at a mugging. The somewhat patchy localisation does the game no favours either. It does nothing terribly wrong, but the culmination of these in-game enigmas hold the game back drastically.
The player plays Kazuma Kiryu, a more compassionate man than any of the other Yakuza encountered through the game, but still violent and uncompromising despite his reluctance to kill. He's marvellously introduced (along with other major characters) in the prologue chapter as the renowned "Dragon of the Dojima", a man with everything going for him who is on the verge of starting his own family within the Yakuza. During the introductory chapter, the woman he loves is abducted by his oyabun (boss) but by the time he finds him, he's already been killed by his close friend Nishiki. Kazuma willingly takes the blame for the murder so Nishiki can look after his sick sister, and the game really begins upon his release ten years later in 2005. He returns to find that the women he loved disappeared after the shooting, and 10 billion yen has recently been stolen from the Tojo clan. A young girl who apparently holds the key to the location of the money encounters Kazuma by chance, and along with a dishevelled detective and his friend Shinji, he is quickly entangled in a complicated plot touching on themes of the corrupting influence of power and the confrontation of problems.
It's an interesting plot told mostly through many well directed cut-scenes. Unfortunately, towards the end it relies too much on twists and becomes trite. It shifts from solid, pulp crime thriller territory to mediocre action flick. The twists' impact is diminished through frequency, and the sentimentality works best when shown through actions rather than laboured attempts at touching speeches. Another inconsistency in the plot is its general style, veering from buddy action film to a more tender, Leonesque emotional thriller. Things get quite complicated in the Yakuza world, and the large cast makes it a little hard to keep track; an in-game character glossary helps, but there's still a dauntingly large cast. I did enjoy the plot, it consistently dealt with adult situations respectfully, although never quite comprehensively, and the few characters who are developed did so believably. It's just a shame it never sticks to a consistent vision, and the climax is cheapened through an earnest attempt to create a heightened dramatic impact.
The game is set almost entirely in a fictionalised version of Tokyo's red light district (the "water trade" as it is known in Japan being one of the Yakuza's primary income sources). The location is referred to as the Kamurocho district, but shared landmarks leave little doubt as to where the area represents. It's a sleazy part of the city, with a large gang presence overlooking the brothels, restaurants and hostess bars prominent in the region. The typically neon lit, densely populated, urban area has as many street thugs and gangsters roaming the streets as the stereotypical Japanese businessmen. The small explorable area of the city doesn't compare to GTA's scope, but it's a convincing simulation of a bustling city.
The prominence of the district you are constantly required to traverse fulfils the "adventure" part of the game's action adventure billing. In practice, this rich environment serves as a glorified central hub: it links missions together while allowing the player to access new locations and exposes the player to the many side quests and enemies on the streets. It's a very involved system, which is usually enjoyable to utilise, but the number of fetch quests can make it a bit of a slog. Fortunately the GTA style mini-map combined with the small size of the district makes these chores short and simple, except in rare cases where mission objective are too vague to be of any use and the map fails to provide an exact location. There is an irritatingly high proportion of thugs and gangsters roaming the streets looking for a trouble. If they see Kazuma then they try to get close enough to trigger a fight in a cutaway arena. It's possible to escape their pursuit, but in narrow streets a swift retreat is the only way to avoid them. Other people can be interacted with for various reasons, and can even develop into separate subplots which add extra spice to the game, also giving the opportunity to gain more experience points and money.
The combat mode, activated after a street fight is triggered or upon entry of a mission area containing many hostiles is, like many other elements of the game, flawed through its indecision. But it still deserves merit. The brawls are satisfactorily brutal and quickly develop depth as more moves are unlocked. Both the environment and objects scattered around the area can be used as weapons although weapons are degradable. The fighting mechanics are rather traditional, Kazuma having a range of fast weaker attacks, slower, stronger ones and grabs, along with a shimmy and a block button. Special "heat" moves are available when the corresponding bar is filled to a sufficient degree by landing successive hits and avoiding taking damage. It's a perfectly workable system, which while derivative of many fighting and action games, forgets to take notes from the master: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The R1 trigger makes Kazuma adopt a general fighting stance, but Kazuma never adjusts his body to his enemies' position, so without a target lock-on, attacks tend to a bit be imprecise. The camera doesn't automatically move to behind Kazuma as well, instead requiring a tap of the L2 button to move the camera to that position temporarily before all too swiftly returning to an angle that isn't always helpful. As the player is nearly always outnumbered, these elements conspire to leave them vulnerable to attack. While a capable fighter, Kazuma isn't a particularly agile figure and his movement isn't that fluid, making the fights seems clumsier than many other action games of the time. Occasional combat contextual QTEs appear occasionally, usually to execute or avoid a special move but it's not a major feature of the combat.
Enemy AI is quite basic; they follow simple patterns determined by their rather unoriginal character designs (either large, slow brutes, or weaker, faster fighters who are slighter of build, or a fairly regular enemy that excels in no particular area). They usually try and surround you, but the groups are easily dispersed. The bosses also follow basic patterns, relying on a trait exaggerated to an almost supernatural degree. Once a suitable tactic is determined, they can usually be dispatched without much difficulty. The fights are relatively easy, except in the case of some boss battles, however, on every third death, the player is given the option of an easy mode which I cannot comment on, but it is thoughtful accommodation to players unused to the genre.
The various optional sidequests available throughout the game provide even more chances for Kazuma to practise his fighting skills. They are usually triggered by talking to certain people in the city, who provide a scenario (of which there are various types) which nearly always results in a scrap or two. It's a good way to earn money and experience, and sometimes develops into intriguing subquests which are worth following even if they have no consequence on the main plotline. There are also some missions that reveal extra plot details upon completion of the mission.
It's not all backstreet brawls and mob melees though (aaah, alliteration). There's an impressive variety of non-violent distractions in the Kamurocho district. Players can practise their swinging in the batting range, gamble in the many casinos, enter a fighting tournament, go to a massage parlour or try charming the hostess bar girls in dating sim minigames. It's not in character given the usually urgent nature of the plot and Kazuma's romantic attachment to the missing Yumi, but it's a welcome distraction. Also, the near prohibitive monetary and time investment required to complete the hostess side-quests, and paltry reward upon completion don't make it a worthwhile time-sink along the same lines as, to give an extreme example, FFVII's golden chocobo sidequest.
There are many shops and fast food restaurants around in the game. While the fast food joints aren't all necessary, as any food restores health and gives a small amount of experience points, the effort towards verisimilitude is very welcome. Although comparing shop prices to see which product at which store has the best price: health restoration ratio isn't what I expected to do in my adventures in the Japanese underworld. Weaponry, drugs and various items to give as gifts or use to impress hostess girls are available from the retailers in the district.
The sound in the game is as pointedly imperfect as the rest of the game. While the English localisation is reasonable, it suffers from somewhat unnatural lines that are a common result of trying to match translated dialogue to the original lines the characters are lip-synced to. Well known VAs like Mark Hamill, Rachel Leigh Cook and Michael Madsen amongst others do their best, but they cannot save the script completely.
The music is much less patchy, just being solid background noise that fits the mood of whichever scene it plays in. High-octane metal in the fights, or the occasional synthesized tune aren't very memorable but add to the atmosphere. In scenes that try to tug at the heartstrings there's the inevitable piano, but it avoids exaggerated bombast and is mostly restrained.
The amount of additional content extends the game's lifespan beyond the story, which should take just over ten hours to complete. It doesn't compare to Oblivion but there's enough to make you feel like you've got your money's worth out of the game. The only collectibles are the 50 coin locker keys scattered around the city which provide no reward except the content of the locker. After completion, a premium box menu option is unlocked; however it doesn't offer any new content or any really worthwhile extras. It provides a movie viewer, a free mode of sorts that gives the option to replay some game scenarios, and adds a bunch of arbitrary challenges to meet. The extras don't really provide much incentive to revisit the game, but its got the kind of plot that it's easy to forget the finer details of, so it'll be worthy of a replay at some point.
It's a fun game, based on an interesting premise that is one of the few that hasn't suffered from overexposure... yet. Due to conflicted influences from different genres and some puzzling design choices, it's merely good as opposed to great. Despite being penned by a Japanese crime author, the storyline is held back by the execution, translation and a chain of twists at the end that Hideo Kojima would be proud of. Well, it's not quite that bad but you get the idea. The entire game just seemed to sabotage itself in so many ways, but despite that it's still a fun, visceral experience in a fresh setting. Just don't expect the Japanese Godfather of videogames.
I'm obligated to start this review by restating the obvious: this game is about the titular, Japanese organised crime syndicates which are a large part of the country's culture. Their influence being so strong, an "Act for Prevention of Unlawful Activities by Criminal Gang Members" was only passed in 1995, and they are still estimated to be the world's largest organised crime group with over 87,000 active members worldwide. While it doesn't explore their activities in full, Sega's 2005 PS2 game Yakuza is reputed to be an authentic insight into these gangs' world.
Yakuza takes a serious look at crime, avoiding bawdy humour and obvious satire. Its efforts toward verisimilitude lend it a maturity that many games fail, or never attempt to achieve. The level of profanity and brutal violence is appropriate given the setting, and adult locales like strip clubs and brothels are treated respectfully, although from a Yakuza perspective. Despite the game's 18+ rating, the circumstances behind the criminal activities prevalent throughout the game aren't explored. Prostitution, drugs and other heavy subjects are acknowledged, but the full extent of the Yakuza's involvement isn't examined. Facets like the importing of foreigners to work as prostitutes and strippers, smuggling and their commercial business links are mostly ignored in favour of protection racketeering and family feuds. The full implications of the more controversial issues are never explored beyond their immediate relevance. This romanticised view of the Yakuza, while depicting nearly all of them as thugs or devious masterminds anyway, still presents them slightly more favourably to players, as not all their crimes are revealed. A violent nature isn't a particularly shocking trait in a video-game, although the callousness, treachery and ritual violence casually exhibited by the villains leave players with no doubts as to who where their sympathy lies.
Most games never aim to provide a treatise on society, so the incomplete picture of the criminal outfit is forgivable. One of the game's major failings is less forgivable: the level of immersion in the game world. "Immersion" has become something of a buzzword since a certain internet personality's Oblivion review, but in plot heavy games it's a widely recognised, vital aspect of game design and the developers keep undermining their own efforts in this game. They've created a small but bustling metropolis that begs to be explored as a backdrop to a sweeping crime thriller, but niggling issues pile up and drag the player out of the experience. Suspension of disbelief is difficult to maintain in the face of such a cracked fourth wall. The number of loading screens between battles, areas and cutscenes prevent the game ever approaching the seamless action of GTA. Puzzling inconsistencies between the game world and the plot dilute a potentially potent experience (a little girl repeatedly asks "where are we going?" when a speech box above her head says "follow me"). Street thugs repeatedly confront the legendary Yakuza you control, their problems with the way he walks or dresses a pretext to an invariably foolish attempt at a mugging. The somewhat patchy localisation does the game no favours either. It does nothing terribly wrong, but the culmination of these in-game enigmas hold the game back drastically.
The player plays Kazuma Kiryu, a more compassionate man than any of the other Yakuza encountered through the game, but still violent and uncompromising despite his reluctance to kill. He's marvellously introduced (along with other major characters) in the prologue chapter as the renowned "Dragon of the Dojima", a man with everything going for him who is on the verge of starting his own family within the Yakuza. During the introductory chapter, the woman he loves is abducted by his oyabun (boss) but by the time he finds him, he's already been killed by his close friend Nishiki. Kazuma willingly takes the blame for the murder so Nishiki can look after his sick sister, and the game really begins upon his release ten years later in 2005. He returns to find that the women he loved disappeared after the shooting, and 10 billion yen has recently been stolen from the Tojo clan. A young girl who apparently holds the key to the location of the money encounters Kazuma by chance, and along with a dishevelled detective and his friend Shinji, he is quickly entangled in a complicated plot touching on themes of the corrupting influence of power and the confrontation of problems.
It's an interesting plot told mostly through many well directed cut-scenes. Unfortunately, towards the end it relies too much on twists and becomes trite. It shifts from solid, pulp crime thriller territory to mediocre action flick. The twists' impact is diminished through frequency, and the sentimentality works best when shown through actions rather than laboured attempts at touching speeches. Another inconsistency in the plot is its general style, veering from buddy action film to a more tender, Leonesque emotional thriller. Things get quite complicated in the Yakuza world, and the large cast makes it a little hard to keep track; an in-game character glossary helps, but there's still a dauntingly large cast. I did enjoy the plot, it consistently dealt with adult situations respectfully, although never quite comprehensively, and the few characters who are developed did so believably. It's just a shame it never sticks to a consistent vision, and the climax is cheapened through an earnest attempt to create a heightened dramatic impact.
The game is set almost entirely in a fictionalised version of Tokyo's red light district (the "water trade" as it is known in Japan being one of the Yakuza's primary income sources). The location is referred to as the Kamurocho district, but shared landmarks leave little doubt as to where the area represents. It's a sleazy part of the city, with a large gang presence overlooking the brothels, restaurants and hostess bars prominent in the region. The typically neon lit, densely populated, urban area has as many street thugs and gangsters roaming the streets as the stereotypical Japanese businessmen. The small explorable area of the city doesn't compare to GTA's scope, but it's a convincing simulation of a bustling city.
The prominence of the district you are constantly required to traverse fulfils the "adventure" part of the game's action adventure billing. In practice, this rich environment serves as a glorified central hub: it links missions together while allowing the player to access new locations and exposes the player to the many side quests and enemies on the streets. It's a very involved system, which is usually enjoyable to utilise, but the number of fetch quests can make it a bit of a slog. Fortunately the GTA style mini-map combined with the small size of the district makes these chores short and simple, except in rare cases where mission objective are too vague to be of any use and the map fails to provide an exact location. There is an irritatingly high proportion of thugs and gangsters roaming the streets looking for a trouble. If they see Kazuma then they try to get close enough to trigger a fight in a cutaway arena. It's possible to escape their pursuit, but in narrow streets a swift retreat is the only way to avoid them. Other people can be interacted with for various reasons, and can even develop into separate subplots which add extra spice to the game, also giving the opportunity to gain more experience points and money.
The combat mode, activated after a street fight is triggered or upon entry of a mission area containing many hostiles is, like many other elements of the game, flawed through its indecision. But it still deserves merit. The brawls are satisfactorily brutal and quickly develop depth as more moves are unlocked. Both the environment and objects scattered around the area can be used as weapons although weapons are degradable. The fighting mechanics are rather traditional, Kazuma having a range of fast weaker attacks, slower, stronger ones and grabs, along with a shimmy and a block button. Special "heat" moves are available when the corresponding bar is filled to a sufficient degree by landing successive hits and avoiding taking damage. It's a perfectly workable system, which while derivative of many fighting and action games, forgets to take notes from the master: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The R1 trigger makes Kazuma adopt a general fighting stance, but Kazuma never adjusts his body to his enemies' position, so without a target lock-on, attacks tend to a bit be imprecise. The camera doesn't automatically move to behind Kazuma as well, instead requiring a tap of the L2 button to move the camera to that position temporarily before all too swiftly returning to an angle that isn't always helpful. As the player is nearly always outnumbered, these elements conspire to leave them vulnerable to attack. While a capable fighter, Kazuma isn't a particularly agile figure and his movement isn't that fluid, making the fights seems clumsier than many other action games of the time. Occasional combat contextual QTEs appear occasionally, usually to execute or avoid a special move but it's not a major feature of the combat.
Enemy AI is quite basic; they follow simple patterns determined by their rather unoriginal character designs (either large, slow brutes, or weaker, faster fighters who are slighter of build, or a fairly regular enemy that excels in no particular area). They usually try and surround you, but the groups are easily dispersed. The bosses also follow basic patterns, relying on a trait exaggerated to an almost supernatural degree. Once a suitable tactic is determined, they can usually be dispatched without much difficulty. The fights are relatively easy, except in the case of some boss battles, however, on every third death, the player is given the option of an easy mode which I cannot comment on, but it is thoughtful accommodation to players unused to the genre.
The various optional sidequests available throughout the game provide even more chances for Kazuma to practise his fighting skills. They are usually triggered by talking to certain people in the city, who provide a scenario (of which there are various types) which nearly always results in a scrap or two. It's a good way to earn money and experience, and sometimes develops into intriguing subquests which are worth following even if they have no consequence on the main plotline. There are also some missions that reveal extra plot details upon completion of the mission.
It's not all backstreet brawls and mob melees though (aaah, alliteration). There's an impressive variety of non-violent distractions in the Kamurocho district. Players can practise their swinging in the batting range, gamble in the many casinos, enter a fighting tournament, go to a massage parlour or try charming the hostess bar girls in dating sim minigames. It's not in character given the usually urgent nature of the plot and Kazuma's romantic attachment to the missing Yumi, but it's a welcome distraction. Also, the near prohibitive monetary and time investment required to complete the hostess side-quests, and paltry reward upon completion don't make it a worthwhile time-sink along the same lines as, to give an extreme example, FFVII's golden chocobo sidequest.
There are many shops and fast food restaurants around in the game. While the fast food joints aren't all necessary, as any food restores health and gives a small amount of experience points, the effort towards verisimilitude is very welcome. Although comparing shop prices to see which product at which store has the best price: health restoration ratio isn't what I expected to do in my adventures in the Japanese underworld. Weaponry, drugs and various items to give as gifts or use to impress hostess girls are available from the retailers in the district.
The sound in the game is as pointedly imperfect as the rest of the game. While the English localisation is reasonable, it suffers from somewhat unnatural lines that are a common result of trying to match translated dialogue to the original lines the characters are lip-synced to. Well known VAs like Mark Hamill, Rachel Leigh Cook and Michael Madsen amongst others do their best, but they cannot save the script completely.
The music is much less patchy, just being solid background noise that fits the mood of whichever scene it plays in. High-octane metal in the fights, or the occasional synthesized tune aren't very memorable but add to the atmosphere. In scenes that try to tug at the heartstrings there's the inevitable piano, but it avoids exaggerated bombast and is mostly restrained.
The amount of additional content extends the game's lifespan beyond the story, which should take just over ten hours to complete. It doesn't compare to Oblivion but there's enough to make you feel like you've got your money's worth out of the game. The only collectibles are the 50 coin locker keys scattered around the city which provide no reward except the content of the locker. After completion, a premium box menu option is unlocked; however it doesn't offer any new content or any really worthwhile extras. It provides a movie viewer, a free mode of sorts that gives the option to replay some game scenarios, and adds a bunch of arbitrary challenges to meet. The extras don't really provide much incentive to revisit the game, but its got the kind of plot that it's easy to forget the finer details of, so it'll be worthy of a replay at some point.
It's a fun game, based on an interesting premise that is one of the few that hasn't suffered from overexposure... yet. Due to conflicted influences from different genres and some puzzling design choices, it's merely good as opposed to great. Despite being penned by a Japanese crime author, the storyline is held back by the execution, translation and a chain of twists at the end that Hideo Kojima would be proud of. Well, it's not quite that bad but you get the idea. The entire game just seemed to sabotage itself in so many ways, but despite that it's still a fun, visceral experience in a fresh setting. Just don't expect the Japanese Godfather of videogames.
