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PS2 | Adventure | Yakuza

Boxart for Yakuza
Yakuza 121 screen shots
  • GRAPHICS: 4.00
  • SOUND: 4.00
  • CONTROL: 4.25
  • FUN FACTOR 4.50
  • AVG USER SCORE 5.0
  • AVG CRITIC SCORE 4.0
Winner of the GamePro Editor's Choice Award

Preview: Turmoil in Tokyo

Preview by Mike Weigand | 07/31/2006 | 14:00:17 PM PST

America isn't the only country with organized crime, and Yakuza shows us just how violent the streets of Japan can be!

The Godfather took you through the inner workings of the mafia in the 1940s, and True Crime: Streets of L.A. and New York City covered the criminal underworld of both coasts. As for the Grand Theft Autos, well, they covered thoroughly covered their fictional U.S. crime locales, too. Sure, Grand Theft Auto-ish titles seem to be a dime a dozen these days, but Yakuza examines city crime in another country -- Tokyo, Japan.

Street-Smart Fighting

In Yakuza, you'll play as Kiryu Kazuma, a former Yakuza member who is released from a 10-year prison sentence, only to find himself protector of a girl who holds the key to a cash fortune. Yakuza features a gigantic and sprawling Tokyo, with plenty to explore.

"Anyone have change for a dollar?"

Rather than focusing on drive-bys and big firepower, Yakuza emphasizes hand-to-hand combat. Kazuma can string together a series of moves in order to take out multiple foes. He can also grab objects in the environment (such as pipes, bicycles, and signs) to get an edge over his enemies as well.

There's also a Heat Gauge that indicates your mental spirit. Similar to other action/fighting titles, this gauge collects energy with each successful blow Kazuma lands. Once it's maxed out, he can execute devastating attacks for a limited time. Kazuma can also gain experience from fighting, and can use it to learn new and advanced attacks.

"See the dude behind me? That's you in 3 seconds, sucka!"

Nightlife

Although Yakuza has a robust fighting engine, there are plenty of side missions, too. These include interrogation, bribery, gambling, and more. The game will have an atmospheric sense of style -- right down to the neon lights that will authentically illuminate Japan's nightlife. One hitch in the realism, though, could be the audio track.

Sega has chosen to present Yakuza with dubbed English-language characters -- sans the option of playing the original game's Japanese dialogue with English subtitles. Audio concerns aside, Yakuza should be an interesting crime title that explores a world of which many gamers may not be aware.

"To answer your question, firm yet bouncy."


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