Yakuza video review / Playstation 2 - Ryu Gagotoku

. ~ CLICK (more) ~ .. ---CLICK more---

Yakuza, for PS2 by Sega. Video review

Complete review at the site:
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/ryugagotoku/index.html

Yakuza vividly portrays modern Japan and its organized crime families, but it pulls its punches before delivering a truly great action game or a completely satisfying story.

The Good: Great premise that's gone untapped for too long; intense, great-looking hand-to-hand combat sequences are fun for a while; good-sized adventure complete with various side-missions and extras.

The Bad: Convoluted-but-interesting storyline hurt by one too many clichés; fetch-quest mission design results in a lot of running back and forth; combat gets very repetitive, no thanks to the small number of enemy types; noticeably lengthy and frequent loading times.

The yakuza, Japan's mafia, have to be one of the last great untapped pop-culture goldmines here in the West. For all the countless movies and games we've seen romanticizing cowboys, the mob, samurai, and street gangs, for whatever reason, the Japanese take on organized crime has had relatively little exposure by comparison--even though yakuza stories can be filled with the same excitement and intensity. Thankfully, someone finally had the intestinal fortitude to make a slickly produced action adventure game focused on those honor-bound, finger-cutting, mean bastards with incredibly elaborate tattoos across their backs. Sega's new game, which was first released late last year in Japan, does a good job of depicting an appropriately over-the-top story about a former yakuza swept up in a huge conflict among warring crime families. The game also features some great-looking hand-to-hand combat sequences. But its complex storyline often stumbles, and the underlying gameplay ends up being simple and repetitive. Yakuza scores major points for its concept and can be an exciting ride, but it doesn't live up to its potential either conceptually or as a game.

In the game, you play as Kazuma Kiryu, a stone-cold, chiseled yakuza who's committed to honoring his boss (or "oyabun") as well as his brothers in crime. Early on in the game, he makes a profound decision to take the rap for one of his friend's crimes of passion. So he's locked away in prison for 10 years and disgracefully exiled from his yakuza clan. He finally gets out of the slam, looking no worse for wear, only to find that a lot has changed in the world of organized crime (plus, everyone got cell phones). There is a power struggle for the highest positions in the Tojo yakuza syndicate, and somehow, Kazuma gets swept into it. Thus, a complicated plot unfolds, involving a missing 10 billion yen, multiple feuding families and their allies, a washed-up detective trying to piece his life back together, a little girl looking for her mother, a voyeuristic underworld information dealer, and more.

Sega legal line

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• yakuza
• ryu
• gagotoku
• mafia
• violence
• sega
• japan

[PullusPardus]

Similar to onimusha and devil may cry???? not even close, its similar to shenmue as far as gameplay goes

[BenTheNinja2121]

i just picked up this game and i cant put it down, i want a PSP version...

[OfficialHopHip]

@ZakX11 yeah, that's him

[ZakX11]

@OfficialHopHip that guy i think his name was majima or something.

That guy with the eye patch right?

[GradientGhoul]

@dogeymon83 a bit late, but yes, you will love yakuza X'D

[GradientGhoul]

love this game!

[redfoxbennaton]

@PullusPardus but it has beat em up elements.

[redfoxbennaton]

@PullusPardus yeah they are all staight forward and awkward. This game is nothing like RE.

[crissytina]

@quezcatol everybody u retard!

[sugreev2001]

I just wish they didn't have the random encounters like JRPG's in this game.That's this series only flaw imo.

[OfficialHopHip]

the last thing i remember in this game was a boss that always wiped the shit out of me it was in a baseball court or something...