N.K. Game Review...Yakuza (PS2)

[Nerdy Knight]

I rented this game on Friday, and instantly loved it. I loved it so much in fact, that I decided to buy it on eBay for myself the very next day! Should be in the mail any day now! Anyway, here's my review of:

Yakuza



In Yakuza, you play as a man by the name of Kazuma Kiryu. Kazuma is known as "the dragon of the Dojima family," because of his great fighting skills and the dragon tattoo on his back. Growing up with his friends Akira Nishiki and Yumi Sawamura, he's thinking about starting a family of his own. One day though, the head of the Dojima family, Sohei Dojima, kidnaps Yumi for another one of his parties. Nishiki goes ahead to save her, and ends up shooting Dojima for trying to hurt Yumi. After taking the blame for Nishiki, and 10 years in the slammer, you get out and start your new life...Unfortunately, the 10 billion yen the Tojo clan has collected over the years has gone missing, and it all seems to link to a young girl named Haruka, who's looking for her mother. Your job is to protect her and preserve your family's honor...
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Storyline/Plot...8/10
One of the things that appeal to me in Yakuza is the very dark storyline. This game shows the Japanese underworld almost perfectly, and really brings out the feeling of it when you play. Besides the storyline, there are hundreds of side-quests and things to do as you travel the streets of Japan. There are many characters with interesting personalities as well, giving this game a very realistic feeling.
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Graphics...8/10
One things for sure in this game. Along with this game really showing the feel of the Yakuza culture, it also shows it in great detail as well. The character designs are pretty good, and there are plenty of movements that your character makes as well. They move their mouths correctly almost 100% of the time, and almost every corner of the dark city is teeming with life. Unfortunately, a lot of the NPC's faces are very badly done. But you don't really see them full in front of you at all, so I guess it's not bad. Still, the game boasts some impressive flair. Here's some screenshots:






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Gameplay...9/10
I've play a few street brawlers similar to this before, but never one that was this satisfying! The fighting mechanics are very well done, and very cool. You can pull off some pretty bad-ass attacks when fist fighting your enemies, but you can also pull out some nice attacks with weapons you can buy or pick up during a fight. Using the Heat Meter, you can perform stronger and more extreme fighting techniques by getting it up? How do you do that you ask? By kicking some ass! And trust me, in this game, it's not hard to do once you level up your character enough with the Experience distributor. You can choose to add experience to 3 different areas of fighting. Soul, Technique, and Body. Soul is for giving your character special combat attributes. Technique is for obtaining new combo attacks or moves for battle. Body is for increasing your health meter, and increasing the damage of attacks you deal out and decreasing the amount of damage you receive. There could maybe only be one flop in the games gameplay design: the character movement on the streets while not in a fight. When the game switches camera angles when you go onto a different street, the character movement get messed up for a second, and you have to stop to get him realigned again. It's a small flaw, but can be slightly annoying after a while. Other than that, this game is great to play!
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Overall...25/30
With the addicting combat style in the game, good graphics, and dark story, this game is bound to keep you playing. Besides a few flaws every now and then, this game stands out in the crowd of brawler games. I hope you enjoyed my review.

[Iceskater101]

cool reviews please do more!

[Scott]

Sounds like a good game. I heard that Sega have no plans to bring it to Europe though which really sucks.

[Iceskater101]

I have never even heard of that game before! lol this is the first time I have heard of it

[Nerdy Knight]

Sounds like a good game. I heard that Sega have no plans to bring it to Europe though which really sucks.

Well, apparently they made a sequel for it in Japan in like 06 or 07, and are making it in Europe this year. But so far, no U.S. release date! That makes me sad face.

[Iceskater101]

oooooh that sucks

[Scott]

I have never even heard of that game before! lol this is the first time I have heard of it

Cold be because its japanese and has just been released in the US.

2800 Posts!

[Nerdy Knight]

Cold be because its japanese and has just been released in the US.

2800 Posts!

No...it's been out in the U.S. for several years now. I just rented it on Friday because I heard it was a fairly good game, to find out that is was actually a very good game! Our electric store is a little...dated.

BTW, don't you mean 3800 posts?

[Scott]

No...it's been out in the U.S. for several years now. I just rented it on Friday because I heard it was a fairly good game, to find out that is was actually a very good game! Our electric store is a little...dated.

BTW, don't you mean 3800 posts?

Oh right. Well I cant rent DVD's or Games. All of our rental stores in this town have shut up. I'd need to go to the next town.

Yeah 3800 thats what I meant lol

[Raw!]

I'd love to get this game, but I don't have PS2. Nice review.