"Fails miserably at being a River City Ransom clone"

I'll start off by stating that this game is a Simple 2000 title, meaning it is a budget game (costing 2000¥). Simple 2000 games are made in Japan by D3, and many are translated for Europe by 505 Game Street (a few lucky ones come to the US as well). The Ninhanza (vol. 72) is one of them, which goes by "Yakuza Fury" in PAL territories.

The game starts off with a basic premise; you're a young man trying to get into the mob.

Basically, here's how it goes. You start by beating up a few guys on the street, then you get into the mob. You can then explore the streets, beating up more guys, and picking up cash ala River City Ransom. There is a store where you can purchase outfits, weapons, and accessories for your character which access new moves.

Here's the catch and the spoiler...

THE GAME IS ONLY THREE LEVELS LONG!

No joke, three levels. They're not very long, either. Once you "enter" level 2 (go to your dojo), you basically can't do any more free roaming or go back to the store. You then beat up bad guys at your dojo, then level 3 starts. In level three you can't go back to the store, you just walk a straight line left through the streets and eventually fight the final boss.

The game saves after each level, so you can keep your income. For some strange reason, it doesn't save your income after you beat the game. You can then restart the game with the same inventory and income from LEVEL TWO.

Here's another tidbit... the game isn't fun enough to bother playing through multiple times to get all of the items. Did I mention you need to equip certain items to use certain moves, and only one at a time can be used in any category? For example, there's a jacket that allows you to block, and another that lets you roll. Can you use both? No.

Let's break it down, shall we?

Graphics: decent for a budget title, but it's all just the same four or five character models and the monotonous background of buildings, then a bland dojo, and a small park.

Sound: blah music, generic stock sound effects, no voice acting.

Gameplay: horrible AI, loose controls. Get to the characters with the guns and you'll understand completely. Also, if you equip the sword you're basically invincible. Did I mention there's super moves that either knock everyone on the screen down or give you super-cheap power?

Extras: none. No two player mode, either.

Replay value: ABSOLUTELY NONE. Not even variable difficulty switches! Honestly, this game is not even worth renting. Play Shenmue for 10 minutes, then River City Ransom for 15, you'll be spending as much time as you would beating this game but will actually feel like coming back for more instead of feeling empty inside.

All in all, the game feels very cheap... because it is. However, cheapness aside, there is absolutely no excuse for this game to be beatable in 25 minutes (NO JOKE, I TIMED IT). You don't even have reason to explore the whole town (read: two streets and a side alley).

Here's the factors that would have made the game a LOT better:
- if the game were AT LEAST two or three levels longer
- if it saved your money after beating the last level
- difficulty settings
- two player mode (or at least a versus mode)

Bottom line:
The only reason I have this game is because I wanted to try all of the PS2 beat-em-ups out there (Final Fight Streetwise, Beatdown, The Warriors, Urban Reign, etc., etc.), and this is by far the worst. Even by Simple 2000 standards, this game fails.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 06/14/06