"Much better than expected"

On paper it looked like a disaster. A game with Shenmue and GTA undertones set in the Japanese underworld that's for an American audience? Who would greenlight something like that? Well, I'm here to say that Yakuza is an incredibly good game that, except for an open world, has little to do with GTA.

Story: 8/10

Surprisingly deep, you play as Kazuma, a rising star of the Yakuza. The game starts out in 1995 with Kazuma delivering a drop and finding a member of his family has killed their boss. Kazuma takes the fall and spends 10 years in prison (Don't worry. This was info was released before the game came out.). Soon after he gets out he discovers that 10 billion yen has been stolen. He attempts to discover what happened to the money. Several subplots and great voice acting bring the story to life. The most annoying thing, though, is all the swearing. Virtually every sentence has some sort of swear word which is disappointing. A game doesn't need to swear alot to be mature.

Gameplay: 7/10

Yakuza is mostly a fighting game with RPG qualities. Sounds terrible right? Except for a few minor problems, it's not. While on missions you will have random encounters with enemies. What's nice about this is that they are all visible and if someone wants to fight the controller will vibrate. You will then be able to avoid a fight or stick around and duke it out. These people range from street thugs who want to rob you to other Yakuza members looking to kill you. You gain points during these fights that can then be used to upgrade your character. What really lowers the score is that if you're in the middle of a combo and an enemy evades you, you remain stuck in that combo, defenseless. What also would have been nice is a lock on feature. Why, you may ask? Because of the immovable camera. See, because you can't move the camera you're stuck with not knowing where your enemies are which usually results in a few cheap hits. The fights though, come with a large assortment of weapons that can be used, each with a certain amount of uses before it's destroyed.

The Heat function is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the fighting system. After you beat up on your enemies enough times to fill your Heat gauge you can then execute a finishing move. Grab hold of a smaller enemy, drag him to a wall and pound his head into the wall. Use a golf club and snap his neck. Upgrade your Heat gauge and you will be able to slam a table on top of a fallen enemy.

Another low in the game are the stealth missions. You have to completely avoid any guards in the area otherwise you will fail. These missions irritated me to the point of anger but thankfully they're few and far between.

Environment: 7/10

The city is teeming with life. From beggars to couples chatting with each other to people trying to get you to go to their bar the city just feels real. The graphics are also top notch and pulls you in further. You can dictate the choices of what's said in some conversations, which, of course, changes what the other character says to you. You can stop a purse snatcher or catch a guy who bailed on his restaurant tab or you can even get conned! I won't spoil the surprise but if you allow yourself to get conned you can then open up a fight you normally wouldn't get. In fact, their are a few sections in the game where you get a chance to engage in hidden boss fights if you engage in certain activities.

Their are some points in the game where you're given two missions at once. Choose to do one and not the other and you will fail to gain a valuable item.

You're given a large variety fun things to do that have nothing to do with the story. Eat at restaurants and gain experience points, swing at a batting cage, buy weapons from a bum and many other things make the game worth playing.

Buy/Rent:

While Yakuza is not for everyone, it should at least be rented. Clocking in around 15-20 hours it has enough substance to give it a try.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/19/06