Hey all. I've been pretty busy lately (alas, no new personal art for the past couple of weeks) but I've been busy plugging away at Sega's Yakuza for the PS2 for a few months now (I actually got the game last year, but only started playing it over the summer). When it was first released in North America, it was handily dismissed by many reviewers as another Grand Theft Auto clone... a free-roaming third-person action game/"crime" sim that relies on the shock value of foul language and prurient content to drive sales. I'm happy to say that it isn't, and it probably looks to the seminal action-RPG, Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past for the SNES as its spiritual predecessor more than GTA or even Sega's Shenmue. On to the review!

Story (4/5): Too many games these days serve up the flimsiest of plots as an excuse for all the shooting, brawling or what-have-you that happens in games. Sure, that isn't really a problem in a game like Guitar Hero or Katamari Damacy but in a cinematic, story-driven, quasi action-RPG, the player needs a fairly substantial plot to hang the gameplay onto, especially that when gameplay can devolve into a repetitive "level grinding" experience as the game goes on. The story starts out generically enough... the player assumes the role of Kazuma Kiryu, a veritable "gangster-with-a-heart-of-gold" who takes the rap for a murder he didn't commit, leaving behind a promising career as a Yakuza enforcer, his girlfriend, and his best buddy (also a Yakuza gangster). Anyway, Kazuma is released on parole after 10 years in the joint (he went to prison in 1995, and the game is set in 2005), and he finds that his world isn't what it used to be. His girlfriend has gone missing, his best friend is now a ruthless mob boss, and everybody has cell phones. The story basically involves the player investigating the causes behind a brewing Yakuza civil war over succession and finances. And while many of the "surprise" plot elements are telegraphed pretty early, there are enough plot twists to keep the player fairly entertained. It's not Oscar-worthy material, but it's at least on par with a lot of the recent crime thrillers Hollywood churns out.

Besides the main story, there are also a number of side-quests that aren't necessary to finish the game.  Kazuma will bump into all manner of people as he investigates, all needing help or requiring his services in one way or another. Some offer a pleasant distraction while others are simply annoying. There's also a dating mini-game, where Kazuma can woo "hostesses" by giving them gifts and giving the appropriate replies the the females' questions (a quick note on "hostesses" and "hostess bars": a phenomenon restricted to Asian countries, as far as I know... "hostesses" are the modern equivalent of geisha, employed by bars to entertain clients with conversation and encourage them to run up their food and liquor bill). There's a lot of suggestive language and sexual innuendo in some of the side missions (although those elements are absent from the main story missions), which is only appropriate since the setting is a red-light district in Tokyo filled with strip clubs, bars, and pimps. None of it comes off as being tasteless, although your mileage may vary.

My biggest problem with the story is probably the dialogue... while the localization of the game is better than what we see from most Japan-first releases and there aren't any cases of blatant "Engrish," some of the dialogue still seems awkward, and I think part of the reason is perhaps because they attempted to match the dialogue with the models' mouth movements, which can lead to some unintentionally hilarious lines. Also, the over-the-top swearing can get grating after a while (I drop f-bombs as much as the next guy, but they really needed some more variety in their swear words... there was one instance where a character used the f-word 3 times in a single sentence, as a verb, a noun, and in its adjectival form).

Graphics 4/5: I was impressed with the high level of detail in the environments and the models (especially given how many of them can be on-screen at any given time), and the complete lack of pop-up when drawing large scenes. Still, there are a fairly limited number of models in use, and you can't shake the feeling that you're fighting the same guys over and over by the time you're a third of the way through the game. There's some limited collision detection issues, but nothing out of the norm from your standard PS2 game.

Sound 4/5: I absolutely love the music in this game. Sure, there's the generic rock-meets-techno "fight music" that plays when you're fighting, but there are lots of beautiful pieces of music littered throughout the game, from the jazzy tunes played in old-style bars, to the bouncy J-pop played in the game's convenience stores, and the touching piano interlude in one of the final missions. The sound effects are decent, but nothing outstanding. Voicework is by some pretty famous and competent actors... Eliza (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Dushku voices Yumi (Kazuma's girlfriend), Michael (Smallville) Rosenbaum plays Kazuma's best friend Nishiki, and Michael (Reservoir Dogs) Madsen, Mark (Star Wars, Batman) Hammill, and Rachel Leigh Cook all play supporting roles as well. Still, I wish there was an option to use the original Japanese voice cast (if only so that the dialogue matches up with the mouth movements).

Gameplay 3/5: This is probably the weakest aspect of the game. Much of the combat in the game is in the form of brawling (although firearms are readily available later in the game, and there's even an on-the-rails shooting mission). Controls are fairly straightforward, and if you've played Devil May Cry, Dynasty Warriors, Rise of the Kasai, or God of War before, you'll find the simple controls in Yakuza pretty easy to master. The problem is that there isn't any real opponent "lock-on" feature so I found myself manually lining up Kazuma with his opponent, only to swing wildly at thin air at times (even though the opponent wasn't executing a side-step or dodge move) because of the iffy camera. Kazuma earns experience points when fighting or finishing side missions (or successfully "wooing" the hostesses), and he can then use these points to improve three statistics: Soul (basically a power meter that gives him increased damage attacks for a limited time period, also determines how much damage he can block), Moves (putting points in the meter unlocks more attacks), and Body (his health). The fixed-camera is a constant issue in the game, and it makes exploring areas more troublesome than it should be.

There are mini-games to be found, from gambling games in the casinos (baccarat, roulette, blackjack, dice), a timing game in the form of a baseball batting cage, an "Asian massage parlor" rhythm game (don't ask), and a dedicated cage fighting venue to practice your brawling skills (there's also an actual training venue that you can use to unlock additional attacks). There are also all sorts of semi-useful to completely worthless knick-knacks to collect in the game (mostly acquired by completing side missions) and their value depends on how important it is to you to get a 100% completion rating (IIRC, I finished 35% of all the side missions and unlocked 80% of all his moves in my first playthrough).   

Value 5/5 (used); 4/5 (new): This is a pretty long game. I logged 24 hours of gameplay, and that was just playing the main story missions and a third of the side missions (counting 7 restarts from times that I died in-game). Players looking for a 100% completion rate and looking to level up Kazuma to his best possible ranking by the end of the game would probably spend at least twice as long as that. That's a lot of gaming to be had for something I picked out of the bargain bin for $12. Even at full-price (approx. $45), that's still more gameplay than most people are used to with brawlers.

Overall 4/5: If you're a fan of crime movies or Grand Theft Auto, you'll want to give this game a look. Old school players who enjoyed playing Double Dragon, River City Ransom, and Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past might want to give this game a try too, since it uses elements pioneered by those games effectively in a modern console setting. Highly recommended.

Trivia: This game is one of the costliest ever made ($21 million production cost). A sequel has already been released in Japan and an English version of the sequel is in the works for 2008 (both Yakuza games[ have some of the highest ratings ever given by the magazine Famitsu. Although it has been praised as one of the best games released recently for the PS2, it doesn't have much of a following outside of Japan. A film based on the game is set to be directed by the critically-acclaimed Takashi Miike.

I saw a review of the game on X Play and watched an episode of Cheat that went over a few things, and the X Play review said the controls were the biggest problem with the game. For me, the big problem is that there isn't a lot of use of guns. Doesn't make sense that you wouldn't be busting some caps in opponents.

Quote from: zuludelta on November 21, 2007, 04:38:25 PM
(a quick note on "hostesses" and "hostess bars": a phenomenon restricted to Asian countries, as far as I know... "hostesses" are the modern equivalent of geisha, employed by bars to entertain clients with conversation and encourage them to run up their food and liquor bill).

The girl I'm dating was a hostess in SanFran. She would sing kareoke, make guy's order expensive drinks and flirt. She said it was extremely good pay and that a lot of the girls there supplemented it by going home with some of the clientelle. Of course that was a long time ago, back in her 'crazy youth'.

Game sounds awesome though, I really wanted to play it when it came out but honestly I never bought a PS2, then I held out figuring I would buy a PS3 but the price was totally restrictive... and now that it went down it's not backwards compatible. WTF I say... WTF.

I always enjoy your reviews, ZD, they are well thought and and well written. Like you i dismissed Yakuza as a GTA clone, but I'll have to have a closer look now.
Luguru: WTF, Indeed. I can't see why I would buy a PS3  anytime in the next three years, without backwards compatibility its just another console :(

Quote from: Carravaggio on November 22, 2007, 04:23:37 PM
I always enjoy your reviews, ZD, they are well thought and and well written. Like you i dismissed Yakuza as a GTA clone, but I'll have to have a closer look now.
Luguru: WTF, Indeed. I can't see why I would buy a PS3  anytime in the next three years, without backwards compatibility its just another console :(

er, as far as I know, only one version of ps3 doesnt have Backwards compatibility of some type (emulation/software) and that was the 40gb version. Every other version regularly gets updated to add more ps1/2 games to the compatibility list (like xbox 360...i suppose, though I dont think they update their compatibility list [shrugs]). Alas, it may be just another console...but that complaint hasn't stopped nintendo from radically redesigning every system they create to use a new type of cartridge/cd, has it? I'm just sayin'...

Quote from: lugaru on November 22, 2007, 05:25:19 AM

Quote from: zuludelta on November 21, 2007, 04:38:25 PM
(a quick note on "hostesses" and "hostess bars": a phenomenon restricted to Asian countries, as far as I know... "hostesses" are the modern equivalent of geisha, employed by bars to entertain clients with conversation and encourage them to run up their food and liquor bill).

The girl I'm dating was a hostess in SanFran. She would sing kareoke, make guy's order expensive drinks and flirt. She said it was extremely good pay and that a lot of the girls there supplemented it by going home with some of the clientelle. Of course that was a long time ago, back in her 'crazy youth'.

I spent my mid to late teens living in a hole-in-the-wall apartment in Ermita/Malate, Manila's red light district (I lived right above a karaoke/hostess bar), and I was good friends with the mama-san (who was actually a transvestite!) and the hostesses who worked under him/her. Good times, good times.

Quote from: lugaru on November 22, 2007, 05:25:19 AM
Game sounds awesome though, I really wanted to play it when it came out but honestly I never bought a PS2, then I held out figuring I would buy a PS3 but the price was totally restrictive... and now that it went down it's not backwards compatible. WTF I say... WTF.

Quote from: Carravaggio on November 22, 2007, 04:23:37 PM
I always enjoy your reviews, ZD, they are well thought and and well written. Like you i dismissed Yakuza as a GTA clone, but I'll have to have a closer look now.
Luguru: WTF, Indeed. I can't see why I would buy a PS3  anytime in the next three years, without backwards compatibility its just another console :(

As Prev already mentioned, two out of the three iterations of the PS3 console have backwards-compatibility to some degree (the 40 gig model doesn't support emulation for PS2 games). Still, there have been some hiccups with backwards-compatibility (which is to be expected since they went with a totally different processor architecture in the PS3). If you really want a foolproof way to play PS2 games, it's probably more economical to just buy a slimline PS2 (I've seen them selling for as low as $90 on some sites) rather than bank on the PS3's somewhat spotty backwards compatibility feature. Buying a slimline PS2 along with a 40 gig PS3 would probably cost just as much as (or even a little less than) buying an 80 gig PS3, and you even maintain the ability to play PS1 games.

Trailer for the movie:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=J5uM-gJIetA

They really managed to get the game's look down, right down to Haruka's puppy, and the music, while not an exact replica of the game's jazz-meets-rock soundtrack, is great. Not sure about Kazuki Kitamura playing the lead role, though... he looks too much like a pop idol/heartthrob to play a tough guy gangster.

Don't know if a DVD with English subtitles is out, though... the only DVDs I've seen have Chinese subtitles (although I'm pretty sure some enterprising kotaku has posted sub files somewhere out there, most likely on kloofy.net).

I'm a huge Miike fan and even though his tendency twards self indulgence (and hyper violence) can be a turn off well frankly I cannot imagine anybody I would prefer for this film.

I wonder if he has some major anti-climatic mind @#%#@ near the end. Ever watch Gozu or Ichi?

Quote from: lugaru on December 05, 2007, 06:07:04 PM
I'm a huge Miike fan and even though his tendency twards self indulgence (and hyper violence) can be a turn off well frankly I cannot imagine anybody I would prefer for this film.

I wonder if he has some major anti-climatic mind @#%#@ near the end. Ever watch Gozu or Ichi?

I'm familiar with the Ichi The Killer manga, but never saw the highly-touted film based on it. Was it any good?

The film based on the Yakuza game, entitled Ryu ga Gotoku has been received with mixed reviews by fans of the game. They laud the note-perfect renditions of some of the characters but didn't appreciate some of the bigger changes from the original video game storyline. I'll probably wait and see if any of my friends end up getting it or if a <ahem> budget-priced "import copy" shows up in the local Asian video shops.   

Quote from: zuludelta on December 06, 2007, 03:23:45 PM
<ahem> budget-priced "import copy" shows up in the local Asian video shops.   

Almost all 'budget titles' I see in the local 'aquariums' and 'gift shops' are primarily chinese titles, but occasionally a korean or japanese movie will make it through. I've got high hopes for Yakuza, seems like the type that gets 'imported'. I love using the " and ' key's when I talk about chinatown...  :D

About Ichi... gawd... I dont know what to say. I'm a huge wuss when it comes to onscreen violence and I made it through but then again it was quite desensitizing, quite traumatic. I wont give anything away but the entire movie could be considered a study on the revenge genre and who our 'heroes' really are... kind of like Oldboy. "Wow, he's totally going to get the girl and defeat the badguy in the end!"

I recomend pretty much all of his work, especially audition. His knack for sound in his movie is flawless, right up there with Lynch and Chronemberg. And yeah, he is extremely prolific so it is unfair to say he only does super violent feel bad movies, but frankly his most famous movies do fall into that category.

One of my friends is a huge Miike fan, and she's always convincing me to watch DVDs of his films. Aside from Oldboy though, I don't think I've connected on an emotional level with many of his films that I've seen. Could just be that the direction isn't enough for me to overlook some of the wonky plots that he works with (and I actually feel the same way about Lynch and Cronenberg).

Quote from: zuludelta on December 09, 2007, 12:57:17 PM
One of my friends is a huge Miike fan, and she's always convincing me to watch DVDs of his films. Aside from Oldboy though, I don't think I've connected on an emotional level with many of his films that I've seen. Could just be that the direction isn't enough for me to overlook some of the wonky plots that he works with (and I actually feel the same way about Lynch and Cronenberg).

The reason you connected with Oldboy is that it's not a Miike film, it is by Chan Wook Park but I used it (surrounded by bad grammar) as an example. Hmm... in that case you gotta check out Sympathy for Lady Vengace by Chan Wook Park, it is honestly one of the best movies I've seen, period. A woman is framed for the murder of a kidnapped child out of fear that they will murder her own little girl. She serves a bunch of years while her girl is put up for adoption and since she goes around being super nice not only does she get commuted early but she has a bunch of ex-con friends now who owe her favors. The movie is just gorgeous and not gratuitously violent. It also has a wonderful dreamlike quality to it... for more Miike and Park work check out these shorts, I did a review a while back:

http://www.theconnoisseurs.com/threeextremes.html