Yakuza
Step into the neon-lit nuances of backstreet Tokyo...
Once a top-down, almost tongue in cheek re-creation of life as a hard-nail gangster, the Grand Theft Auto series exploded into a title that helped shift a zillion and one PS2s and defined to the masses an experience of free roaming, bare knuckled life on the streets not seen since Sega's much adored Shenmue. Many have tried yet, arguably, none have succeeded in improving on Rockstar's benchmark series, not least a Japanese developer such as the aforementioned Sega. The Japanese company finds itself nestled in a culture that shies away from realistic violence in videogames, something proven by the relatively muted reception to GTA, as well as first-person shooters, with genres such as RPGs de rigour in the region. Until now.
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Enter Yakuza, a title named after and based upon the activities of the criminal Japanese underworld, a way of life never previously fantasised to the extent of its American counterpart, in videogaming terms at least. It's not quite like GTA in that there's less focus on gun crime and a total free-roaming experience, but there are certain similarities between the two. You play the role of Kazuma Kiryu, a devout member of the yakuza who takes the flak and the resulting ten-year prison sentence after one of his comrades kills the leader of a rival organisation. When he emerges from the slammer a lot has changed. Keen to rejoin the yakuza fellowship of which he was once a devout member, he somehow gets involved in all sorts of trouble, mishaps which shape the game's convoluted plot line. There are kidnaps, missing people, millions of yen at stake and of course a lot of fisticuffs.
The game is propelled heavily by its plot which often unfolds in the form of lengthy cut-scenes. To put this into a little bit of perspective, you won't be button bashing any more than about five minutes in the first half an hour or more after first booting up the game. The bulk of proper gameplay, i.e. not sitting around twiddling your thumbs involves many a street fight where the odds in terms of numbers are squarely against you. These brawls can either be slotted in to play as part of the story or just random encounters with burly thugs just out to pick fights, while the combat system is built on the foundations of simple button-pressing combinations in order to deliver blows to your foes. The further you progress into the game the more elaborate your attacks become, though they never get so complicated that you're going to be left tapping away in any old order in the hope of getting a result. In fact, learning moves and combos is a satisfying experience, especially once you get to see Kiryu's impressively stylistic execution of said moves. And there's room for experimentation in all of this, too, which is, y'know, nice. As well as your bare fists, all matter of props can be used to defeat enemies, stuff that includes almost anything you can imagine being employed to bonk a baddie over the head with. With a bit of perseverance you'll be killing everyone in the face with the flair of a nimble ballerina, minus the tights and tutu of course.
However, combat isn't without its problems. The camera, whilst cutting to the most intense action in bone-crunchingly forceful slow motion, can also sometimes struggle to keep up with the onscreen action. It has a habit of jarring at the most inconvenient of moments, resulting in an unfair fatality for our poor hero. In addition, the frequency of random battles can quickly get on your wick, especially when all you want to do is get on with things. You'll feel like screaming for everyone to let you be instead of picking on you time and time again. Furthermore, most enemies besides the bosses are really no match for your fighting 'skillz' once you've settled into a fool proof method of beating anyone who dares challenge you, making the frequent combat less than an exciting prospect. However, most annoying are the loading times before each battle. They're long and cause a maddening that'll leave you sighing and begging to switch the power off at the next checkpoint.
People of a Japanese origin are commonly regarded as a race with a relatively slight build. However, the portrayal (of the male species at least) in Yakuza could not be further from this. To put it frankly, they're all built like personifications of the mighty American redwood. The broadness of their shoulders is akin only to the wingspan of a large passenger jet, but it's their hands that are their scariest asset. The hands! They're huge! Gigantic elongated talons with only one use - to make a good job of crushing someone's face in until even their mother doesn't recognise them. Honestly, it's got to be seen to be believed. Yakuza's other visual delights are of a less superhuman nature. The game is mostly confined to a small inner city district of Japan, complete with packed streets and enough light bulbs to make Blackpool's Christmas illuminations look like the LED on your television remote control. The game's characters and combat animations are also convincingly conveyed, although the former set of motions does become repetitive. However, if one thing more than any other shatters the authenticity of Yakuza's Japanese metropolis it's the in-game voice acting. Unbearably, with no option to resort to the game's original Japanese cast and English subtitles you're stuck with an American lot who seem just a little too keen to please. For the most part they're unnaturally loud, brash and have a penchant for emphasising expletives, which is a real pity.
Ignoring Yakuza's obvious oversights there's a lot for Sega to be proud of here, and similarly quite a bit for gamers to get their teeth stuck into. The story and setting is unusual in gaming terms and the attempts at mini-games and side quests are fair if not brilliant - there are simple gambling and dating experiences to while away the time. It's just a case of proportions - too much storyline and too much random battling - and if we're going down the route of size comparison, hands and shoulders need attention too. Don't let that put you off, mind you. Yakuza is definitely a title that does more right than it does wrong.
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Comments
its rather jiffy !!!!