No, this is not GTA meets Japanese organized crime. Far from it indeed.

User Rating: 7 | Ryuu ga Gotoku PS2
By Unorthodox1978 | Review Date:
When I first head that Yakuza was in development, I must admit I was excited. When I got my hands on it, I was taken aback. I erroneously assumed it would resemble Grand Theft Auto. In all reality, it's much more like Devil May Cry, only not as fun. The game places players squarely into the role of Kazuma Kiryu, a buffed up Yakuza soldier with a giant-sized dragon tattoo on his back. He takes the fall for the murder of his faction's Oyabun (Boss). Consequently, Kiryu is sent to prison and remains there for the next ten years. Upon release from prison, he notices that his crime family and other crime families are in complete disarray. Game play wise, the game is a straight up beat-em up. The game has RPG elements to it, in that one can gain experience and use that experience to purchase combat upgrades. This can help immensely towards the end of the game. Also, random battles make a lot of appearances here. The combat isn't entirely deep and its the lack of depth that hurts this game considerably.

The story is somewhat off-center. It isn't a "crime drama" as one would expect. However, the story does answer some puzzling questions that are brought up during the main story line. Another headache about this game is that the in-game map is very small. You essentially run around a fictitious city in Tokyo. You can use a cab to move from one part of the map to another, but it still doesn't feel like a fully living and breathing world. It comes off very sterile and artificial. So, hopefully the sequel (yes, there is a sequel) will improve upon this tidbit. The game features adequate voice acting from celebrities like Michael Madsen, Eliza Dushku, Michael Rosenbaum, etc. What would've really been good was if Sega added a Japanese soundtrack with English subtitles. It would've added to the authenticity. You can't expect for everyone in a suburb of Tokyo to speak perfect English. Finally on a more off-color note, this game has more cursing in it than The Getaway. Almost every other word is a profane, four-letter utterance. Cursing does not add to the "organized crime" feeling. Since the cursing is so prominent in this game, it actually becomes funny, then swiftly transitions to annoying. Graphics wise, this game won't win or lose any beauty contests. As far as sound is concerned, do yourself a favor and pop in your favorite CD into your stereo, because the music in this game is lackluster at best. If you're into beat-em up games, then Yakuza may be for you. If you're expecting a Grand Theft Auto Japan, leave this game alone.

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