Excellent game especially for shen mue fans (Yakuza (PS2))

Member Name: welshmikey

Product:	Yakuza (PS2)
Date:	17/02/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great graphics and sound, great game play

Disadvantages: Not a lot without being really picky

The Yakuza (in real life) are essentially the Japanese equivalent of the mafia. They are a very well known organized crime organization, possibly the most famous after the mafia and the triad.

The game itself take place with the player acting the role of Kiryu Kazuma, a well respected and feared member of the dojima clan held in high regards by the previous clan leader. Kirya Kazuma at the start of the game has spent the last 10 years in prison after being found at a murder scene holding a gun, and upon his release has come to find out the dojima clan has changed quite a bit with a new leader and there is a lot of inte rclan fighting due to 100 million yen that has goen missing. On top of the main story in which Kirya Kazuma is trying to find out what has caused all these changes both within the clan and the kazuya as a whole there are lots of smaller story lines integrated into the story such as finding a girls mother, playign casino games, flirting and generally just generally fighting punks.

The game is a delight to play and the graphics and sound of a high standard with the ps2 limitations in mind. New moves can be learnt and weapons found and used, during fighting there is also a heat gauge that when full allows you to use extra more powerful moves. Throughout the game your characters stamina, power and skill prgresses realisticly.

For those of you who used to play Shen Mue this game is very similar though not as good imo, shen mue has more moves and more of a storyline, unfortunately the story line in shen mue was never finished because the game at the time was the most expensive one in history.

There isn't much to criticize in this game. The only thing I hated about it was one shooting level where the cut scene was a bit long and the level, for me, very hard. This meant I continuously had to keep watching the same cut scene over and over again.

Summary: A highly fun to play martial arts rpg