Ashwin Hary
Edward 1
Yakuza 2(PS2) review.
September 24th 2009 15:00
An underrated gem on an outdated system; Yakuza 2 brings modern Japanese opera to Australian gamers.
Disclaimer: With not a single English translation option to be seen, players were treated with the purest version of the story, even if one word couldn’t be understood, it’s better reading subtitles than sub-par dubs, like with anime or manga.
You play Kiryu Kazuma, a leader of a Yakuza family with moral values like a saint. The story, in a nutshell, involves two Yakuza families trying to wipe each other out. Kiryu is then on a mission to save the family, recruit past friends, beat up old and tackle new enemies, solve puzzles, piece together a fragmented past, discover traitors in his ranks, play golf and win a toy for his girlfriend from a skill machine.
The Metal Gear Solid and recent Final Fantasy series were known for their long cut scenes, only to be countered with an interesting and engaging storyline. Yakuza 2 is similar, except replace sneaking around and turn-based/active battles with Beat-Em-Up gameplay. What brings the cut scenes to life is the oriental music playing so subtle in the background, with a song playing appropriately to the events in the scene. Hearing the city noise, as the camera cuts and pans, makes a normal conversation between two characters standing still into something intriguing and you know this game is special. From a film critic’s and Beat-Em-Up fanboy’s point of view; Yakuza 2 does so much right.
When you do get to play in the game’s world, it is absolutely huge and populated. There are many places, like bars, restaurants, game arcades, and even gambling houses to walk into and get distracted by for hours, try winning a stuffed toy in the skill tester machines, it’s quite hard. However, there are times in the game where Kiryu won’t be specifically instructed where to go, so it gets frustrating trying to find the area to go to advance the storyline. This game is also not for people who live on the go. The cut scenes are long, and unless you only like American dramas, then the different pace of storytelling in Asian dramas might bore you.
When Kiryu gets to fight multiple opponents, he can kick, punch, tackle, throw and even tag team against any foe. The greatest highlight of each fight involves a finisher: where Kiryu grabs a fighter, moves into a context-sensitive area, like a wall, and mercilessly smash their face in with his foot or fist, slomo, close up camera shot, delivering the ultimate pwn angle!
The fighting is fun and satisfying ONLY when the game transports you into an open field fighting arena. Horrible camera angles appear when Kiryu has to traverse a multi-floored area, where it would not listen to your commands because it couldn’t pass through a wall. In these sections, the player starts to focus on babysitting the camera, which is frustrating, sometimes Kiryu would have to exit and enter into a room again just to get the camera to follow through without becoming stuck behind a wall.
The worst enemy in the game is the large enemies blocking doorways in the multi-floored areas. They cannot be knocked down, they do not move, and exercise the same attack, over and over. The gameplay screeches to a halt as Kiryu would spend time throwing stuff at them, and if there isn’t anything to throw, sometimes all the player can do is walk in, punch, and walk out, enemy miss swing, rinse and repeat.
The sometimes frustrating gameplay in multi-storied areas and seemingly aimless running around doesn’t ruin the overall experience. It’s a small part in an epic storyline, the way it unfolds and contains as much twists found in Japanese dramas. A likeable main character and cast shows off their personality through the well crafted cutscenes. The literally bone-crunching gameplay is so awesome to watch and execute. Kiryu is placed in a large area he can run around and spend hours wasting virtual money into virtual skill testing machines, play golf, gamble and even impress virtual hostesses. All its elements combine into one of the best storylines and action-orientated game in the market. If you come across it in the ever dwindling shelves housing PS2 games at your local games store, you wouldn’t be going wrong if you pick it up.
GamerVerdict: 4/5
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