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Yakuza
Sept 29, 2006 2:39:18 GMT -5
Post by Nove on Sept 29, 2006 2:39:18 GMT -5
Couldn't down load the clip as I don't have suitable plugins. Not to worry. Nove.
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Yakuza
Sept 29, 2006 16:45:00 GMT -5
Post by Madsengirl on Sept 29, 2006 16:45:00 GMT -5
Cool clip!
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Yakuza
Oct 1, 2006 20:58:13 GMT -5
Post by Nove on Oct 1, 2006 20:58:13 GMT -5
PS2 Review: Yakuza October 01, 2006 Jason "Njiska" Westhaver Yakuza Video Games, Usually ships in 24 hours Buy now from Amazon.com See also: » Xbox Live Arcade Review: DOOM » PSP Review: MLB 06 - The Show » Xbox 360 Review: NBA Live 07
In the Japanese card game Oicho-Kabu, the worst hand you can have is a set of 8, 9 and 3. To win with such a hand requires the most amount of skill and the least amount of luck. Why is any of this relevant? Because 8-9-3, in the traditional Japanese forms of counting, is "Ya", "Ku", "Sa", and it'll take more skill than luck to make it through Yakuza
At first glance, you'll find a solid beat 'em up, but look closer and you'll find an incredibly rich story and a surprisingly accurate look at Yakuza culture.
The game tells the story of former Yakuza, Kazuma Kiryu, who was expulsed from the family for murdering his own Oyabun (Family head). Ten years later, fresh out of prison, he returned to Tokyo looking to get his life back in order. Unfortunately for Kazuma, third Chairman Sera of the Tojo Clan has just been murdered and ¥10 billion has been stolen.
Already despised by other Yakuza, Kazuma quickly finds himself caught up in the whole messy affair. To make matters worse, Kazuma's former lover, Yumi, has gone missing.
Eventually Kazuma encounters a small orphan girl named Haruka. At first she seems like any other child, but Kazuma quickly learns of her true importance. Haruka is the daughter of Yumi's sister, Mizuki, is the key to finding the missing ¥10 billion.
Yakuza features a strong narrative that moves along in almost prefect sync with the action. Plot points develop at just the right pace to keep you interested, but without overloading you with information that you'll forget during your many, many battles.
The game offers dozens of moves and weapons to use to dispatch your main rivals, but actually pulling the moves off can be a little difficult. Often you'll miss an enemy and then find yourself caught in a combo, unable to defend against an incoming attack.
In battles with a large number of enemies you'll occasionally find yourself overwhelmed by your number of attackers and won't be able to pull off any attacks until you can escape the crowd.
Against slower enemies fighting is pretty easy, but against some of the faster bosses like Majima (voiced by Mark Hamill) it's almost impossible to land hits. Without a full compliment of health items, some bosses are nearly unbeatable.
Still, despite those issues, fighting mechanics aren't considerably worse then any other beat 'em up made in the last five years. Plus, battles are, on the whole, enjoyable. When you land an attack you'll feel the power of your punch thanks to the game's vicious animations.
Special power up attacks, especially those with weapons are exceptionally brutal and exhilarating. One such animation involves hitting an enemy in the arm with a baseball bat and then, when the fall to their knees, nailing them full force in the head. If you're particularly lucky this will be your final blow and you'll be treated to an awesome slo-mo effect.
Outside of combat, most of Yakuza involves running around Tokyo accomplishing certain tasks. You'll be able to take on several side missions that allow you to earn some extra money and some extra experience that can then be used to learn new moves and increase your abilities.
You'll also end up fighting in numerous random battles during your travels around Tokyo. These fights can be a great way to make a little money and to gain experience, but they can also be very frustrating because the game has to load before each fight. Think of it like an RPG, every time you encounter a random battle, the game loads a battle.
Some of the later missions can be rather frustrating due to a lack of information. One particular mission requires you find Haruka, but you're given no hints to where she may be, so you're forced to systematically scour the city. It takes a great deal of time, stalls the story to a crawl and is a generally unpleasant experience.
Some gamers may also be put off by the use of Resident Evil styled cinematic camera angles that make moving from one street to the next a real challenge.
Those annoyances aside, most of Yakuza's missions are quite entertaining. In one of the later missions you'll get to participate in a Virtua Cop styled chase sequence where you trade bullets with enemies using a cursor based interface. Unfortunately the game does not include light gun support.
Cut-scenes and voice work are surprisingly good with all voice actors, aside from Michael Madsen, matching their characters perfectly. That's not to say Madsen's voice work is bad, because it's not, but rather his voice simply does not fit the character he's portraying and it breaks the level of immersion the game attempts to build up.
Debi Derryberry, on the other hand, does an amazing job as the voice of Haruka. She really sells the part and listening to her talk is truly a treat.
Graphics and sound are on par with any other PS2 titles, but the game's music is a definite high point. During slow moments you'll hear is ambient noise or soft cords, but when there's action the game kicks in with hard rock and strong jazz tunes reminiscent of Cowboy Bebop.
Simply put, Yakuza is a great game with some noticeable issues. The game screams high class, but it's pulled down by less the prefect fight controls and static camera angles. If you like games with a good story or just like a solid beat 'em up (and can deal with some minor control issues), Yakuza is for you.
Yakuza is rated M (Mature) by the ESRB for Blood, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol, and Violence. Nove.
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Yakuza
Oct 26, 2006 21:54:30 GMT -5
Post by Nove on Oct 26, 2006 21:54:30 GMT -5
Earlier this year, EA did an exemplary job recreating the mafia world in the video game The Godfather, so it was only a matter of time before the Japanese equivalent got their due. Yakuza (PS2/Sega, Amusement Vision) is like an unholy splicing of two previous Sega titles: the colossal movie-meets-game masterpiece Shenmue and Amusement Vision’s own SpikeOut, a Final Fight-clone from last year. The beautiful cinematic scenes and engrossing storyline of the former and the non-stop action of the latter form a deadly tandem worthy of the name Yakuza.
Shenmue arrived before its time. Still unofficially the most expensive game ever made, the 2000 Sega Dreamcast title was famed game-maker Yu Suzuki’s attempt to create a non-linear game in a massive world where the player proceeds at his/her own pace. If it sounds familiar, it should. In 2001, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto 3 and its success in forging the open-action genre reduced Yu’s great opus to the discount bin. Sega never really recovered from their overly ambitious Dreamcast days, but given all that’s happened to them after they lost the console wars (including their merger with Sammy), if you give them a chance, Sega can still impress you.
The first noticeable element of Yakuza is its distinct cinematic style. Japan’s red light district is a visual feast of lights and colours. The characters inhabiting the seedy underworld all have their own original wardrobes, facial ticks and mannerisms. Sega even brought in some B-list Hollywood talent to supply the voiceover work, such as Eliza Dushku, Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum, Rachel Leigh Cook and the always superb Michael Madsen as a big, fat, evil Japanese crime boss. The cutscenes are wonderfully done, and more compelling than most movies I’ve seen this year.
Yakuza, for all its ability to spin a good tale of corruption and revenge, is no Shenmue. Shenmue was lauded for Yuzo Koshiro’s score, featuring an entire orchestra. Yakuza has a thumping mid-’90s arcade soundtrack, suitable for raging in the streets, but the constant guitar riff*ge does become an annoyance. The Final Fight controls are also hit-or-miss. The area-specific special moves you can perform look really cool (where the protagonist Kazuma uses the backgrounds in his attacks), and the amount of weapons littered around any given stage is similar to a slower Power Stone, but the combo system is nothing more than tapping. Thankfully, Kazuma learns new moves quite often, so the constant button mashing won’t become too repetitive. It’s also difficult to centre on an enemy holding the R1 button, dodging, blocking and attacking simultaneously.
Your appreciation of Yakuza will depend on how much you enjoy the storyline aspect of games. The gameplay is secondary to the characters and their experiences of working in the Japanese mafia, so Grand Theft Auto fans might not enjoy the linear game path and the lack of extras. There are massage parlours and Kazuma does have the opportunity to hang in bars with some nice ladies, so it’s not as if the game doesn’t deviate from the story at all.
The name Sega may not carry the same meaning it used to, but Yakuza hints at a rosy future for Hedgehog House.
Games make smart
The Federation of American Scientists released a report Oct. 18 that said the skills games teach students should be harnessed in the education system.
It could be true—kids would be more inclined to learn about World War II if they were playing Call of Duty, or how to beat hookers if they were playing Grand Theft Auto. Err…more research might be necessary. Nove.
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Yakuza
Oct 28, 2006 22:54:56 GMT -5
Post by Elena on Oct 28, 2006 22:54:56 GMT -5
I cannot see a clip. there writes --------- you must be and registered member to download this movie.
Is it there necessary to be registered?
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Yakuza
Nov 24, 2006 20:45:48 GMT -5
Post by Nove on Nov 24, 2006 20:45:48 GMT -5
doesn'tYakuza new
Image If you’re expecting a Japanese GTA style game, you’re going to be disappointed. If you want an action game with a linear story but would also like a little bit of free-roaming, pick up Yakuza. However be warned, it seems at times that there is more story than action.
You play as Kazuma, an up and coming Yakuza soldier of the Dojima family in the Toja clan. You are ready to start your own crime family within the clan when your best friend kills your boss. Being the kind-hearted killing machine that you are, you take the rap for the murder. 10 years later you are released on parole. However a lot has changed since you went into prison. The Third Chairman of the clan has been murdered, 10 billion yen has gone missing from the clan treasury and there is a inter-clan feud over who gets to be the next boss. Oh and everybody seems to hate you.
At the start you’ll be given a pretty in-depth introduction to the fighting system. You will also be sitting around twiddling your thumbs as the story is given a full introduction as well. Later on it doesn’t get much better. I found it quite hard to get into the game at the beginning as I spent more time with the controller on my lap watching the screen than in my hand kick arse in game. Now some people might like this sort of thing, but if I wanted to watch something about the Yakuza I would go and rent a DVD not play a game. I know the creators are trying to develop the characters so that when something happens to one of them you’ll feel hurt, betrayed or whatever emotion they were going for, but there must be a way to do this that involves more action.
The missions are relatively easy. You are normally sent to go and see someone who’s on the small sector of Tokyo that you are restricted to. As you head through the street some punk or maybe a Yakuza who recognises you, will stop you and after a few choice words are swapped between you and your opponent a load screen will appear naming your opponent and then you fight. The first few fights are just build ups helping you get experience points which I’ll go into soon. You can’t avoid these fights and really why would you? They’re easy and provide you with the aforementioned and much needed experience points.
The combat controls are easy to use. The fighting system is based around the square, triangle and every now and then the circle button. R1 and L1 are used to keep yourself facing the opponent and to block ao sticking with a combo of these buttons will see you quickly vanquish your foes. Disappointingly there is no gunplay on your part. Your enemies sometimes carry guns but they are more of an annoyance than a sign of your eminent death. You can use various objects that are lying around to help lay the smackdown on your rivals, ranging from any of the umber of boxes that seem to litter the streets of Tokyo through to the golf clubs and baseball bats that will be used against you and also the odd bicycle that some poor fool left lying in the street. These will break or become unusable after a few strikes of your opponent but they still add a lot of benefit to the fight. Also there is a “heat mode” that builds up as you fight, and once you reach the limit of the heat meter you can do special moves that will send you opponents flying. As you progress you will earn experience points. These are used to enhance your fighting abilities in different ways. The three areas that you can change with these points are: Technique, Body & Soul. Placing your experience points in either of these will increase your stats in other areas. By the end of the gamer you should however have enough points to have full experience in all three areas.
Even though you are stuck to a small part of Tokyo, what you see is fantastic. The characters are rendered equally well. The look of Yakuza is great. The combat sequences are also exciting to watch, though as good as the attack animations look, they soon get repetitive.
The developers managed to get some well named actors for the voices of the many characters. Michael Madsen, Mark Hamill, Rachel Leigh Cook, and Eliza Dushku just to name a few. However the American voices are overlaid with the animations from the Japanese voices. This leads to a few poorly timed dubbing issues. The rest of the sound is good. Some of the music can get monotonous but it is used where it should be.
The AI is ok. The fights, while not exactly choreographed, do seem a little predictable. And when you’re not fighting you’re either watching the storyline or running to the next mission. There will be a few times that your opponents get the better of you at the beginning, but once you learn the controls it’s not a problem.
There is limited replay ability in Yakuza. Once you finish the story there isn’t much more to do. You could go back and try on of the mini games that have been put into the game, you know the ones. The coin operated UFO catcher, blackjack, trying to seduce one of the hostesses at the bar… wait didn’t I mention that? Sorry.
In closing, Yakuza is an action game that provides a good immersive story line. You can get a little tired of just sitting at the start but once you get into the story you will find yourself in a very atmospheric world. The fighting style is fun and easy to get used too. All up a very good game.
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Yakuza
Jan 24, 2007 22:49:33 GMT -5
Post by Nove on Jan 24, 2007 22:49:33 GMT -5
Gareth,I think is from the Auckland University. Just thought I would post this. PS2: Yakuza Written by Gareth
ImageIf you’re expecting a Japanese GTA style game, you’re going to be disappointed. If you want an action game with a linear story but would also like a little bit of free-roaming, pick up Yakuza. However be warned, it seems at times that there is more story than action.
You play as Kazuma, an up and coming Yakuza soldier of the Dojima family in the Toja clan. You are ready to start your own crime family within the clan when your best friend kills your boss. Being the kind-hearted killing machine that you are, you take the rap for the murder. 10 years later you are released on parole. However a lot has changed since you went into prison. The Third Chairman of the clan has been murdered, 10 billion yen has gone missing from the clan treasury and there is a inter-clan feud over who gets to be the next boss. Oh and everybody seems to hate you.
At the start you’ll be given a pretty in-depth introduction to the fighting system. You will also be sitting around twiddling your thumbs as the story is given a full introduction as well. Later on it doesn’t get much better. I found it quite hard to get into the game at the beginning as I spent more time with the controller on my lap watching the screen than in my hand kick arse in game. Now some people might like this sort of thing, but if I wanted to watch something about the Yakuza I would go and rent a DVD not play a game. I know the creators are trying to develop the characters so that when something happens to one of them you’ll feel hurt, betrayed or whatever emotion they were going for, but there must be a way to do this that involves more action.
The missions are relatively easy. You are normally sent to go and see someone who’s on the small sector of Tokyo that you are restricted to. As you head through the street some punk or maybe a Yakuza who recognises you, will stop you and after a few choice words are swapped between you and your opponent a load screen will appear naming your opponent and then you fight. The first few fights are just build ups helping you get experience points which I’ll go into soon. You can’t avoid these fights and really why would you? They’re easy and provide you with the aforementioned and much needed experience points.
The combat controls are easy to use. The fighting system is based around the square, triangle and every now and then the circle button. R1 and L1 are used to keep yourself facing the opponent and to block ao sticking with a combo of these buttons will see you quickly vanquish your foes. Disappointingly there is no gun play on your part. Your enemies sometimes carry guns but they are more of an annoyance than a sign of your eminent death. You can use various objects that are lying around to help lay the smack down on your rivals, ranging from any of the umber of boxes that seem to litter the streets of Tokyo through to the golf clubs and baseball bats that will be used against you and also the odd bicycle that some poor fool left lying in the street. These will break or become unusable after a few strikes of your opponent but they still add a lot of benefit to the fight. Also there is a “heat mode” that builds up as you fight, and once you reach the limit of the heat meter you can do special moves that will send you opponents flying. As you progress you will earn experience points. These are used to enhance your fighting abilities in different ways. The three areas that you can change with these points are: Technique, Body & Soul. Placing your experience points in either of these will increase your stats in other areas. By the end of the gamer you should however have enough points to have full experience in all three areas.
Even though you are stuck to a small part of Tokyo, what you see is fantastic. The characters are rendered equally well. The look of Yakuza is great. The combat sequences are also exciting to watch, though as good as the attack animations look, they soon get repetitive.
The developers managed to get some well named actors for the voices of the many characters. Michael Madsen, Mark Hamill, Rachel Leigh Cook, and Eliza Dushku just to name a few. However the American voices are overlaid with the animations from the Japanese voices. This leads to a few poorly timed dubbing issues. The rest of the sound is good. Some of the music can get monotonous but it is used where it should be.
The AI is ok. The fights, while not exactly choreographed, do seem a little predictable. And when you’re not fighting you’re either watching the storyline or running to the next mission. There will be a few times that your opponents get the better of you at the beginning, but once you learn the controls it’s not a problem.
There is limited replay ability in Yakuza. Once you finish the story there isn’t much more to do. You could go back and try on of the mini games that have been put into the game, you know the ones. The coin operated UFO catcher, blackjack, trying to seduce one of the hostesses at the bar… wait didn’t I mention that? Sorry.
In closing, Yakuza is an action game that provides a good immersive story line. You can get a little tired of just sitting at the start but once you get into the story you will find yourself in a very atmospheric world. The fighting style is fun and easy to get used too. All up a very good game.
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