RETRO REVIEW: YAKUZA (PS2)

SEGA’s Yakuza series has had quite a few difficulties finding success outside of Japan, whether it’s problems with localization, its nichè gameplay not having mass-market appeal, or the series being very heavily rooted in Japanese culture in its setting, tone and story. However, in the beginning of 2017, Yakuza 0 was released in the West, and it acted as sort of a renaissance for the series. Its success saw a surge in the series’ popularity, and SEGA is more than happy to give hungry fans more. With Yakuza Kiwami, a PS4 exclusive remake of the original Yakuza, the developers wish to bring more players up to speed on the story while also celebrating how far the series has come since its inception. Due to Kiwami releasing in the very near future, there is no better time than now to revisit the flawed little PS2 game that started it all.

The original Yakuza was released on PS2 in Japan in 2005 and a year later internationally. The story of the game focuses on famed yakuza, Kazuma Kiryu, who operates in a fictional entertainment district in Tokyo known as Kamurocho. Very early on in the story, Kiryu ends up sentenced to 10 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Upon being released from police custody, he finds things in Kamurocho have changed: Friends have turned into enemies, and the yakuza family he was once part of has now cast him out. Very quickly, Kiryu gets sucked into the middle of an elaborate conspiracy involving the entire yakuza family. It’s up to the player to figure out what the source of the family’s infighting may be. The story of the game was very highly praised in the time of its release, and for good reason. It was one of the first games to depict Japan’s seedier side in a rather true to life manner, as well as showcasing a lot of impressive cinematography for its time.

While the story still remains good and engaging, it has its fair share of problems, the biggest of which is the localization. Yakuza on PS2 is the only game in the series to receive a full English dub, featuring a lot of very big name actors, such as Michael Madsen and Mark Hamill. Despite the star-studded cast and some very good casting decisions (Mark Hamill as Majima is perfect casting on paper), the dub feels very phoned in. Everyone’s lines feel very subdued, and with some cutscenes having little to no background music, this makes a lot of scenes feel rather dull and not very emotionally engaging. The dub isn’t terrible, just very dry and unremarkable. This isn’t helped by the writing, which showcases a very sophomoric understanding of what “mature” means, crowbarring in as many F-bombs as possible, and lacks a lot of the character nuances present in the future games. This wouldn’t be much of an issue if the dub was optional, but unfortunately, Japanese audio is not included in the PS2 version.

Read the full review here: http://www.gamingrespawn.com/retro/25590/retro-review-yakuza-ps2/