Yakuza 2 Review

Yakuza 2

Well that question burnet into my head as i further immersed myself in the beautiful city of Kamurocho and Osaka of Yakuza 2 game. Strolling down the street listening to people conversations as i pass them by. Licking Neopolitan Ice cream. After that beat down thugs who has been shaking the place for months and earn some money and discount. And Spend my blood money on Casino,Girls,Toys and my favorite Japanese cuisine “Sushi”. While once a while thwarting the Osaka Yakuza invading Kanto for some strange and laughable motives.

Life never seem grander. I love Yakuza 2. It captivates me more than Yakuza 1 ever was(partially because the whole setting seemed more Japanese because of the voice acting are now in Japanese and the story vs gameplay Pacing are IMHO better than the slow burning prologue of Yakuza 2). And in my opinion even more engaging than the overhype Shenmue 2.

One of the greatest Strength of Yakuza 2 that its utilize is the attention of detail to its City. Both Kamurocho and Kanto are rendered beautifully and stunning detail to both its world and its interaction.

Ive known few liquor(never drink one but i watched enough movie and read enough books) and Japanese Cuisine to appreciate it name,description and representation in Yakuza 2 world.

Its totally believable and if you are the type of people who love one of the above(like strolling around, test your luck in casino,play some quirky mini games and tasting beverages,liquor, and exotic-unique cuisine) i really suggest you to play Yakuza 2.

The representation is not the best around but the voice acting,animation,the script(i have to warn you that some of its part are utterly riddiculously too cartoonish even for a game, although it acted like it make sense) and once again THE SENSE OF DETAIL.

But to be honest the biggest driving force in this game is the insane amount of detail and its story.

its an interesting mix of Violent Crime Movie(80%) and comic like Fantasy(20%).

The story is Beautiful from the beginning till the end.-i even hold myself from taking a piss just because i want to see what would happen next-

I sincerely became more acquainted and do care a lot with the characters in this game. The so badass its so fucking cool Kazuma Kiryu,Majima,Kazuma Kiryu,Daigo Dojima and Sayama Kaoru.

The music is also great but if you played it for 30 hours like me it sure gets on your nerve. But the music in the cinematic is so great and fit its Yakuza japanese gangster theme perfectly.

The main gameplay beside its mini games(playing Shogi or Mahjong)…

Is so so.

If your talking about the interactivity and extreme complicated gameplay. Then you’ll be disappointed with this one. The interaction is pretty much basic, the resident evil limited inventory is aggravating because youll be shuffle back and forth in search for magical item box that is sparse in this game. The city is seem too small if we compare it to any Grand Theft Auto installment.

The battle is too simple. Its like Street of Rage in 3D. Simple. At first bashing people with Rage moves are insanely fun, but after 20th time you'll be bored. The developer try to spice it up with RPG like level up. But its so basic that you wont even bother with it.

The quest is also to be put simply. Bewildering. It is not a rare moment where you’ll left in the city with no idea where you should go. But this is like a double edge sword. In other hand it forces gamer/user to explore every inch of detail in the environment more. Thus make it more Immersive.

 

For me this game is almost too good to be true. Because i am one of those gamer who put Story in the first priority ahead of Gameplay and Presentation. And i do think that this game story fare better against the like of Bioshock and Half life 2. It just this game hasn't receive the attention it deserved.

Play this game. Or at least rent it. Let yourself play your friend copy or rent it for 3 hours. If until then you dont like it then return it. If until that point you interested on the world even just a little bit, i have to warn you. You wont put down that controller for a while

Pro’s

• Great Presentation
• Great Music
• Superb Story
• Insanely High attention to presentation detail
• Great Voice acting(Because Its Japanese and its also great)
• Violent animation when rumbling against opponents
• Satisfying Climax(a big plus. Most game nowadays still have those To be continued written in its after credits)

Con’s

• Several –only a small portion of the story- Laughable plot points
• The gameplay pacing can be tedious and frustating
• Its graphic cant compare against the Current Gen Console Standard(like Duh?)

SCORE:85

The Importance of Reminding Gamer the story so far, especially if you just have continuing your old save game

Last week when i ransack my games collection to see what other games that have superb story that i did not finish yet i struck on Broken Sword 3 and 4.

Sadly my copy of Broken Sword : Angel Of Death is a tad clunky without proper patch. So i decided to continue my Broken Sword 3 game which i left probably a half year ago.

Well i struck down on two things.

1. Is how the hell can the game being played. I need around five minutes scrolling the control option (thankfully brief).

2.  Okay about the story…. eum… Okay i forgot. Okay so i open the inventory. There are George notepad which i can read to read the story so far. But the description is so…. memo like and brief that i didn't get how the hell is this Stobbart guy ended up in here. What the hell i supposed to do?

Seriously guys. I know it will take a bit of effort to put some kind of the “previously on Broken Sword…” video ala Drv3r. But come on Kingdom Hearts has an excellent dictionary for characters and events and it also has ‘story so far’ summary.

If that a little bit too detail. Perhaps you can try Metal Gear Solid PC approach where every time you load a save game you can see a brief paragraph to sum the story up.

Frankly I'm very interested on Alone in the Dark (2008) approach to this subject where it broke up its game into several episodes and you can skip the story forward and still get the story so far ala American TV series…

But somehow after hearing several responses to the gameplay. I loose my appetite.

Macho Single Player Action Game Part 2: Examples

Max Payne 2

 

 

Guess you never see this coming right?

All right max Payne maybe just a corridor shooter that flavored with impressive intriguing story, eye candy graphic that aren't too shabby when we played it today.

Sure Right. It only has one innovation that is bullet time. But surely do.

The firefight. The detail of every bullet hole. The ragdoll effect that applied to every fucking objects that aren't nailed down. The Sephia effect when you slow down time. The way Max Payne jump sideways while shooting the hell out of everything. The sound of every casing fall down and hit the floor accompanied with the sound of your rushing heartbeat.

You’ll see every bullet flying and their effect. You’ll see pain.

Seriously give this game a try if you don’t.

If the Story doesn't get a hold of you. The gameplay will.

This game is so Badass.

Serious Sam: Second Encounter

This screenshot will probably not give you the chill.

But seriously this game will pour every single insane enemy at an insane rate and insane number within insane set piece.

Can you imagine you pushed into a trampoline and jumping around while you’ll being attack with a jumping Rhino and Suicidal Bomber?

I never really can describe how great or insane this game is.

YOU HAVE TO PLAY THIS GAME

Honorable Mention

I Dont really like the game below or didnot rate it as high as my fellow friends are but i still respect them for being a game where you can literally be a badass.

Doom

PainKiller

Duke Nukem 3D

Excellence Never Goes Out of Date

That title is taken from one of the Escapist magazine article.

And frankly, i found myself quite agree with that.

Shigeru miyamoto said that a delayed game is eventually good, a bad game is bad forever. True what is good will always good and in gaming perhaps the aspects that can be immortalized is either sound,art direction,gameplay or story.


Last week i played System Shock and this game still creep the hell out of me even if it came about 14 years ago!

The same goes with Gabriel Knight: The Sins of the Fathers which its engrossing story kept me awake for hours a month ago.-This game's story is still the best of game's story even compared to today standard-

This is some examples of how game doesnt need to be judge by current technology alone (graphic wise) which many gamers today considered upon.

And this is not only applicable to gaming alone but to literature(Death Train,A Catcher in the Rye),Movie(Casablanca),Music(Frank Sinatra,Claire) and other kind of entertainment.

A good game is a good game and a bad game eventually be a bad game.

Excellence truly never goes out of date.

-Curently playing Final Fantasy XII and believe that this game will have the same fate as the game mentioned before

Gamesradar's Universal Guide to beat any game

Funny, yet its true.
Read the whole article here.

Chao

The Unholy legion of DRM

So this what i thinking when i want to buy original game dor $30-$50 instead of paying like about a $5 or $10 because as a gamer and a programmer that building a game takes a helluva dedication and effort.

But doesnt irony like to slam on your face.

I didn't like to type in the serial number but that only take a minor fraction of annoying instalation time, so i can get on with it.
I didn't like the whole 'please insert your dvd while your playing' scheme because it cause my precious-cd-dvd get dirty so i usually try the backdoor/the semi legal thing that is using no-cd/dvd crack because hell i deserve it right? its not like i want to mass produce it or something.

Then came steam.
Fuck! Now i need to go online where internet itself is an extraordinary-expensive-not so good service in indonesia?
Oh... allright if it just for activation.
But sweet jumping monkey!
Now i have to download all the frickin patches to play through!
Do you know that 56 kbps in indonesia is realy-realy-realy rare and dont mention expensive?
Do you know how long it takes to download the fucking 1 gigs of patch?

And actually i never thought that the history of DRM will never get any worse than steam, but bioshock came.
Fuck you !Now i only have 3 right for installing the game and connected to the internet?
What if there are virus attack?
But then i still can revoke my installation right.
Even more the take two really discard this whole activation license thing after listening to the consumer complaints.

And after all the fuss i thought all the publisher in the world learn their lesson.

But noooo...
In Indonesia where i just want to buy Mass Effect at the end of the week, suddenly out of curiosity i try to google it and what do i get?
I can only fucking install it three time?
And i cant revoke unless i do international call to ea?
aint that expensive?
Do you think this is the answer, dear ea?

Cevat Yerli said that the reason people dont buy as much game as it in console becaus the piracy but actually people dont like the pc platform because its buggy,hard-to-understand setting,instalation, and the fucking DRM.

So please guys!
Wake up and realize if you keep continuing with this than the Pc gaming platform will be truly dead.
Not by us, but by publishers/developers.