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Perhaps it’s just the general moral decay of
society, or the fact that most people like to do things in games
that they can’t realistically do in real life, that makes titles
involving crime amongst the most popular releases around. Hoping to
ride the trend like so many before it comes
 Yakuza,
a game based around the Japanese organised-crime syndicate of the
same name.
First impressions of the game suggest a title
similar to the much loved Shen-Mue series. The demo included
a crowded street with a lot of civilian models walking about. The
Character Models were not particularly detailed, but Yakuza
boasted crowd numbers well above the average for SONY’s now dated
machine. As the character moved through the street toward their
objective, in this case a bar, dialogue options appeared and a
player could enter into conversations with several of the crowd
members. At times A.I. characters would start to talk to the player,
hinting at the likelihood of Side-Quests although generally these
interactions resulted in a fight. Several buildings could also be
entered with short Load Times, although it was clear from the
barriers that the demo was not Free-Roaming, and judging by the
fixed camera and scripted events, it is unlikely that the final game
will feature much open-ended story-driving play and will simply
allow for the usual distraction from the main adventure.
Being a crime related game, combat featured
heavily. The player enters fights usually through dialogue and
the game switches to a kind of invisible arena. From then on it’s
traditional two-button combos all the way with the occasional usable
object. Chairs and wooden boxes seemed the most common instrument of
pain and the fights were quite fun. The player could Lock-On to an
enemy and dodge and shift quite nimbly, allowing for some impressive
looking battles. The player could also block attacks, although
clearly this doesn’t work against guns.
There were also hints of RPG elements and
character customisation to round out the package. Yakuza
looks like title with a lot of potential and is likely to prove
popular with the masses due to its violent nature, provided they are
not bored with this generally overused genre by the time of it’s
release. |
