Reviews// Yakuza (PS2)

Organised crime certainly has more to it than just money laundering and other shenanigans. Not that any of SPOnG are ex-mafia as far as we know, although our Andy does look like he’s got a certain history to him that has yet to fully surface. There are a lot of moral codes involved as well – how you respect people in society, certain rules and taboos that even such syndicates don’t dare break.

SEGA has realised this way of mafia life with Yakuza, the latest work to come from Toshihiro Nagoshi, and it's a bit of a departure from rolling monkeys. You play as Kazuma Kiryu, a well respected Yakuza Lieutenant who takes the rap for the killing of his family’s Oyabun (gang leader) and is arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.

Ten years after being in the cell, he returns to find his hometown is a very different city, with internal gang disputes, unusual leader successions and betrayals from those who knew him best. Worse yet, there’s a case of 10 billion yen being stolen and a little girl slap bang in the centre of it all. Kazuma must get to the bottom of this bizarre mix of corruption while confronting all of his old leaders and gang members, who have turned on him since the murder.

The story is one that will keep you hooked, and for those who are fans of Takeshi Kitano’s gangster films this will definitely be up your street. Written by award-winning Japanese author Hase Seishu, the pedigree certainly shows and the graphics – while not exactly top grade PS2 fare – are elegant enough to fully create a living, breathing city where Kazuma can roam. The cities and areas in question are huge, and often you see tons of people gathered in one area moving around as you go about your business. Motion capture is fantastic and we experienced only a little popup or slowdown. It’s still strange to see six-year-old hardware doing stuff like this.

As you run around town you have the option to continue the main story – indicated on your map by a pink arrow – or you can explore your surroundings and have some fun. There are many buildings to waltz into, including faithful recreations of convenience stores, noodle restaurants and fast food joints. Pawnshops can help you make some cash, and owing to the seedier nature of Yakuza life, there are plenty of places where you can engage in some lady company too.

You’ll be spending a lot of time in hostess bars, if not for the story then to play a brief form of a dating Sims-style mini-game with the scantily clad ladies. There’s scope for sub-missions in Yakuza alongside the main objective, which you can begin or continue at any time (the main story objective will usually wait for you) to earn experience and money – or in our case, get money back!

SPOnG ended up getting conned by a lady who pretended she was being stalked by someone outside a bar, so after protecting her she invited us to the bar, got Kazuma hammered and the next thing we knew, we were outside the bar with 100K missing. Time to pay the bar another visit, we thought – although naturally the bartender wasn’t too happy with our complaint, so called in ‘Customer Services’ to tend to us.