The Yakuza franchise hasn’t been as popular in the US over the years as it has been in Japan. Even though the series has had strong characters and a solid story line which is carried through each game in the series, it has consistently suffered from sluggish controls and camera problems. This zombified reiteration is even worse.
The trend of releasing a zombie version of a game was fun and interesting way back when Red Dead Redemption and COD BlOps did it. By now most gamers are ho – humming at the thought of yet another franchise dipping development into another infected pool of blood. The Yakuza zombie version of the game hasn’t added anything to the genre, and in fact has trouble pulling it off at all within the limitations of the game’s engine.
The first problem is the hand holding. You have more menus, and indicators and pop ups coming at you than you would ever need. To start off the game began with about an hour of loading, explanations, descriptions, and non game play. The reading material consists of run ons stating the obvious. It would have been so much more fun if there weren’t so many useless windows to navigate through. It isn’t an RPG either.
If they were worried about localization, I think it is doubtful that many gamers would pick up this game if they were not all ready fans of the series. It is still set in the same place, Kamurocho, making all the information overload unnecessary. The switch from fist fighting and whacking thugs with whatever street debris is handy, now additionally has guns. Other than the setting there isn’t anything to distinguish it from any third-person shooter with zombies, any gamer would be able to figure out how to play it. In fact the over complicated instructions actually inhibit you from just getting into it, and interfere with enjoyment.
The control system is counter intuitive. Aiming is awkward. Why they mapped it to the left joystick, who knows. In five Yakuza games so far they still have not made an effective method of having the characters get out of their own way. They still lag when attempting to turn around and face enemies. I’ve said this in every review in this franchise, characters should automatically turn to face an enemy. They added a strafe button, and a jump back button. They don’t really help at all. The Yakuza will turn away from targets and fire into walls, or throw kicks at nothing, or flail impotently anywhere else but at the intended target. It is 2012 not 1992, it is long past time for them to have turned the intellectual property over to a development studio that can produce a quality, cutting edge game based on the source material.
It is a majorly bad port of the game. Skinning the new gun fighting mechanics into the old game code made YDS clunky and unmanageable. Your character can run into invisible walls, and barriers. There is no explanation for when he is going to be able to climb over something or not. The Yakuza dudes are generally inflexible, when compared to present day coded characters such as Nathan Drake. When you look at sequels where the developers have clearly busted ass in attempt to improve and perfect their character’s movement and design, and compare them to Yakuza 4 and YDS the Yakuza games are sadly lacking. As a fan of the series who has played all the American releasses of the games it is especially disappointing, and embarrassing.
The familiar four Yakuza 4 characters are there. If you are a gamer who also has developed a connection with them as a collector of the series, this game may feel like a parody. The playable characters are Shun Akiyama, Kazuma Kiryu, Goro Majima, the and Ryuji Goda. The partitioned gameplay is back too. You don’t retain the same character and build upon his abilities through a complete game. In fact by the time you get used to him, and find a way to overcome all his flaws and idiosyncrasies, you have to switch to the next guy. You can’t choose between characters. There is no character creation. And of course no playable female avatars in the single player game.
There is little to no female presence in the game as I’ve said. The yakuza series has always been one where you expect the sexism to be there as part of the authenticity of treatment of women in the story lines. Not to disappoint, even in a game that doesn’t have hostesses, a female image is stereotypical. A maddened zombie female type is called a Crybaby, when wounded they summon zombie hordes with their screams. Thanks for that Sega.
There is somewhat of a good time in the shooting portions of the game. It does take it’s derivation from Dead Rising. You can still pick up objects to whack the zombies with. There is often melee combat where you are surrounded claustrophobically by zombies. A sign or a bicycle – which you still can’t ride – can be used to smack down a bunch of Them and clear your way.
There is something called a Heat meter. Basically if you score a few hits, you will get a bonus bullet time type of shot. It will zero in on an object such as a gas tank, and the pay off would be a big explosion, that takes out a number of the zombies.
Some of the hostess clubs, baseball, karaoke, table tennis mini games are still accessible. But it is more tempting to just fire up Yakuza 4 and play it without all the annoyances. The zombies aren’t that terrific of an attraction. Their addition did not make any improvement upon the game.
Unfortunately this time around the Yakuza game was even more disappointing and clumsy than usual. I would not waste your time or money on it. Unless you have played Yakuza 4 to the point of completion, and you are an uber fan, this game probably isn’t for you. I give Yakuza : Dead Souls 5 flavorless, lukewarm bowls of ramen out of 10.