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• Reviewed on: PS2
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• The Good: A terrifically immersive recreation of a Japanese red-light district with a mature plot and joyfully brutal brawling
• The Bad: The dubbing mistakes the maturity inherent in the plot for swearing; frequent loading and occasionally unhelpful camera angles
• The Verdict: Adult gamers who wish to experience one of the most mature and immersive games released on PS2 yet owe it to themselves to get this game
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In 2000, Sega released a game that many commentators considered to be one of the greatest ever made: Shenmue. The story of a man on the cusp of adulthood who finds his life turned upside down by the murder of his father at the hands of a mysterious Chinese assassin, Shenmue gave the player near-complete freedom to explore a small Japanese town and to follow the plot at their own pace, ensuring the player's complete immersion into the game world. A truly grand experiment, conservative estimates place the cost of the title at $20-million (U.S.) and perhaps hastened the end of Sega as a hardware manufacturer.

It's surprising to find then that Sega have chosen to create another vastly expansive, immersive title in the form of Yakuza. Originally titled Ryu Ga Gotoku (the far more poetic "Be Like a Dragon") in Japan and promoted with live-action shorts supervised by celebrated auteur Takashi Miike, Yakuza offers the player the district of Kamurocho (a near-perfect recreation of Tokyo's red-light district Kabukicho) to explore, but unlike Shenmue, here the experience is more tightly reined by an urgent plot driven by scripted missions. The change in focus seems to have worked for Sega; a direct sequel is already in production for the Japanese market and for this North American release all of the stops have been pulled out, with voice acting from stars including Michael Madsen and Eliza Dushku.

Be Like a ****ing Dragon

The choice to dub Yakuza is a double-edged sword; while the voices are professional, due to the dense plot lip-synching is a problem. Many fans of the Yakuza genre, including myself, would also prefer the title was voiced in its original Japanese and subtitled. Sega's attempts to make the game more accessible are admirable, if flawed; the amount of F-bombs dropped make it as needlessly crude as Scarface. While in the original Japanese rudeness is brought across through abruptness of tone, here the swears feel forced and can obscure the deep and layered plot, scribed by Hase Seishu, a famous Japanese crime novelist.

As Kazuma Kiryu, "The Dragon of the Dojima Family", the player takes the fall on a murder rap for their closest brother in the clan, and on release from prison 10 years later, finds them self in a dangerous web of intrigue and inter-gang machinations.

If you can ignore the foul language, the plot has an astonishing maturity for a videogame; streets ahead of any Grand Theft Auto imitator, it most closely brings to mind Kinji Fukusaku's Yakuza films of the 60's and 70's, thick with the meaning of honour among criminals.

Shop at Don ****ing Quixote

Indeed, the plot is so good you might find yourself rushing through the game to see it, which is an unfortunate side effect, because the world of Kamurocho is well worth exploring. Kamurocho features all the sights and sounds you would expect from Tokyo's premier red-light district, from SEGA game centres, casinos and batting cages; to hostess bars and massage parlors.

Each of these distractions, while not the deepest of experiences, are fun and make Kamurocho feel like a real place; searching around town to find the ideal gift to buy your favourite hostess is terrifically pleasing, and it's a symbol of the clear love of the creators that you could buy it in Don Quixote, a famous real-world store situated on the edge of Kabukicho. It's recreated perfectly in-game, right down to the infectious theme song.

Kick some ****ing ***

Of course, there's far more to the game than just static plot and world exploration. The majority of play takes the form of Kazuma's terrible luck when it comes to getting into fights, as it seems you can't walk more than a few feet in Kamurocho without being attacked by a local thug or getting involved in a random sub-plot. As the game uses an experience system, it's actually a clever nod to traditional Japanese RPG's random battles, but far better than those, the battles of Yakuza are fantastically interactive brawls.

Kazuma can use almost anything around him as a weapon, from baseball bats to novelty traffic cones, and though the fighting can occasionally get a bit scrappy (it's occasionally hard to ensure Kazuma is actually facing his opponent, and camera angles can occasionally obscure) it's never less than bone-crunchingly immediate, with a wide variety of combos, throws and special moves all easily available to make even the most meaningless fight a showpiece of skills. Boss battles can often be a little bit too challenging, but with practice you'll be able to dodge and parry even the largest squad of enemies' attacks. While it's no Dead Rising, it's worth noting this was released more than a year ago in Japan.

Buy This ****ing Game

If you were looking to make a lazy comparison, Yakuza is the beloved NES-era classic River City Ransom updated by Takashi Miike and dubbed by Quentin Tarantino; the defeated enemies no longer exclaim "BARF" and drop a handful of change, they scream the F*** and drop thousands of yen. While it is flawed (even technically; load times are sadly frequent) this is a mature piece of work that manages, thanks to a gleefully chaotic battle system, to be incredibly fun. One of the best games to be released on PS2 this year.