SEGA Calls in Yakuza
Loyalty. Honor. Head bashing. Chopped off digits.
Published: February 23, 2006
Money goes missing all the time. Sometimes you forgot where you left it, sometimes someone "borrows" it, and sometimes you just plain spent it and don't remember. $100 Million isn't something that just falls into the couch cushions, though, and Kiryu Kazuma seems to be out $100 Million -- or rather his employers, the Yakuza, are missing a sizeable hole in their bank account. Where the money went and how or why an enigmatic girl named Haruka ties into the mess is something our friend will have to find out. Find out, we're told by using ten knuckles and a pair of smartly-dressed feet.
This is no beat-em-up, though (we'll get to that part). SEGA is careful to call it an action-adventure, the latter half due in no small part to the storyline being crafted by novelist Saishu Hase (whose crime novel Drifting Town was turned into The City of Lost Souls by megadirector Takashi Miike). The game itself is being helmed by Super Monkey Ball and Spikeout director Toshihiro Nagoshi.
"Yakuza is a game like none other as it delves into one of the most mysterious and iconic aspects of Japanese culture," muses SEGA of America's VP of Marketing, Scott A. Steinberg. "Players will have the opportunity to take on the world's most notorious and sophisticated underground organizations as they embark on a series of dangerous missions set in the gritty and seedy underbelly of Tokyo."
Impressively, the game is being conceived as a PS2-only project, and will incorporate traditional combo system and fights with multiple characters (this was arguably the best part about Spikeout, in spite of the perplexing button combinations) or a little persuasive interrogation meeting between a thug's face and a wall or table. Something called a Heat Gauge will likely build during combat to deliver final blows.
To help thicken up the combat (something that's been sorely missing with almost all brawlers as of late) are more traditional adventure- or RPG-like concepts like stat boosts, side quests (including, amusingly, batting cage practice), item collection and -- best of all -- a free-roaming Tokyo with actual licensed shops, though how confined this will be remains to be seen. Take a look at the last screenshot we picked up, though, and you'll see an absolutely staggering amount of people on screen in a shot that appears to be real-time.
We still know very, very little about SEGA's next big brawler, but if it can finally do what jaded dorks (yes, we're lumping ourselves in that list to be sure) have been begging for: deliver a real, honest storyline, we're going to be doing backflips across the office. As soon as we learn more, you'll know about it.
This is no beat-em-up, though (we'll get to that part). SEGA is careful to call it an action-adventure, the latter half due in no small part to the storyline being crafted by novelist Saishu Hase (whose crime novel Drifting Town was turned into The City of Lost Souls by megadirector Takashi Miike). The game itself is being helmed by Super Monkey Ball and Spikeout director Toshihiro Nagoshi.
"Yakuza is a game like none other as it delves into one of the most mysterious and iconic aspects of Japanese culture," muses SEGA of America's VP of Marketing, Scott A. Steinberg. "Players will have the opportunity to take on the world's most notorious and sophisticated underground organizations as they embark on a series of dangerous missions set in the gritty and seedy underbelly of Tokyo."
Impressively, the game is being conceived as a PS2-only project, and will incorporate traditional combo system and fights with multiple characters (this was arguably the best part about Spikeout, in spite of the perplexing button combinations) or a little persuasive interrogation meeting between a thug's face and a wall or table. Something called a Heat Gauge will likely build during combat to deliver final blows.
To help thicken up the combat (something that's been sorely missing with almost all brawlers as of late) are more traditional adventure- or RPG-like concepts like stat boosts, side quests (including, amusingly, batting cage practice), item collection and -- best of all -- a free-roaming Tokyo with actual licensed shops, though how confined this will be remains to be seen. Take a look at the last screenshot we picked up, though, and you'll see an absolutely staggering amount of people on screen in a shot that appears to be real-time.
We still know very, very little about SEGA's next big brawler, but if it can finally do what jaded dorks (yes, we're lumping ourselves in that list to be sure) have been begging for: deliver a real, honest storyline, we're going to be doing backflips across the office. As soon as we learn more, you'll know about it.
