Xbox 360 Look - Yakuza: Dead Souls

Here's another old review that I wrote during my days at The-Nextlevel.com.

Kazuma Kiryu, the Dragon of Dojima and one of the most respected and feared men in Tokyo, receives a phone call that his step-daughter Haruka has been kidnapped. This is the sort of story that’s supposed to get your blood boiling, your anger to overwhelm your entire being, and next thing you know you’re one man standing against many. This is how Yakuza: Dead Souls starts off and really if that was the entire plot it’d be a very short game. Because you see, Kamurocho has been a little lifeless as of late.

Shun Akiyama, debt-collector and lay-about, is out making his rounds when he spots the most curious sight. A man falls out of a high-story building and survives. In fact he gets up like nothing happened. Unfortunately he is actually a zombie, and does what they do best. Namely biting everyone nearby and spreading his terrible disease. Sensing the danger, Shun picks up the nearest gun and kills all of the undead. He returns to his office to get some rest. The next day he wakes up to discover that zombies have already gotten to work destroying the city. Seriously just how do these guys move so fast? People with functioning brains couldn’t wreck Kamurocho in such a short amount of time.

Goro Majima, fiercely loyal but with the temperament of a mad dog, is enjoying zombie movies when his underlings burst through his door. When the zombies follow and start munching on them, Majima’s reaction is disturbingly joyful. For Majima, Kamurocho has become the kind of playground only he can appreciate. While the SDF works to contain the undead presence through the usage of high-powered weaponry and barricades, Majima is liable to find himself on both sides of the wall seeking the pleasures of gambling, women, food, and gratuitous violence against the undead.

Ryuji Goda, who was the Dragon of Kansai, now seeks to become the Dragon of takoyaki. Unfortunately he is tied to the events surrounding Kamurocho and must become involved in order to put a stop to them. Goda’s right hand has been modified into a gatling gun, which makes him quite a bit more prepared to deal with the undead than any of our other three heroes. Still, it is up to you the player to take control of all four of these men in order to figure out the reasons behind the zombie outbreak and put a stop to it. Failure means the end of Kamurocho and where would we be without our hostess clubs and massage parlors?

As with the last Yakuza game, Kamurocho and all of its amenities are open to you at almost any time. As the story progresses the SDF will quarantine more and more of the city to combat the growing zombie population. Still that won’t stop businesses from re-opening if you take the time to deal with the fiends that are threatening them. Also like in the previous games you’ll discover sub-stories where the solution tends to be shooting anything that moves, well…as opposed to punching anything that moves I suppose. Gambling, golfing, fishing, bowling, dining, drinking, your options for entertainment are endless.

But you’re not here to read about the similarities this game holds with previous titles. In fact if all you wanted to do was explore Kamurocho and play mini-games you’d likely be perfectly alright sticking to last year’s Yakuza 4. Yakuza: Dead Souls is a very different game because it is a shooter instead of a brawler, where survival is dependent on your weaponry, aim, and zombie-handling skills. Whenever the undead sense the presence of a living person they move quickly and in a swarm. There are ways to break free but you’re better off blowing their heads off before they get close. One of the first skills you can learn allows you to lock onto a zombie’s weak-point as soon as you press the lock-on button, take advantage of it. Still their numbers are countless and sometimes you just have to keep moving if you hope to progress.

Aside from zombies you can also expect to find mutants. These abominations are more freakish in appearance and have maneuvers that extend past “grab’n’chomp”. Their appearances also tend to be very unique like the rollerblading mutants that attack with flying head-butts and slides, or the beefy mutants that use shockwaves and massive fists to take you out. Prototypes serve as the boss-monsters of this game, and their twisted forms offer a full range of tactics and abilities. Still you’ll deal with them like you would anything else, with your growing array of upgradeable weaponry and heat-snipe technique. Yes this is very much unlike past games, where the only reason most players upgraded their weapons was so that they could boost their completion percentage.

As the heat meter fills more and more targets are going to appear. These can include gas cans, fire hydrants, combustible barrels, and anything else that can explode if you shoot it just right. After firing a shot a QTE takes over and whether it succeeds is decided upon your button-press. Think of it like in the Michael Bay movie Bad Boys. Imagine if Martin Lawrence said “You forgot your boarding pass!” Then when he fired the bullet at the explosive barrel near the thug it did absolutely nothing. That is what would happen to you if you failed the QTE. It’s pretty frustrating, especially because the time allowed is quite little. Still it’s an essential ability since with proper use it can knock prototypes out of their attack, destroy multiple zombies at once, and generally make your life much easier and more enjoyable.

The ruins of Kamurocho comprise much of the exploration in Dead Souls. In order to reach your destination you’ll have to survive various quarantined portions of the red light district as well as occasional trips through the sewers and a handful of buildings. Also while this is entirely optional you may want to dive into the subterranean. Apparently zombies originally came from the center of the earth, or at least it’ll feel that way when you’re seemingly miles underground and buried by zombies while your last source of light flickers out. However if you’re the type of person who has to do everything and obtain the most powerful weapons these depths must be explored. They’re pretty entertaining at least, since they focus entirely on blowing away zombies while managing precious limited resources like ammo and healing items.

While for the most part it’s all on you to save Tokyo, there are opportunities to hook up with a partner when completing sub-stories or just killing some undead. These men and women can level up, acquire skills, and as long as they’re standing you’ll be able to perform special heat-snipe abilities. There are a handful of moments where you can team up over the course of the story as well. Good partners are unfortunately few and far between, since some are limited by their choice of weapon. You’re more likely to come across one who is so good that you’ll forget about everyone else. Even the hostesses, who require the most effort to join up with you, probably aren’t worth it. In the interest of completion you’ll still want to take everyone along at some point or another.

The main thing I should point out throughout this adventure is that it can not be approached like any other shooter made in this generation. So forget Gears of War, Uncharted, and hey even Binary Domain. Instead you should be thinking about games like Crimson Sea, Gungrave, and most anything else made last generation. Dead Souls harkens back to a different era, when the third-person shooter wasn’t so clearly defined and every developer had wildly different ideas on how it should work. Everything about this game from its controls to its mechanics gives it an identity of its very own, and if you approach it as part of the genre you’ve become accustomed to you’ll likely dislike it. I think it’s very refreshing, even if more work could have been done to improve it.

While moving around you’ll find that the four heroes are very adept at gunning down zombies, the annoyance sets in however when using the lock-on ability only to discover that you’re aiming at air. Usually it’s just a nuisance but when dealing with certain prototypes or particularly bad situations where health is low you’ll gnash your teeth when you’re shooting the wrong way just because you were ever so slightly off. A skill acquired through training at Gary’s Boot Camp improves the lock-on somewhat but even twenty hours into the game I’d still run into these situations. Also this game features a couple of vehicle-sections that are among the worst that I’ve ever played through. The idea of taking them on in the harder difficulties is not appealing in the slightest. At least through the rest of the game the difficulty can be alleviated by upgrading armor and weapons, what about the vehicles? I can’t merely drape my combat armor over them can I?

Behind it all, Yakuza: Dead Souls is a game dedicated to the fans. They are what made the series one of Sega’s most successful and while shooting zombies isn’t quite the same as punching deadbeats we are all tied together by Kazuma Kiryu, Kamurocho, and everyone that resides in it. While it hurts me to say this, I hope the next game does away with it all and instead follows a new city. Honestly I’ve seen enough of Kamurocho and Kiryu deserves a break so he can focus on his orphanage. Maybe we’ll see the baton passed to a new generation of Yakuza. Until then, while the terribly overused quote “Not for everyone” does apply, Dead Souls is competent enough at what it does to warrant a look.