Video game review by ERIK LEIJON

Earlier this year, EA did an exemplary job recreating the mafia world in the video game The Godfather, so it was only a matter of time before the Japanese equivalent got their due. Yakuza (PS2/Sega, Amusement Vision) is like an unholy splicing of two previous Sega titles: the colossal movie-meets-game masterpiece Shenmue and Amusement Vision’s own SpikeOut, a Final Fight-clone from last year. The beautiful cinematic scenes and engrossing storyline of the former and the non-stop action of the latter form a deadly tandem worthy of the name Yakuza.

Shenmue arrived before its time. Still unofficially the most expensive game ever made, the 2000 Sega Dreamcast title was famed game-maker Yu Suzuki’s attempt to create a non-linear game in a massive world where the player proceeds at his/her own pace. If it sounds familiar, it should. In 2001, Rockstar released Grand Theft Auto 3 and its success in forging the open-action genre reduced Yu’s great opus to the discount bin. Sega never really recovered from their overly ambitious Dreamcast days, but given all that’s happened to them after they lost the console wars (including their merger with Sammy), if you give them a chance, Sega can still impress you.

The first noticeable element of Yakuza is its distinct cinematic style. Japan’s red light district is a visual feast of lights and colours. The characters inhabiting the seedy underworld all have their own original wardrobes, facial ticks and mannerisms. Sega even brought in some B-list Hollywood talent to supply the voiceover work, such as Eliza Dushku, Smallville’s Michael Rosenbaum, Rachel Leigh Cook and the always superb Michael Madsen as a big, fat, evil Japanese crime boss. The cutscenes are wonderfully done, and more compelling than most movies I’ve seen this year.

Yakuza, for all its ability to spin a good tale of corruption and revenge, is no Shenmue. Shenmue was lauded for Yuzo Koshiro’s score, featuring an entire orchestra. Yakuza has a thumping mid-’90s arcade soundtrack, suitable for raging in the streets, but the constant guitar riffage does become an annoyance. The Final Fight controls are also hit-or-miss. The area-specific special moves you can perform look really cool (where the protagonist Kazuma uses the backgrounds in his attacks), and the amount of weapons littered around any given stage is similar to a slower Power Stone, but the combo system is nothing more than tapping. Thankfully, Kazuma learns new moves quite often, so the constant button mashing won’t become too repetitive. It’s also difficult to centre on an enemy holding the R1 button, dodging, blocking and attacking simultaneously.

Your appreciation of Yakuza will depend on how much you enjoy the storyline aspect of games. The gameplay is secondary to the characters and their experiences of working in the Japanese mafia, so Grand Theft Auto fans might not enjoy the linear game path and the lack of extras. There are massage parlours and Kazuma does have the opportunity to hang in bars with some nice ladies, so it’s not as if the game doesn’t deviate from the story at all.

The name Sega may not carry the same meaning it used to, but Yakuza hints at a rosy future for Hedgehog House.

Games make smart

The Federation of American Scientists released a report Oct. 18 that said the skills games teach students should be harnessed in the education system.

It could be true—kids would be more inclined to learn about World War II if they were playing Call of Duty, or how to beat hookers if they were playing Grand Theft Auto. Err…more research might be necessary.