Common Sense Note
Parents should know that gangster life is gangster life, regardless of the setting. This video game's depiction of the Tokyo criminal underworld is as violent, explicit, and morally rudderless as anything we've seen from 50 Cent or Grand Theft Auto. The content is graphic and intense, showing creative brutality and ample blood, seedy sexuality, and unrestrained foul language, all with a child character looking on. It embraces in-game advertising to the extreme -- descriptions of brand-name items effectively market the products to players.
Families that play this game should talk about a common distinction made by media depicting organized crime -- a code of honor that separates mob culture from the behavior of common street thugs. Do you think there's such a thing as an honorable criminal? Does this distinction add complexity that allows you to empathize with the human behind the violence, or simply romanticize an outlaw lifestyle? Do you see a difference between the way Yakuza stories are told (this game was originally released in Japan) and the way American crime stories are presented?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Aaron Lazenby
Japanese organized crime (Yakuza) is a hard-boiled genre that's long been ripe for the video game treatment. And YAKUZA, the game, delivers with mission-based, crime story gameplay similar to the successful Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series. But the game is not without compromises; Yakuza swaps GTA's vast world and seamless camera and player controls for a story with heart, atmosphere, and detail. But it keeps the sex, violence, bad language, and anti-social behavior. So call it a draw.
Yakuza follows Kiryu Kazuma, an up-and-coming enforcer of a powerful Tokyo crime family. When Kazuma finds his boss murdered, he takes the fall for the crime rather than implicate the true killer --Kazuma's friend whose criminal earnings pay for the care of a sick sister. Back on the streets after a decade in jail, Kazuma finds that a lot has changed; his friend is now a boss, his girlfriend is missing, 10 billion yen have been stolen, and a little girl is following him around asking him to help her find her mom.
All of these sub plots (and indeed, many more) drive Yakuza's gameplay. Storylines intersect and diverge, giving players many missions to pursue and hours of cut scenes to watch. In fact, one of the strangest things about Yakuza is the odd rhythm of the game -- players spend five minutes on a mission only to spend another five watching a prolonged cut scene. Add to this street brawls with random thugs and long loading times, and players will find themselves sitting quietly as often as they are mashing buttons.
Despite this fact, Yakuza delivers an epic story and an insanely detailed game world. There are so many characters that the game provides a menu that keeps track of all the people you've interacted with, a brief description of who they are, and their Yakuza family affiliation. The scope of the story, the convincing Tokyo street scene, and the impressive noodle shop menu all help create an authentic street vibe.
But the streets are harsh, and despite its ambitious storytelling, Yakuza revels in M-rated trimmings. Players can hang out at a strip club, intimidate local business owners, get in a bloody street brawl complete with graphic slow-motion attack animations, get falling-down drunk, check out some DVD pornography -- all in a night's work. It's this stuff that makes Yakuza an adult's-only affair, despite it's engaging, high-quality production values and story.
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual ContentNo nudity, but strip clubs, porno shops, and a men's entertainment "information" center litter the game. |
 |
 |
|
|
ViolencePistols, swords, fists, and even umbrellas are tools of brutal, bloody violence. Slow motion animations record particularly intense final blows. |
|
|
|
|
LanguageStreet language that rivals 50 Cent. Use of "mother f--ker" as common as punctuation. |
|
|
|
|
Message |
|
|
|
|
Social BehaviorCelebrates the benefits and "honor" of organized crime. |
 |
 |
 |
|
CommercialismFilled with ads, both on the street and in descriptions of in-game items. But ads are for Japanese products US-based gamers are unlikely to recognize. |
|
|
|
|
Drug/Alcohol/TobaccoSmoking and drinking play a role in the game, and players can buy and consume an assortment drinks at bars. |
|
|
|
|
Educational Value |
 |
|
|
|
