Common Sense Media Review
Japanese gang epic is violent, profound, & adult.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 18+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
What's It About?
YAKUZA, a game centered on a mission-based crime story, 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.
Is It Any Good?
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 rich and intense gameplay similar to the successful Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series. Yakuza serves up an epic story with heart, multiple intersecting subplots, scores of characters, and an insanely detailed, atmospheric game world.
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 adults-only affair, despite its engaging, high-quality production values and story.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about a common distinction made by media depicting organized crime -- a code of honor that separates mob culture from 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 and the way American crime stories are presented?
Game Details
- Platform : PlayStation 2
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Sega of America
- Release date : October 18, 2006
- Genre : Action/Adventure
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : June 19, 2019
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