Yakuza: Dead Souls Review (PS3)
Introduction
This is a spinoff and non-canon Yakuza game, where it emphasises on action horror, adventure and shooter elements. Although this game plays similarly like previous Yakuza games, the combat system is entirely different than the usual Yakuza games' fighting system as there is more emphasis on shooting controls.
Story
This game takes place after Yakuza 4 events. Zombies and mutant monsters show up in Kamurocho, killing the civilians and leaving only a handful of survivors. Each character has their own story arc in this game, and each story arc takes place directly after the previous one unlike other games that feature concurrent story arcs.
The game's story is pretty good, but not as great as other Yakuza games' stories. The plot is simplistic enough for new players can play this game without any prior story knowledge from previous Yakuza games. The characters are decently developed, such as the new villains and especially Goda Ryuji. Goda Ryuji is my favourite character in Yakuza 2, as well as in this game. Other playable characters have great but static personalities.
Gameplay
This is an action-adventure game like previous Yakuza games, except you will be using firearms as means of combat throughout the game. You will also be fighting against zombies and other mutated monsters in different areas.
Progression is simple. You will play as four characters, with each character has four chapters to be played, totaling to 16 chapters. Each character has their own exclusive weapon, substories, and unique characters that they can interact with. In all chapters, you will be traversing to many zombie infested areas and clear them to progress with your story. Most of the time, you must talk to a character before you proceed to complete a story-related zombie infested area. There are not much variety in progression in this game other than some sections at later chapters.
Exploration also works similarly to previous Yakuza games, where you can explore different areas in Kamurocho and do side-activities such as playing minigames and completing sub-stories. However, as you progress in the game, more areas will be infested with zombies and monsters, so you won't be able to go to some locations without encountering enemies. You may also have to liberate some locations from zombies by killing them before you can use their services.
Leveling is the same as previous Yakuza games. You will gain experience points by killing zombies, completing sub-stories, or eating food. Once you have gained enough experience points, you will gain a level, where your character gains an increase of maximum health bar and Soul Point(s). Soul Points can be used to acquire abilities that may help you in combat, such as increasing amount of items that you can carry or using new Heat Sniping actions.Pick your abilities carefully as your level and abilities are carried over to next character once you have beaten all chapters for each character.
As you progress in the game, you may use different kinds of firearms in combat. You can buy new weapons from the main vendor, upgrade weapons using materials and money, or buy new armour as well as accessories from the vendor. However, you cannot upgrade your weapons, armour, or accessories unless you invest some money with the vendor. Equipment plays an important part to survive in this game, especially in harder difficulties such as the Dead Souls difficulty.
The combat system is basically a shooting combat system, where your controlled character can use a firearm to kill an enemy. Each category of firearm has different usage, such as Handgun weapons have unlimited ammo, and Shotgun weapons allow you to deal high damage on enemies in close range. Other than Handgun weapons, other categories of weapons have limited ammo, which you can purchase ammo from the vendor. Ammo will consume your inventory spaces, so only bring ammo that are necessary for your weapons loadout.
You can shoot while running, walking, or strafing. You may also use manual aiming to hit an enemy's weakpoint, although you can't move your character while using this aiming mode. You may also use environmental objects such as bicycles to kill zombies and other enemies. Each enemy has different weakness, which you may exploit by reading their database entries.
As you progress, you may have to fight mutant bosses, who have higher health bars than regular zombies or mutant monsters. They may also have special attacks and resistances, so make sure you are prepared before fighting them.
The gameplay is decent, but not great. Not all are bad however, as the game also has pretty good customisation and upgrading systems. This game also has lots of content, with many side-activities that can be done such as exploring a secret underground dungeon, talking with hostess, playing mini-games, or completing sub-stories. Sub-stories are actually tedious to complete in this game, due to high amount of backtracking between safe zone and zombie-infested areas. The sub-stories mostly have really good writing, and most of the time, hilarious.
The game's controls is a bit hit-and-miss. It works, but it also feels clunky to use due to the classic Yakuza control scheme. Manual aiming mode could be tweaked so that you can move while aiming, and use the Right Analog Stick instead to move the aiming cursor. Combat also feels repetitive throughout the game outside of boss fights, since there are not many variety of progression objectives to be done such as puzzles.
In conclusion for the gameplay section, decent gameplay, but not amazing.
Graphics
Like previous Yakuza games, this game has nice looking character models and environments. However, I find that this game is struggling to maintain framerate performance when rendering large amount of zombies in combat, which is extremely noticeable.
Sound
The voice acting is good, and I am pleased with the voice acting. I am also glad that one of my favourite Yakuza series characters appear in this game and voiced by the same voice actor. The soundtrack is good, with some memorable themes played throughout the game.
Replay Value
Like other Yakuza games, this game has good replay value. You can complete optional Substories for additional experience points, Subterranea missions, play minigames, and play the game again in harder difficulties. If you like this game, you will find that this game has lots of optional content.
Conclusion
This is a decent zombie action adventure game using Yakuza games' formula, but this game also shows that the controls feel really archaic and unsuitable for this kind of game. The combat system works, but not much variety of combat techniques to be used throughout the game. I only recommend this game for diehard Yakuza fans, and do not expect this game to be as good as Binary Domain, especially when it comes to shooting controls.
Score
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 8/10
Final Score: 7.0/10 or 29/40
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting story.
- Interesting and likable characters.
- Goda Ryuji is back in this game.
- Good writing in substories.
- Good amount of side-content.
- Good character models and cutscenes.
- Good voice acting and soundtrack.
- High replay value.
Cons
- Weak final villain reveal.
- Game control issues.
- Repetitive combat sections, without many variety of combat options.
- Generic story progression.
- Slowdowns when fighting many zombies on-screen.
**Screenshots are from official PlayStation game page.
This is a spinoff and non-canon Yakuza game, where it emphasises on action horror, adventure and shooter elements. Although this game plays similarly like previous Yakuza games, the combat system is entirely different than the usual Yakuza games' fighting system as there is more emphasis on shooting controls.
Story
Survive the zombie apocalypse in Kamurocho.
The game's story is pretty good, but not as great as other Yakuza games' stories. The plot is simplistic enough for new players can play this game without any prior story knowledge from previous Yakuza games. The characters are decently developed, such as the new villains and especially Goda Ryuji. Goda Ryuji is my favourite character in Yakuza 2, as well as in this game. Other playable characters have great but static personalities.
Gameplay
Guns and zombie version of Yakuza game.
This is an action-adventure game like previous Yakuza games, except you will be using firearms as means of combat throughout the game. You will also be fighting against zombies and other mutated monsters in different areas.
Progression is simple. You will play as four characters, with each character has four chapters to be played, totaling to 16 chapters. Each character has their own exclusive weapon, substories, and unique characters that they can interact with. In all chapters, you will be traversing to many zombie infested areas and clear them to progress with your story. Most of the time, you must talk to a character before you proceed to complete a story-related zombie infested area. There are not much variety in progression in this game other than some sections at later chapters.
Exploration also works similarly to previous Yakuza games, where you can explore different areas in Kamurocho and do side-activities such as playing minigames and completing sub-stories. However, as you progress in the game, more areas will be infested with zombies and monsters, so you won't be able to go to some locations without encountering enemies. You may also have to liberate some locations from zombies by killing them before you can use their services.
Leveling is the same as previous Yakuza games. You will gain experience points by killing zombies, completing sub-stories, or eating food. Once you have gained enough experience points, you will gain a level, where your character gains an increase of maximum health bar and Soul Point(s). Soul Points can be used to acquire abilities that may help you in combat, such as increasing amount of items that you can carry or using new Heat Sniping actions.Pick your abilities carefully as your level and abilities are carried over to next character once you have beaten all chapters for each character.
As you progress in the game, you may use different kinds of firearms in combat. You can buy new weapons from the main vendor, upgrade weapons using materials and money, or buy new armour as well as accessories from the vendor. However, you cannot upgrade your weapons, armour, or accessories unless you invest some money with the vendor. Equipment plays an important part to survive in this game, especially in harder difficulties such as the Dead Souls difficulty.
The combat system is basically a shooting combat system, where your controlled character can use a firearm to kill an enemy. Each category of firearm has different usage, such as Handgun weapons have unlimited ammo, and Shotgun weapons allow you to deal high damage on enemies in close range. Other than Handgun weapons, other categories of weapons have limited ammo, which you can purchase ammo from the vendor. Ammo will consume your inventory spaces, so only bring ammo that are necessary for your weapons loadout.
You can shoot while running, walking, or strafing. You may also use manual aiming to hit an enemy's weakpoint, although you can't move your character while using this aiming mode. You may also use environmental objects such as bicycles to kill zombies and other enemies. Each enemy has different weakness, which you may exploit by reading their database entries.
As you progress, you may have to fight mutant bosses, who have higher health bars than regular zombies or mutant monsters. They may also have special attacks and resistances, so make sure you are prepared before fighting them.
The gameplay is decent, but not great. Not all are bad however, as the game also has pretty good customisation and upgrading systems. This game also has lots of content, with many side-activities that can be done such as exploring a secret underground dungeon, talking with hostess, playing mini-games, or completing sub-stories. Sub-stories are actually tedious to complete in this game, due to high amount of backtracking between safe zone and zombie-infested areas. The sub-stories mostly have really good writing, and most of the time, hilarious.
The game's controls is a bit hit-and-miss. It works, but it also feels clunky to use due to the classic Yakuza control scheme. Manual aiming mode could be tweaked so that you can move while aiming, and use the Right Analog Stick instead to move the aiming cursor. Combat also feels repetitive throughout the game outside of boss fights, since there are not many variety of progression objectives to be done such as puzzles.
In conclusion for the gameplay section, decent gameplay, but not amazing.
Graphics
Nice looking visuals, but with performance issues.
Sound
Good Japanese voice acting and soundtrack.
Replay Value
Good replay value.
Like other Yakuza games, this game has good replay value. You can complete optional Substories for additional experience points, Subterranea missions, play minigames, and play the game again in harder difficulties. If you like this game, you will find that this game has lots of optional content.
Conclusion
A decent zombie action adventure Yakuza styled game.
This is a decent zombie action adventure game using Yakuza games' formula, but this game also shows that the controls feel really archaic and unsuitable for this kind of game. The combat system works, but not much variety of combat techniques to be used throughout the game. I only recommend this game for diehard Yakuza fans, and do not expect this game to be as good as Binary Domain, especially when it comes to shooting controls.
Score
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 6/10
Sound: 8/10
Final Score: 7.0/10 or 29/40
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting story.
- Interesting and likable characters.
- Goda Ryuji is back in this game.
- Good writing in substories.
- Good amount of side-content.
- Good character models and cutscenes.
- Good voice acting and soundtrack.
- High replay value.
Cons
- Weak final villain reveal.
- Game control issues.
- Repetitive combat sections, without many variety of combat options.
- Generic story progression.
- Slowdowns when fighting many zombies on-screen.
**Screenshots are from official PlayStation game page.
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