Cert: 18+
Platform: PS3
Genre: Action
Yakuza 4 will not be for everyone. A RPG-style action adventure - but instead of controlling the one character, you control four - it is both enjoyable and frustrating, solid yet unoriginal. The fact there's absolutely no English spoken in this game - instead, subtitles are the order of the day - illustrates this will be a title for hardcore fans only.
There's a lot to enjoy here to start off, with walking down Tokyo's red-light district and following objectives or picking up random missions enough reason to come back, but the strength of any great adventure (see any GTA title) is that it manages to balance excellent gameplay with a story that will want to keep you coming back. But because Yakuza 4 focuses one the one story from 4 different angles its hard to grow any attachment with any one particular, and instead what's left is a fleeting narrative that never really attracts.
It doesn't help that both looks and mechanics are sub-standard and that SEGA could have been so much better. With a bit more gloss, innovation and perhaps just the one character, Yakuza 4 could have been so much better, but instead what we have is something whose movie equivalent would be straight to DVD.
Rent or Buy: Rent
Graphics: 3/5
Gameplay: 3/5
Replay Value: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Reviewed By: Simon Rubbathan
