PlayStation 3

Yakuza: Dead Souls

Despite the repetition, killing zombies in such huge numbers is entertaining and the special moves and bosses provide some thrills along the way. Overall, Yakuza: Dead Souls is a pleasant/unpleasant distraction from the pace of the previous Yakuza games, yet something still tells us that these zombies won't be making a return to the crime drama franchise any time soon. And we're not too sad about that.

The bottom line is that Yakuza: Dead Souls is a great game. It has a generous portion of content, fun characters, and some of the best guitar-based instrumentation I’ve heard in a recent game. The game certainly isn’t going to appeal to a mainstream audience, but to fans of the series and people who have been curious about it, this succeeds both as fanservice and as incentive to check out the serious adventures of Kazuma Kiryu and company. Try it out and see if you can stand the basic shooting mechanics.

Still, it's unlikely that fans will be left with anything other than warm feelings for a series that has never quite got the praise it deserved.

Overall, Yakuza: Dead Souls really only survives on its novelty value. That's not necessarily a bad thing if you are a longtime Yakuza fan. If all you really want to do is see your favorite Yakuza characters acting like cartoony parodies of themselves during a zombie apocalypse, then this is the game for you. For the rest of us, you won't lose anything by passing this game over. If you are a newbie and you want to get into the Yakuza series, pick up Yakuza 4 instead. It gives you a much better feel for the franchise than Dead Souls does. It just goes to show that zombies don't necessarily make everything better.

Dead Souls sits in a strange middle zone, stuck somewhere between the past Yakuza series games and the tired zombie sandbox genre. While fans will surely enjoy seeing series stars in this zombie apocalypse setting, they could miss some of the classic Yakuza pacing and gameplay. Zombie game fans will enjoy the varied killing options, but could be disappointed at the lack of challenge when it comes to gun play. Still, there's enough here to warrant a purchase between the solid story and characters and the ample options to goof off. If you try not to think too hard and approach Yakuza: Dead Souls with a B-movies in mind, you'll likely come away entertained.

Il est légitime de se demander comment évaluer un jeu tel que Yakuza : Dead Souls. Objectivement, il ne s'agit ni d'un bon TPS, ni d'un titre particulièrement bluffant, et pourtant les amateurs de la série pourront réellement prendre plaisir à le découvrir. Faut-il comprendre que l'abus de zombies finit par altérer notre faculté de jugement ? A moins bien entendu que ce ne soit notre attachement à Kamurocho qui nous rende cette aventure sympathique... Toujours est-il que nous nous retrouvons là face à un jeu certes bourré de défauts, mais qui parvient tout de même à nous tenir en haleine sans problème.

But it’s hard to look past the massively fugly engine. While the copious cut-scenes are pleasing to the eyes, the in-game visuals look like a glorified, smudgy PS2 game. And yet for all its flaws, Dead Souls still lets you battle women in bloody cocktail dresses and wannabe Lickers with a sympathetic loan shark. It’s this ludicrously bizarre charm that makes Dead Souls more than the sum of its reanimated parts.

Yakuza: Of the End müffelt gewaltig und es liegt nicht an den Untoten, die sich in Hundertschaften durchs Bild schleppen. Eine gemeinsame Charakterentwicklung mit wenigen Fähigkeiten für vier Protagonisten, beinahe durchgehend bekannte Kulissen, von denen einige lediglich ramponiert wurden und eine schnurgerade Geschichte ohne Atempausen für Charakterzeichnungen: Das stinkt nach müder Durchreiche. Dabei erfüllt der hoffentlich letzte Abstecher in das angestaubte Kamurocho auf dem Papier alle Bedingungen eines unterhaltsamen Spektakels: Zu hunderten stürzen sich Zombies vor die Flinte, mit gewaltigen Spezialangriffen gibt man ihnen den Rest. Im Gammelfleisch-freien Tokio freut man sich hingegen über etliche Minispiele und genießt die spielerische Leichtigkeit des lebendigen Vergnügungsviertels. Von dem gewonnenen Geld umwirbt man junge Damen, kauft neue Waffen und verbessert alte - das motiviert wie man es kennt.

Yakuza Dead Souls is not a bad game – it is a good game ruined by broken mechanics. Its story, scripting and sense of humour can’t make up for that. If you’re a long-standing fan of the Yakuza series, you’ll want to see how it all ends, but be prepared to endure a lot of pain before you get there. Otherwise, it’s best to stick to Yakuza 4 and pretend that this disappointing entry never happened.