Yakuza is a cinematic tale of honor and loyalty. A Tokyo gangster power struggle writ digital. It's also a decent game. Rather than being yet another in a long line of Grand Theft Auto clones filled with stylistically empty car chases and random fun violence, it offers a fairly deep interactive story to go along with the expected doses of the ol' ultra violence—an interactive epic nearly on par with the best samurai tales.
The graphics, on the whole, are quite good for the aging PS2 hardware. Characters display a surprising amount of emotion, indicating Sega spent a lot of money on artists and programmers to provide rich visual details. But while the game sports some quality acting, it's a damn shame there's no Japanese audio track; the lip-syncing, just like in bad import-movie dubs, is not even close. The dialogue is at least well done, making heavy use of "motherfucker" in nearly every sentence. It's language as spicy as wasabi, and sure to corrupt the innocent mind of any kid who hears it. Still, in a game with honor rituals of cutting off fingers, a few "fucks" should be the least of anyone's worries.
One major flaw in the game is that you can't interact with many elements of the environment; most places are off-limits, as are the vast majority of people. Tokyo looks like Tokyo but doesn't feel like it. There are no cars to drive and the virtual city can be walked across in five minutes, so while the visuals are sharp, the game lacks the total-immersion indulgences of a game like Shenmue.
The in-game camera can also be infuriating: following preset angles, it's often aggravating when you can't look directly at the thugs you are fighting. Gameplay alternates between simple modes: walking around and talking to people, or kicking ass. The latter consists of beating the living daylights out of half a dozen random thugs at any given time, and while the fighting can be brutally violent and fun, it can occasionally turn repetitive and tedious. Block after block provides a fresh group of bad guys for you to send to the hospital, after which your assaulters will apologize and hand over some cash for their rudeness, bowing in shame after you separate them from their teeth. And like every other game in its genre, experience points are earned to garner new moves. You can also pause the game in midfight, eat a bowl of noodles, and instantly heal a major lead-pipe-induced head trauma—one of the many unexplained mysteries of video games.
All in all, Yakuza is well-made and entertaining, despite its flaws. It may not be for every gamer, but there's enough on display to entertain fans of both kicking ass and overblown Japanese gangster pictures. And really, when you get down to it, who isn't a fan of both? 
