Yakuza 2

Yakuza 2
Developer(s)	Sega
Publisher(s)	Sega
Director(s)	Ryuta Ueda
Producer(s)	Masayoshi Kikuchi
Designer(s)	Daisuke Sato
Programmer(s)	Tetsuya Kaku Koji Tokieda
Artist(s)	Daisuke Sato
Writer(s)	Masayoshi Yokoyama Makoto Itakura Seishu Hase
Composer(s)	Hidenori Shoji Hideki Sakamoto Norihiko Hibino Takahiro Izutani
Series	Yakuza
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 Wii U
Release	PlayStation 2 JP: December 7, 2006 NA: September 9, 2008 EU: September 19, 2008 AU: September 25, 2008 PlayStation 3 JP: November 1, 2012 Wii U JP: August 8, 2013
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Yakuza 2 (Japanese: 龍が如く2, Hepburn: Ryū ga Gotoku 2, "Like a Dragon 2") is an action-adventure game by Sega, the sequel to Yakuza. It was released on December 7, 2006, for the PlayStation 2 in Japan and in September 2008 in North America and Europe.^[1] The game focuses on the former yakuza Kazuma Kiryu who receives a request for help from his former group, the Tojo Clan, to keep relationships with the eastern group, the Omi Family, stable. Across Kazuma's journey he learns of a Korean mafia group linked with the Omi Family and becomes the rival of the Omi's "Kansai Dragon", Ryuji Goda.

Yakuza 2 has several gameplay features over its predecessor. Sega wished to improve the fighting engine based on fan input to provide a more rich experience. The story was aimed to feature a deep adult love story, something not seen in the previous game. Additionally, for the western versions the original Japanese audio was kept in contrast to the previous game which contained English audio.

Critical reception to Yakuza 2 was positive, with reviewers praising the presentation and fighting system. A PlayStation 4 remake of the game, Yakuza Kiwami 2, was released in 2017.

Plot

Setting

Sōtenbori area is modeled after Osaka's Dōtonbori (道頓堀)

Half of the game takes place in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, most noticeably a recreation of Shinjuku's red-light district Kabukichō renamed Kamurocho.

The other half takes place in Osaka, with the fictitious Sōtenbori and Shinseicho areas modeled after Osaka's respectively Dōtonbori and Shinsekai districts. Although these areas were recreated as fictionalized versions, many real life landmarks remain such as Dōtonbori's Sammy Ebisu Plaza (サミー戎プラザ) and Shinsekai's Tsutenkaku Tower (通天閣) and Billiken (ビリケン).

Development

Yakuza 2 was announced in August 2006 with Sega promising an improved fighting system and further exploration.^[2] Nagoshi commented on some of his goals with Yakuza 2. In addition to providing a deeper dramatic storyline over what was found in the original, the game also has some themes that were not in the original, including an adult love story.^[3] The Sega team considered fan input when making changes to Yakuza 2. One of the main aims in developing Yakuza 2 was improving its fighting engine. Accounting for fights against multiple opponents was one of the most important things that were considered when improving the fighting engine. It was made much easier, for instance, to attack foes that come at the player character from multiple directions, and to switch targets in the middle of a combo in order to quickly take out someone who may have snuck up on your flank. As a result, the fighting system was polished and the staff believed they succeeded. In localizing the game, the Japanese audio was kept instead of producing an English dub. This proved no difficulties.^[4] The team also added more Heat moves to make the fights more exciting.^[5]

The director of the voice recordings discouraged the voice actors from falling back on the cliches of anime character acting. When scenes involving characters exchanging insults and threatening each other take on cartoon cadences, the sense of tension and suspense evaporates. The decision not to use an overblown style of acting was what the composer thought it added to the distinctive dramatic feel of the series.^[6] This is the first game in the series to feature only Japanese voice acting for its U.S. and PAL release as a response to the criticism of the English voice acting in the first game.^[7][8]

Marketing

In order to make realistic recreations of Tokyo's Kabukicho and Osaka's Dōtonbori, Sega made 17 tie-in with famous Japanese companies.^[11] As a result, some places found in the game, such as the Don Quijote discount store, the Club Sega game centers and the Matsuya (松屋) restaurants (replacing its unlicensed version called Akagyu) are modeled after the real life buildings. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen high-speed train is also featured in the game.

In order to support the game's expensive production, Sega used product placement strategy and introduced ads within the game. This includes the Japanese coffee brand Boss Coffee, numerous brands of alcohol appearing in the game's bars and pubs including Suntory Whiskey, Jack Daniel's Bourbon or Carlsberg Beer.

Famous real life arcades are included in the game.^[5] Sega's UFO Catcher crane game machine is included as a minigame, and arcade cabinets of Virtua Fighter 4 can be seen in the Club Sega game centers.

Reception

Yakuza 2 was the 98th best-selling game in Japan in 2008 selling 136,809 copies that year,^[21] while it was the third best-selling PlayStation 2 game in its release year, 2006, reaching lifetime sales of around 830,000 in Japan.^[22][23] 40,000 copies were sold in North America.^[24]

Famitsu gave the game a score of 38 out of 40.^[15] IGN gave Yakuza 2 a score of 8.5 out of 10,^[19] and GameFan gave the game a score of Very Good,^[16] as well as their 'Best PlayStation 2 Game' award for 2008.^[25] Eurogamer rated the game 8 out of 10.^[14]

Releases

The Japanese version of the game, Ryū Ga Gotoku 2, was ported to the PlayStation 3 and Wii U consoles. This remastered edition of the second game in the series is bundled with the original Japanese version of the first game. Both compilations were released in Japan.

References

External links

• Official website