PSX Extreme writes: "It’s one of the lesser known quality franchises out there, primarily because it’s heavily Japanese in nature and North America is typically a year behind (it takes quite a while for a new entry to make it to US shores). Therefore, we’re already talking about what appears to be the final installment before the last, Yakuza 4, is even available in this country. But that’s okay, because we often like to catch glimpses of the future…even if it happens to be a relatively distant future. Besides, it’s hard not to talk about the seemingly drastic gameplay change applied to Yakuza: Of The End: rather than a focus on standard melee battles – ala Double Dragon or Fighting Force – Sega is implementing third-person gun combat. They’re also tossing in hordes of zombies. Now, this may turn off avid Yakuza followers, but we’ll certainly be interested to see the final fresh-feeling result."
NoSleepGamer writes: Shuffling up to the zombie party the day after the night before can hardly be called fashionably late, but here we finally are. The Yakuza series is renowned for its unique blend of beat em’ up RPG, so it was surprising and (whisper it), slightly disappointing to see them announce a gun-packed zombie game when all I really wanted was a new city to play in with Kiryu and the rest of the face-stomping gang.
Heath of PSLS has praise for the story and boss battles of Yakuza: Of the End, to be called Yakuza: Dead Souls in Europe and NA, concluding, "As a huge Yakuza fan myself, I somewhat enjoyed the game, but wish there would have been a little better pacing and more chances to explore. Dead Souls ends up being OK for what it is."
Judging by this and Eurogamer's import review, Dead Souls isn't up to the usual standard of the Yakuza games, but I'll probably still get it anyway. I'm a sucker for Kazuma and his ragtag crew of shady characters.
I still want to give it a try since I have loved the Yakuza games, but this score does hurt a bit :(
You should check it out. It's decent for Yakuza fans. Wait for a price drop or pick it up used or possibly make it a rental. It's worth the satisfaction of your curiosity, at the very least.
PlayStation LifeStyle's Heath Hindman has been playing the latest PS3 Yakuza and says, "Unlike previous Yakuza games which focused 90 per cent of their combat on the hand-to-hand aspect of things, fighting in this one is all about firearms. The cover has each character holding what will probably turn out to be a favorite gun of his. So far, Akiyama’s primary tool of death (“undeath?”) has been a 9mm handgun. Holding R2 brings up crosshairs, helping the player pull off head shots, which are one-hit kills despite the aforementioned inconsistency. When Akiyama’s heat gauge fills up, he can try 'Heat Sniping,' which will trigger a Quick-Time Event zooming in on an item that, if shot, can cause some beautiful destruction. An early example of this is shooting the gas tank of a car, causing it to explode and take out the crew of zombies huddling around it probably talking about how they wish it had brains so that they could eat them and then listen to The Cure."
Heh, inconsistent indeed. Sort of like how Nathan Drake can take a couple bullets and in a mere 30 seconds be fully healed, but in a cutscene he takes a bullet to the gut and suddenly it really effects him! Oh well, as long as it's fun, that's all that really matters.
