If you thought the origional Yakuza was good, then this long awaited sequel will blow you away.
GAMEPLAY: The general gameplay of Yakuza 2 is more or less un-changed from the first game. Under all the free roam and story telling its just a simple little brawler that requires you to bash buttons as fast as you can until all your enemies are bloody pulps on the ground. But you don't see me complaining! Its so very satisfying to slam some poor sods face into a stone wall, break some gangsters nose with a powerful fits, or even smack someone around the head with a mountain bike! You might think that this gets old after a while, but it really doesn't! It is so fun and addictive, that whenever you come back to the game you will be just as satisfied as before. But fighting and playing through that awesome story isn't all there is to do. Yakuza 2 gives two large cities to explore. Within these cities there is loads of things to do, such as side quests and mini games, and even a dating sim! Mini games are a big feature and tie in with the side quests at certain points. You can hit the nets for some baseball, have a shot at golf, head down to the bowling alley, and maybe visit an arcade or casino. But the most interesting mini game lies within the many Cabaret Clubs in the game. Here you can entertain hostess' with gifts and conversation to gain some XP than is used to improve your brawling skills. You can even manage your own club and become a host and this is also good fun. Besides these places, there is a massive range of restaurants and cafes that you can go in to get XP and replenish your health bar, plus there are shops in which you can buy items required for story missions side quests XP and just for general use in the game (such as bandages to restore health). These things are not essential to the game, but are very welcome. They add to the realism of the cities, and help drag out the story even more. Graphically it looks great for a PS2 game, especially when your walking down the neon streets that are fit to burst with pedestrians. And the sound in the game is probably the best of any PS2 game, and that's no exaggeration. But its not all perfect, the camera angle can be woefully bad, and invisible walls prevent from going to parts of the world you think you can. And a more minor issue is the hundreds of long cut scenes, but this wasn't bad for me, as I like cut scenes and these are so well done and well polished. But its worth mentioning for those who don't like them, as they cannot skipped and could become annoying.
GOOD: Great graphics and sound, very fun and satisfying gameplay, good exploration features, gorgeous and well polished cut scenes, a host of brilliant side quests and mini games, fantastic realism, and a story to rival many gangster films.
BAD: Camera angles can get horrific, cut scenes are very frequent and very long which could annoy some people.
OVERVIEW: Yakuza 2 is generally a great game with tons of positive features and excellent gameplay choices. But some negatives unfortunately hold it back a little, but not enough to stop this game from been one of the greatest open world, action adventure games ever made.