One of the reasons for the Playstation 2′s success according John Koller:

“In the gaming industry, the typical lifecycle for a console is around five years, but because we build each of our platforms for a large and diverse consumer base, we design our platforms differently. With the original PlayStation and now PlayStation 2, we?ve proven that consumers can rely on our platforms for their gaming and entertainment needs for at least a decade. This speaks to the technology and features that were packed into PlayStation 2 from the beginning, as well as to the ongoing support the platform enjoys from the publishing and retail communities and, well, all of you fans.”

The Playstation 2′s gaming library carries roughly 1,900 titles from both it’s first-party studios and publishing partners alone.

Great news Sony. Now start promoting your Playstation 3 the way you have the Playstation 2.

PS2

Earlier this year I discovered that Resident Evil creator, Shinji Mikami, and Clover Studios (Viewtiful Joe, Phoenix Wright) were collaborating on a PS2 title. It was only when I saw the E3 footage of GOD HAND that I knew this game would be something special. GOD HAND is a beat-em up that takes a very humorous approach to storytelling while taking its gameplay very seriously. So what do you get when you mix some of the best beat-em up gameplay mechanics, over-the-top fighting moves, and a story that obviously parodies the popular manga Fist of the North Star? You get the only PS2 game that offers laugh out loud, ass-kicking bliss with a tiny hint of Japanese style perversion.

Heaven forbid that someone expect a Final Fantasy-eqsue story in a beat-em up. GOD HAND is more liken to a parody and doesn’t take itself seriously. GOD HAND’s story is about a man named Jean who got has arm dismembered by thugs while attempting to rescue a damsel in distress. Shortly afterwards Jean comes into possession of the Godhand, a powerful weapon that can make a human either a god or a demon. The problem arises when Jean makes too much trouble by defeating demons with his Godhand. Now the demons want the Godhand for themselves and they will do whatever it takes to get it. This includes foes such as demons, magic wielding vixens, robots, wrestling gorillas, sentai midgets (think Power Rangers) and even a fat, cigar-smoking Akuma wannabe who just happens to have a Latin accent and is named Elvis. Trust me, it all comes together to make a game story unlike any other available.

I always state that gameplay is king over anything else in a game. That being the case, GOD HAND is easily the king of this current wave of beat-em ups we’ve seen in the past year or two. After wading though crap like Final Fight: Streetwise and Beatdown: Fist of Vengeance, it almost seemed like beat-em ups were a dead genre for sure. Thankfully, Clover Studios knows how to make videogame combat stylish and fresh. GOD HAND seems to take it’s gameplay mechanics directly from 3D fighting games, 2D fighting games, old school beat-em ups, and even a bit of Viewtiful Joe.

The main appeal of GOD HAND is that you can create your own combos from a list of over 100 fighting moves. There are punches, kicks, unblockables, guard crushes, air launchers (juggle setups), knock backs, and more to choose from. Some are available by defeating enemies, others by purchase at the game’s General Store. At the General Store, Jean can use the money he earns to buy status increases, new fighting techniques, and new God Reels. God Reels are the extremely over-the-top attacks that Jean can pull off on enemies if he has God Reel icons saved up. God Reel attacks range from things like stomping an enemy into a fiery mud hole, knocking them into outer space, going into a hyper kick frenzy, or slo-mo kicking your opponent in the groin and many more.

One other thing that Jean can do to deal out massive damage is unleash his God Hand. Once unleashed, Jean is invincible and free to go into a fast-paced, unblockable combo frenzy until it wears off. Having a good combo assigned beforehand is vital to not wasting this move, though the GOD HAND unleash is built up by successfully attacking enemies or finding girlie magazines.

So, with all those techniques and maneuvers at his disposal how can GOD HAND possibly be a challenge? God Hand is a challenge because it ramps the difficulty level up on gamers dynamically. The better you are at beating enemies, the harder the game makes itself. Sounds absurd, but it works just in that manner. As you successfully defeat enemies without taking alot of damage Gene’s level rises. When Jean levels up so do his enemies. They attack harder, get enraged more often, and will do more damage. If Jean should start to take a beating, he loses his levels and the difficulty ramps back down. Dynamic!

So how does Jean avoid getting his butt handed to him on a platter? He has a few defensive techniques to aid in his well-being since he can’t block attacks. The right analog stick is used for evasive actions. Tapping back on the stick causes Jean to backflip away from damage, forward causes him to duck or sway, and left or right is for sidestepping. These techniques along with well-placed attacks will eventually stun an enemy. An enemy can only be grappled by you when stunned. Gene’s grapple attacks are a mixture of wrestling and hyper attacks.

When enemies start blocking attacks, you can crush their guard using the move assigned to down and square. This leaves them open to any attack you wish to use and the damage dealt will be critical. At other times you will be grappled by an enemy. At that time you will need to QUICKLY follow the input instructions on the screen to escape or reverse that attack. If you mess up you will be sorry. Best believe this is a beat-em up that requires a lot of skill and patience. Devil May Cry 3 isn’t the only game that can make gamers beg for mercy.

On the graphical front, GOD HAND becomes a mixed bag. One good point is that the character models are actually very good for a PS2 game. In-game cut scenes use the real-time graphics as well. All the models look as good as the models from other higher profile games like Resident Evil 4, Onimusha 4, and Final Fantasy X. Even more to GOD HAND’s credit are the fluid animations of the character movements. In no other beat-em up will you find fighting techniques looking so smooth in execution.

Now for the bad news, the backgrounds and environments. They just look too bland and generic. There’s no life to them at all. Sure this is a post-apocalyptic setting, but it can still be more “atmospheric”. And I won’t even bother to get into the issue of GOD HAND’s clipping problems. Let’s just say some walls shouldn’t go transparent if you have hidden secrets in a game.

A game like God Hand needs to have solid voice-acting and audio and it does. Granted, this game’s voice-acting isn’t the best ever record but every character comes across as authentic as possible. Each and every character’s voice is dripping with the personality that one would expect from this type of quirky game. Whether they are shouting obscenities, taunts, or talking some kind of weird jibber jabber each character is cool in their own way. The sounds of punches and kicks making impact are also well done in GOD HAND. You will lay the smackdown, or get it laid on you, with crisp hard-hitting sound effects. A mixture of different genres of music like rock and techno is always playing in the background to keep you pumped up for the next confrontation.

GOD HAND is just the kick in the pants that the beat-em up genre needed. Good beat-em ups have become too far and few in-between these days. GOD HAND mixes enough of the right elements into the tried and true formula and comes out a winner in my book. It’s tough as nails and many casual gamers will likely be turned off by that. But the true fans of this genre and the diehard fighting game fans will eat this game up. A beat-em up that requires skill instead of mindless button mashing is something I have never encountered until now. GOD HAND has decent reply value which is something else this genre rarely offers. Clover Studios, Shinji Mikami, and Capcom hit the mark, HARD! Do not miss out on the ultra violent, comical fun of GOD HAND.

YAKUZA tells the tale of Kazuma Kiryu, a gangster who gets caught up taking the fall for the murder of his Yakuza boss. The intricate plot blends themes of love, betrayal, honor, the seedy underworld of Japan and more expletives than I’ve ever seen in a videogame to create an enjoyable, adult game experience.

YAKUZA‘s visual presentation is very well done for being a PS2 title. You’ll find the streets teeming with people. Whether they’re indulging in the various activities of the city such as gambling, strip clubs, hostess bars, restaurants and more, you’ll always see people busy with many things to do. From the neon lights to the multi-storied storefronts and buildings, the city really does have that metropolitan Japanese feel to it. Coupled with the above average ‘ambient’ noise in the city, the atmosphere will keep you immersed. The only complaint I have against it is the fact that the city is a little bit small compared to the other sandbox games out there such as GRAND THEFT AUTO and SAINTS ROW and you’ll soon feel a little bit confined in that space.

YAKUZA‘s core gameplay will have you trying to find and follow leads on this internal struggle for power within a Japanese criminal organization and how it relates to the people you love. Emerging from a ten year bid in prison with no contact to the outside world while on the inside, you find that your childhood sweetheart Yumi (voiced by Eliza Dushku) has gone missing and all signs are pointing to your best friend since childhood (voiced by Michael Rosenbaum) being involved. To find out this information, you’ll hit the streets, meet informants and kick a lot of ass along the way.

The game in some ways feels like SHENMUE, yet more focused and much heavier on the action. Considering a major complaint about SHENMUE was that it was light on the action, this should be a welcome addition to many players. The hand to hand fighting present in the game is much more about brawling and street fighting than the disciplined martial arts found in SHENMUE.

Like the aforementioned SHENMUE titles, you’ll also find an array of different activities and side missions that you can do. You’ll be able to hit the SEGA arcades, gamble in the casinos, participate in underground fight circuits, frequent strip clubs and more just to name a few. One cool thing about the side missions and such that separates it from GRAND THEFT AUTO and other sandbox games is how you access some of them. Some are completely random in that you’ll be walking down the street and you could bump into someone that will trigger an event that you can participate in. This makes things feel much more organic and spur of the moment than in other games where you’ll go to a particular location and just continue a string of missions.

The adult themes in the title are heavy. While we’re used to having an abundance in violent themes in games, you’ll find many sexual ones in this title as well. I have never played a videogame that has said more curse words than YAKUZA. When you hear Mark Hamill’s character talking about your woman when he tells you ‘I wish I could f*ck a b*tch like that’ or other choice quotes such as ‘F*ck that motherf*cker’ and ‘You can have that skank b*tch’ you’ll wonder if you’re playing a game at all. Still, I enjoyed every single second of it. This is a game about mobsters. I’m glad SEGA didn’t try to take the easy way out and clean things up for the localization. YAKUZA takes place in the belly of the city where people do whatever they have to do to survive. The prostitution, violence and other aspects of crime has the city in a chokehold and the gritty manner in which it’s all portrayed goes that much further into making you believe in it.

The sound is somewhat of a mixed bag, but it’s mostly positive. I felt that the soundtrack was great. It had somewhat of a Yuzo Koshiro feel to it and it brought back that feeling of classic SEGA action games. As far as the voices go, it’s pretty much an all-star cast. You have the likes of Michael Rosenbaum, Rachel Leigh Cook, Eliza Dushku, Mark Hamill, Michael Madsen and others lending their talents here. Fortunately, they’ve done a good job in pronouncing the Japanese names and such, but still sometimes the dialogue comes out just sounding awkward and not quite in place. This would’ve been a great game to have the option of leaving the Japanese voice track in with English subtitles as seen in UBISOFT’s ENCHANTED ARMS. Hopefully we’ll see more of that in the future as we get more games coming over that are heavily rooted in Japanese culture.

Overall, YAKUZA is a very enjoyable experience. Despite a few shortcomings, SEGA has gone to great lengths to ensure that the atmosphere and emotion was as authentic as possible. Their decision to leave the title in tact with the mature tones is a welcome one that should be applauded. If Nintendo is making sure that the youngsters and casual gamers are being taken care of, SEGA is playing the anti-thesis to that in making sure that adult and hardcore gamers are appeased.

Yakuza brings the player in the immersive story of Kiryu Kazuma, a former Yakuza top earner who is rebuilding his life after serving 10 years in prison for murder. The plot twists and turns in cinematic style by bringing in a murder frame-up, a missing 100 million dollars and the truth behind the Yakuza organization. The game features a new intuitive fighting engine, built from the ground up, giving players the ability to string attack combos and take out multiple enemies simultaneously. Players will also have the ability to grab and use in-game everyday objects as well as weapons to take out their enemies and feel the rush of beating their opponents.

To keep the cinematic feel and deep character-driven storyline, Yakuza features a top-notch Hollywood cast to voice the key characters in the game. Michael Rosenbaum (Smallville), Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs, Sin City), Eliza Dushku (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bring it On), Rachel Leigh Cook (She’s All That), and Mark Hamill (Star Wars) join forces to bring the characters alive and help players follow the intense storyline.

“The plot twists in Yakuza are as compelling and exciting as those in any motion picture released this year,” said Scott A. Steinberg, Vice President of Marketing, SEGA of America, Inc. “Players will be fully immersed in the brutal world of this deeply intriguing and iconic organization while experiencing, for the first time, the secret life of the Yakuza from the inside.”

Rated “M” for Mature by the Entertainment Software Review Board, Yakuza for the Playstation 2 is available at retailers nationwide for an MSRP of $49.95.