Yakuza of the End Might Get English Release

Just saw this post over at SegaBits and wanted to share my opinion on the matter. Basically, there was a trademark filed in Europe for "Yakuza: Dead Souls" which almost certainly has something to do with Yakuza of the End.

I'm a huge fan of the Yakuza series as well as zombies so I've been gunning for this game since it was first announced. However, I didn't really expect anything from it because the last time there was a "different" Yakuza game it stayed stuck in Japan (Ryu ga Gotoku Kenzan!). Zombies are certainly a hot commodity these days though so maybe Sega figures they can safely cash in on this one - Kenzan was about samurais which, I guess, are not as profitable.

So it's only a trademark and trademarks don't always mean something but they also put up a logo with it. I'm hoping this means it does get English release. Even if it is only European release I'd be more than happy to import it.

57 - Spiral Knights (PC)

Genre: RPG, MMO
Rating: N/A
Developer: Three Rings
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PC (Also: Mac)
Release Date: 2011

I first heard of Spiral Knights when it launched back in April. At that time, I figured it was just another MMO that wasn't going to be a big deal. It probably wasn't either until Steam picked it up for one of their first free-to-play games on the service. Now basically all my friends are playing it daily. Curious, I decided to check it out as well.

As it turns out, Spiral Knights is a lot of fun. To me it feels a lot like The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. That probably stems from the cute art and top down perspective of the game. You also generally group up in teams of four to explore dungeon after dungeon. You can also choose to play solo if you wish, which pleases me because I've always been more than a bit wary of some online players. For single player dungeon crawls, you can even password protect your dungeon so nobody else can hop in. Fantastic!

However, since I have friends playing it I am happy to say I've had a bit of experience with the whole "online" functionality of the game. It's a pretty simple hack n' slash game with a bit of puzzling to do now and again. The goal is to go deeper and deeper to get to the center of the world (or something like that). Unfortunately, it costs energy to go down each level, so you can only play so many levels per day before running out. I've heard that becomes less of an issue when you level up more, but I'm still pretty weak.

I really like the game and if I hadn't gotten caught up in the likes of EVE Online I'd probably still be playing it a ton. Unfortunately, I just get in brief stints with Spiral Knights in between my other business. Regardless, it's a solid online game. It's very casual but very fun.

Would I play again? Yes!

48 - Blood Will Tell: Tezuka Osamu's Dororo (PS2)

Genre: Action adventure
Rating: M
Developer: Paon Corp.
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PS2
Release Date: 2004

Blood Will Tell is excellent. I am not familiar with Tezuka Osamu's original Dororo story, but it doesn't impede my enjoyment of the game one bit. When I was younger and Game Crazy still was around I remember going in and seeing the game on a shelf behind the counter. I turned to my mother who had accompanied me and said something about that being "the game where the guy has swords for arms." I didn't end up buying it then, but wish I had instead of Flow: Urban Dance Uprising.

For years I searched around for the game but it no longer appeared anywhere (and the internet is my very last resort). Finally, earlier this year I found it complete at a local game store and picked it right up. The weekend after, I found it again CIB at a GameStop in the mall. It's really weird how this happens, but I'm just glad I own it. I was so happy I bought both copies. This game is honestly worth it to me.

My massive interest and desire in owning the game started years ago when I first demoed it. It was incredibly strange, and upon playing now it still is. The main character is a samurai who, as a child, was split apart by demons. He looks like a complete human being, but he is missing most of his internal organs. For example, his voice is metallic and odd until you beat a demon boss and regain your voice box. It's weird, but neat.

Since this guy is mostly a hollow shell he is able to house all sorts of weapons inside of him. He doesn't have a butt machine gun like Astro Boy, but he does have a missile launcher in his knee. He's also got his signature samurai swords in his arms. The game plays like a classic samurai story just with these really strange twists. I really like it and hope to someday finish it.

Would I play again? Yes!

36 - Yakuza 4 (PS3)

Genre: Action adventure
Rating: M
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PS3
Release date: 2011

I love Yakuza. When it was going to come out in the US for PS2 I was pretty damn hyped. It looked like a really neat beat 'em up with deep storyline all based in Japan. At the time, I was a big fan of everything Japanese (well, more so) so this was gonna be totally awesome. Initially, I got it in less than legitimate ways. However, that was pretty useless because the game seemed impossible for anyone to rip properly. There were always massive slowdown issues and glitches galore.

From that, I never actually ended up playing Yakuza 1 or 2. I remembered my initial awe with the idea of the game later on and pre-ordered Yakuza 3. Playing that game was one of the best gaming experiences I had all 2010. The story was taught and perfectly executed along with addicting gameplay.

Yakuza 4 is also a pretty good game. Somehow, it doesn't feel as good as 3 did. On various forums, it seems most people feel the opposite about the two games. Oh well. Something interesting is that the hostess bar minigame stuff was brought back after being removed from the english version of 3. Playing it made me realize why Sega took it out before. Even though the entire game is very Japanese this minigame is crazily Japanese. Dressing up your hostess with outfits, accessories, makeup and hairstyles is probably something most gamers would find appealing (especially when there aren't tons of slutty outfits). It's not like you can just dress her to your liking either, as the goal is to get her to be perfect for the patrons who visit. Still, I'm glad to see Sega put it back in for people to try out.

After playing Yakuza 4 I feel like playing through all the games. I need to play 1 and 2 since I missed out on them, but they all deserve a playthrough one after the other. Somehow I think I'll lose steam before accomplishing that, but at least playing the first two titles is doable at sometime in the future.

Would I play again? Maybe.

Feel free to check out my more in depth review of Yakuza 4 here.

30 - Taito Legends (PS2)

Genre: Compilation
Rating: T
Developer: Empire Oxford
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PS2 (Also: PC, PSP, Xbox)
Release date: 2005

I just picked this one up over the weekend and was tired of going in alphabetical order so decided to hit this up. It was a pretty good choice, especially after the supreme un-fun of the game I'd just played. Strangely, unlike the Atari and Intellivision collections I have I wasn't quite sure what would be included in the Taito flavor. For classic games, I'm kind of biased with my interest which mostly leans toward western developers. Don't ask me why though, that's just how things ended up happening.

So aside from the obligatory Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble, and Elevator Action a lot of these games were new to me. That didn't stop me from finding a couple new favorites though. Games like Gladiator were pretty cool. I liked that you could control your sword and shield separately for attacking and blocking against the enemy combatants. I'd really like to play it two player. There was some other sword game but I can't remember the name and I was just awful at it so maybe it's better to forget about it.

There was this other game but the name completely escapes me now. However, it was fantastic and it was a very simple game. Basically you were in control of two little animals (pig, dog, or cat) holding a.... bouncy mat thing. Wow, words really are failing me tonight. One of those types of things that firefighters use in movies when someone is jumping out of a window of a burning building. Anyway, you would bounce your animal friend in it and hit objects on the top half of the screen. There were even boss battles and it was totally cool.

Overall the mix of games was pretty cool. I'm always a fan of these types of things though so maybe I'm biased. They feel like pretty good deals to me. Some of the games aren't any good but that's the case with any compilation. With that said though, this compilation probably won't be the first or even second I reach for next time.

Would I play again? Sure.