Yakuza Dead Souls for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

This title is meant to be a continuation and spinoff from the Yakuza series on the PS3. The characters are mostly returning faces from the series, living out a sudden zombie outbreak in the fictional district of Kamurocho in Japan.

The selling point of the game is gunplay with zombies of all kinds. This takes place in the hostile 'quarantine' area of the game, and the killing is plentiful. Graphic yet cartoony enough to be palatable. Good enemy variety, solid weapons. One major hitch is the way the lockon and camera systems behave. It's certainly workable, just not exactly a precise shooter.

There is a surprising amount of sidetracking one can do within the game. Exploring the alleyway shops in the safe zones, going through sidequests and multipart stories of minor characters has depth - as well as reward in money and items.

The story is broken up between four different characters, each with a specific weapon and very distinct character flavor. The cinematics and dialogue are detailed and have a movie feel. The dialogue is all in Japanese, however, so subtitles will be constant.

The main scenarios can be rushed through in about 6 - 8 hours, though I derived about 45 hours during exploration and other activities - and I barely dabbled with the minigames. From playing bowling, darts and casino games to building relationships with Hostesses in social clubs, the amount of minigames here is nearly alarming.

The game environments have real character and sense of presence. The city is the game's main location and changes throughout the main scenario as the quarantine spreads.

There is no multiplayer, but the game offers multiple difficulties and item carryover into subsequent plays.

I went into this expecting a shallow shooter made from a brawling game. I was very pleasantly surprised by the foreign-yet-familiar charm of the game and solid zombie splatter.