Yakuza: Dead Souls (PS3) Review

Four unlikely heroes vs. an army of the undead.

 Yakuza: Dead Souls was the zombie spin-off that came out of nowhere back in 2012. Though looking back, it's not all that surprising since the zombie genre was way more popular in the seventh gen era and lots of studios were dishing out zombie-based games like Dead Rising and Left for Dead. This time, Kamurocho's been plagued with a zombie outbreak and its up to four familiar leads to shoot some zombies, fight some bad guys, and save the city. As a huge fan of Sega's long-running Yakuza series, I've been pretty interested in playing Dead Souls for a while now, since it does away with the series' standard brawling gameplay for third-person shooter action. Does it succeed and is it any good? Well, let's find out.


 It's just another night in Tokyo's Kamurocho district when a mysterious attacker starts biting off random citizens, turning all of them as zombies and putting the city's in a state of lockdown. Caught up in the mess are loan-shark Shun Akiyama, upbeat Yakuza Goro Majima, ex-Yakuza Kazuma Kiryu, and Yakuza 2 villain Ryuji Goda as they find a way to survive the chaos and save Kamurocho from ruin. While nonsensical most of the time, the story was decent with some twists and revelations to keep you hooked. The characters were great and seeing Akiyama, Kiryu, Goda, and especially Majima kicking ass was a blast. Basically, it's all the good stuff fans have come to know from the series. Newcomers will some enjoyment here, but will get lost with some of the events and references of previous games.

It's not as memorable as previous games but
the story was entertaining.

 Yakuza: Dead Souls is your standard third-person shooter with you controlling Akiyama, Majima, Goda, and Kiryu in their respective chapters as you shoot down zombies and explore Kamurocho. Right off the bat, the game handles clunkily compared to other games of the genre as character movements are stiff and it being a slow pain to aim. Making things worse is that the camera sucks, often working against you by obscuring enemies and being difficult to adjust in small hallways-- it's easily the most annoying aspect of the game. 

Despite its flaws, the gameplay is decent and
the boss fights were pretty fun.

 Still, there's a decent selection of weapons and enemy variety to keep things fun, the former being customizable by finding the right materials. The levelling mechanic of the series is here and the more you shoot zombies and complete various activities, you'll earn experience that will you to unlock new abilities for your character. These include extra storage space, new melee moves, and an increase to your "Heat Snipe" recovery, which allows you to pull off some flashy finishers on enemies using environmental objects.

 The game packs optional side-missions called "substories", which has you doing favors for the residents of Kamurocho. These range from rescuing trapped survivors, tracking down scammers, and shooting a zombie film, it's all familiar to series regulars. However, I found myself enjoying most of Dead Souls' substories, with some of them being very well-written and utilized the game's setting well. Each character has their own specific substories and you'll learn a bit more about their personalities as well. Also, completing certain substories unlock partners, which are AI companions that will join you in battles. There's a total of 14 in the game and each carry their own weapons and skills too, so it's worth checking them out.

Kick back and relax.

 In terms of extras, the game is jam-packed with content. From singing in karaoke clubs to gaming in the arcades to enjoying a quiet game of golf, Kamurocho's waiting to be explored amidst a zombie crisis. There's a new feature called the Endless Subterranea, which is a series of floors where you must beat waves of zombies for rewards and levelling up. My playthrough clocked in around 30 hours with me completing all substories and getting a 50% completion rate. Obviously with the amount of content and replay value here, it will take you a lot more hours if you're planning on fully beating the game.

 Dead Souls has aged decently for the most part. The character models look great though the backgrounds and textures are definitely on the rough side of things. Also, there were occasional frame-rate dips when the screen gets crowded with enemies and explosions, which was distracting at times. Compared to other games in the series, there's an abundance of cutscenes and they do a fine job of keeping you invested in the adventure. The voice acting is top-notch as always with the four main leads' performances being standouts. The soundtrack is good and it nails the atmosphere of the game, but I haven't found it to be all that interesting.

Dead Souls holds up well for the most part.

 Yakuza: Dead Souls is a good Yakuza game but a very average shooter. The transition to a third-person shooter could've been better, starting with the crappy camera system and controls. Still, it works and I've never encountered any game-breaking issues. There's fun to be had with the over-the-top story, well-acted cutscenes, and side activities of the game. Fans will have a blast here and even newcomers to some extent. It's pretty cheap nowadays with it being $20 on PSN, so if you're in the mood for some mindless shooting, Yakuza: Dead Souls is worth a look.