Video Game Vintage Title: Yakuza: Dead Souls

Yakuza: Dead Souls

Yakuza : Dead Souls is an action-adventure video game, developed and published by Sega exclusively for the PlayStation 3. The game is the sixth installment in the Yakuza series. The game's concept and keyword is "destruction"; a promotional image for the game showed the series' main locale, Kamurocho, in ruins. Leaked scans of the Famitsu issue released on September 16, the first day of the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, revealed that the game would be set during a zombie outbreak in Kamurocho and reportedly after the events of Yakuza 4. The game was originally scheduled for release in Japan on March 17, 2011 two days after the release of Yakuza 4 in North America; however, after the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the release was indefinitely delayed. A new release date, setting the game's release for June 9, was announced on April 7. The game was also released in North America and Europe by Sega in March 2012.

Yakuza: Dead Souls Plot

The game is set during a zombie outbreak in Kamurocho, a big departure from the storyline of the series to this point. The game is set during April 2011, when the residents of Kamurocho have become zombies. Witnessing the start of the outbreak through the eyes of Shun Akiyama, a local loan shark. Kamurocho is slowly quarintined as the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force is called in to contain the outbreak. Now only one soldier remains alive, Misuzu Asagi. After receiving a phone call from a mysterious man who has kidnapped Haruka, Kiryu returns from Okinawa. Now, four men are the only hope - the mysterious money-lender Shun Akiyama, feared yakuza and construction company owner "Mad Dog" Goro Majima, the Dragon of Kansai who has finally awoken from a long sleep, Ryuji Goda, and the legendary former yakuza, Kazuma Kiryu. These four men are the only people who can defend the town, and must fight to save it.

Reception
The game received overall average reviews, with most criticism focused on its combat system, and praise focused on the story. The game is assigned a 63% on Metacritc, classified as mixed or average reviews as the most common reviews of the game.

PlayStation LifeStyle's Heath Hindman called the game "OK for what it is" in his review, praising the story and boss fights, but didn't like the dwarfed exploration and how dull the combat became as the game went on, saying, "Yakuza: Dead Souls isn�t going to bring in any new blood to the Yakuza series, but for its existing fans, it provides an interesting story and gameplay elements that haven�t been explored previously. Combat against the common zombies gets old fast, but there are some great boss battles to balance it out. As a huge Yakuza fan myself, I somewhat enjoyed the game, but wish there would have been a little better pacing and more chances to explore."