Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

It was funny to look at Yakuza 4 being previewed as an upcoming release, when it has already been out in Japan for a couple of months.  However, as NBC likes to say, it is new to you and me, so I sat down for a few minutes and checked out the latest build of Yakuza 4 by Sega.  And yes, Sega has heard the endless complaints, and this Yakuza is coming to the States with hostess bars and just about everything else in tact from the Japanese version.

Yakuza 4 looks to pick up the timeline two years after the conclusion of Yakuza 3.  You still will be playing as Kiryu at times, but the new twist to Yakuza 4 is that there are four different storylines, each with its own protagonist.  This means that you will play as four distinctly different characters: Akiyama, Kiryu, Saejima and Tanimura.  Some of these are the names straight from the Japanese version of the game, so there may be some name changes for a couple of these characters.

The four characters that you play will each have their own style of fighting and special moves to perform when  you build up your heat meter.  With Tanimura, you are a police officer, and he is good with hand to hand combat, and will have specials related to your police weapons.  Saejima is more of a heavy fighter, using lots of brawling and throw moves to battle his enemies.  Kiryu is an all around balanced fighter, as he has been with all the prior Yakuza titles.  Finally, we have Akiyama, who uses a lot of kick moves.

As with prior Yakuza titles, the environment will assist you with combat, as you can pick up items to assist in combat with the enemies.  However, you can also use certain parts of the levels against your enemies as well.  In one sequence, I was on top of a building, and if I activated a special moe near the edge of a building, I would throw the bad guy off the edge of the building.  Some of the finishing moves look like they cause a hefty amount of damage to your enemies, to the point that it sounds like you can hear bones breaking, and see blood spurting with these grizzly moves.

Another feature that will be brought back to Yakuza 4 are the countless extra activities that you can participate in to pass the time.  You have baseball cages, golf, pachinko, and so many more.  And for American gamers, you will now get your shot at the Hostess bars, which were taken out of Yakuza 3.  It is nice to see that Sega has listened to the fanbase on this point, as the bars are completely harmless, and do show a function for Japanese businessmen.  About the only thing taken out of these activities is an obscure Japanese trivia game that would require people to bone up on Japanese trivia facts.  Some might want have Sega make an American trivia game to replace this omitted game, but it would not fit into the culture of Yakuza 4.

Having four characters mean that you will have the four different storylines, and I was able to confirm that the storylines would interconnect with the four player characters.  Not sure how they will choose which character you will play in these sequences, but it is nice to see a cohesive narrative between these four stories.  I was not able to confirm if there would be any multiplayer with these characters, like a battle arena to combat each other, or waves of enemies, but it would be a nice addition if you are listening Sega.

With all the fan service being put into a game that was not even guaranteed a US release, it is nice to see Yakuza 4 coming along nicely for a Q1 2011 release.  Keep tuned to Aeropause for more updates on this storied franchise as we get it.