Yakuza trailer blazes to life

The Yakuza publicity machine is starting to stir as E3 approaches, and we've gotten our hands on the first US trailer of the game. While what we've seen of Yakuza thus far has shown us a world of urban wandering and random beatings, the trailer promises a much more action-heavy experience, all swordfights and gun battles and explosions.

Click the Movies tab above and check out footage of Yakuza's anti-hero, Kiryu Kazuma, waging a one-man battle against his rivals in Tokyo's criminal underworld. His foes aren't limited to other guys in suits, either, as he takes on street punks, gang members and prisoners who try to stab forks into his eyes.

The new screens that came with the video are a great deal less action-packed, showing us some of the tough-guy things you can do in Yakuza -things like going to buy fast food or hanging out in arcades. But at least they give us a glimpse of the very detailed world we'll be able to explore when Yakuza rolls into stores this summer.

May 4, 2006

Mikel Reparaz
After graduating from college in 2000 with a BA in journalism, I worked for five years as a copy editor, page designer and videogame-review columnist at a couple of mid-sized newspapers you've never heard of. My column eventually got me a freelancing gig with GMR magazine, which folded a few months later. I was hired on full-time by GamesRadar in late 2005, and have since been paid actual money to write silly articles about lovable blobs.