I love Yakuza. The blend of great combat, solid crime drama intrigue, countless minigames, and a certain amount of zaniness all play really nicely with the action RPG/brawler format, and that causes me to sink about 60 hours into each title I get my hands on. When I had heard that the Yakuza team was making a FotNS game, I got really excited. I'm no FotNS die-hard, but I knew it held really strong potential to be an incredible power fantasy if it was given the appropriate attention.
Unfortunately, the result was far less than I expect from the team. A lot of the staples of the recent Yakuza games are here. We've got the Cabaret Club, the Coliseum, a Casino, a version of Baseball, and countless substories to dig into. It's just a shame that most of the aforementioned stuff feels like a step down from its Yakuza counterpart. Cabaret Club has no incentive to play it, the baseball is oddly exacting, and the substories lack a lot of that Yakuza charm. In fact, the whole game feels so serious in contrast to Yakuza 6 or Kiwami 2.
I also have issue with the combat, which is probably where the game should shine the most. Ken's movements typically feel a little too slippery, and his pressure point attack feels off most of the time, like it lacks a particular snap-to. The camera can be a problem, and enemies can hit you without you see them coming. Sometimes I felt like it threw too many dudes at you without giving you the proper tools to manage crowds. Yakuza superarmor/mega-blocking is here in spades, so if that bothers you, beware. The game's longevity relies very heavily on various grinds (trophy hunters be warned).
The game is gorgeous, and runs reasonably well on a launch PS4.
Ultimately, this just feels a bit like a missed opportunity. I should like this more, but it just does not have the polish I expected after the past 4 Yakuza games.
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From the manufacturer
Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise
Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is an all-new chapter in the Hokuto Shinken saga! As master of the Hokuto Shinken martial arts style, Kenshiro will demolish enemies from the inside out with dozens of brutal and iconic techniques, all faithfully recreated from the original manga. Beyond the battles, Kenshiro can engage with the citizens of Eden and take his skills as a Hokuto Shinken master to new heights with such feats as bartending, buggy racing in the wastelands, and more!
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Customer reviews
Kenshiro...A REAL KILLA!!! THE BEST Hidden gem of 2018!
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2019
I'll keep this short. If you're in any way, shape, or form a fan of Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken manga & anime series and also own a PS4, you seriously owe it to yourself to seek this one out. Everything thats over-the-top and ridiculous about this series is in the palm of your own hands from the comfort of your own living room. Kenshiro feels amazing to control, combat is arcadey but in a surprisingly satisfying way w/o ever getting too repetitive, interesting RPG elements, engaging albeit hoaky story you'd only get from a FOTNS tale, and insanely full of depth and chocked w/extra content, open-world, side missions, and minigames. You even get the option to choose between the English dub or original Japanese audio (ALWAYS go Japanese lol) PLUS A lotta old fave characters make their returns: Rei, Raoh, Shin...etcAnd it was price dropped to $20!!!!!Look i still love my Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War still might be the greatest game of this console generation, and Spider-Man is probably the one PS4 exclusive that suprised me the most. But FOTNS Lost Paradise is a game that only comes around every once in a while that just scratches that edge-of-your-seat-with-controller-in-hand-rapid-button-pressing itch that games of the PS2 era provided in spades. And w/todays more predatory aspects of gaming culture seem to become more dominant its nice to see that if you look hard enough, video games can still be VIDEO GAMES!Coming from a 33 yr-old accountant and old school manga aficionado.4.5/5
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2019
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Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2018
Style: Fist of The North StarVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2019
And it was price dropped to $20!!!!!
Look i still love my Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War still might be the greatest game of this console generation, and Spider-Man is probably the one PS4 exclusive that suprised me the most. But FOTNS Lost Paradise is a game that only comes around every once in a while that just scratches that edge-of-your-seat-with-controller-in-hand-rapid-button-pressing itch that games of the PS2 era provided in spades. And w/todays more predatory aspects of gaming culture seem to become more dominant its nice to see that if you look hard enough, video games can still be VIDEO GAMES!
Coming from a 33 yr-old accountant and old school manga aficionado.
4.5/5
Style: Fist of The North StarVerified Purchase
Kenshiro...A REAL KILLA!!! THE BEST Hidden gem of 2018!
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2019
I'll keep this short. If you're in any way, shape, or form a fan of Fist of the North Star/Hokuto no Ken manga & anime series and also own a PS4, you seriously owe it to yourself to seek this one out. Everything thats over-the-top and ridiculous about this series is in the palm of your own hands from the comfort of your own living room. Kenshiro feels amazing to control, combat is arcadey but in a surprisingly satisfying way w/o ever getting too repetitive, interesting RPG elements, engaging albeit hoaky story you'd only get from a FOTNS tale, and insanely full of depth and chocked w/extra content, open-world, side missions, and minigames. You even get the option to choose between the English dub or original Japanese audio (ALWAYS go Japanese lol) PLUS A lotta old fave characters make their returns: Rei, Raoh, Shin...etcReviewed in the United States on January 1, 2019
And it was price dropped to $20!!!!!
Look i still love my Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War still might be the greatest game of this console generation, and Spider-Man is probably the one PS4 exclusive that suprised me the most. But FOTNS Lost Paradise is a game that only comes around every once in a while that just scratches that edge-of-your-seat-with-controller-in-hand-rapid-button-pressing itch that games of the PS2 era provided in spades. And w/todays more predatory aspects of gaming culture seem to become more dominant its nice to see that if you look hard enough, video games can still be VIDEO GAMES!
Coming from a 33 yr-old accountant and old school manga aficionado.
4.5/5
Images in this review
Reviewed in the United States on October 10, 2018
Style: Fist of The North StarVerified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
Mr A Brindley
Not too sure about ordering from here again.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 26, 2019Style: Fist of The North StarVerified Purchase
John Tonner
Classic Sega
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 10, 2019Style: Fist of The North StarVerified Purchase
Mr.Leeroth
Awesome gory fun.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 26, 2020Style: Fist of The North StarVerified Purchase
Sergio
Buen juego
Reviewed in Mexico on February 22, 2020Style: Fist of The North StarVerified Purchase
Amazon Buyer #Whatever
You can punch people so hard their heads violently explode!
Reviewed in Canada on October 23, 2018Style: Fist of The North StarVerified Purchase
