Spin-offs included, more than a dozen games have been released in the Yakuza series since the first entry back in 2005. There may have been zombies and samurai, but the Fist of the North Star crossover is the first game in the series set in a completely fictional world.
Like in the original manga by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara, the game follows the story of Kenshiro, the successor of a deadly martial art called Hokuto Shinken. After a nuclear war during the end of the Twentieth Century, the world has become a hopeless wasteland. Survivors are few, and the only law that counts is that the weak are victims of the strong.
The biggest difference in setting between the manga and Yakuza Studio’s game is the existence of Eden. Eden is a city of miracle located in the middle of a desert, and is the only place of hope left. It is here where the majority of the game takes place, and the addition of a city gave the developers the opportunity to create a vibrant world that is almost (but not quite) as exciting as Yakuza’s Kamurocho, itself based on Tokyo’s vibrant nightlife district of Kabukicho.
It takes a bit too long, but once Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise opens up, you’ll notice that Eden is easily the most interesting part of the game. Kenshiro can freely roam around in the city during day and night, and a mixture between Arabic architecture and Hong Kong-inspired neon signs create a unique atmosphere. From the marketplace to the narrow alleys of the neon-lit district, Eden comes with the attention to detail you would expect from a Yakuza game, such as electrical wires suspended above the street and broken steel poles lying on the ground. A wide variety of NPCs passing by contribute in making Eden feel alive.
The same can not be said for the game’s desert overworld, which is explorable by an off-road vehicle Kenshiro obtains a few hours in. OK, you wouldn’t expect a desert wasteland to feel lively in the first place, but driving around brings to mind the poor attempts at open-world games from the PS2 era. You will be able to find a few old Sega arcade cabinets like OutRun and Space Harrier as relics from before the nuclear war to take back to Eden and donate to the video game arcade (where you can play them), and you can join in races or visit a few small villages. However, due to dated mechanics and an overall lack of interesting things on the way, my journeys through the desert always felt more tedious than exciting, and the random battles encountered on the way don't make things more interesting, as the main story already comes with plenty of fights.
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Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise tries to cater for fans of both the original manga as well as the Yakuza games, and while it more or less succeeds in satisfying both groups, it does less of a good job in entertaining newcomers. The story, centered around Kenshiro looking for his fiancée Yuria in Eden, was written for the game especially, and features brand new characters along with many from the original manga. Kenshiro’s new adventure is easy enough to follow even if you aren’t familiar with the manga, but you will definitely be able to relate to it more if you know his backstory.
Kenshiro’s main goal is to find Yuria, but her character is hardly portrayed throughout the game. While Kenshiro’s urge to find her may not need any explanation for fans, newcomers will have trouble comprehending his motives. They will also miss all the fan service scattered throughout the game: Familiar lines are put into new context, and the manga’s over-the-top action played out through actual gameplay is a thrill for fans of Fist of the North Star. But if you are just looking for a flashy action game, there are many better ones to choose from.
Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise’s battle system is (mindlessly) fun and accessible, but feels a bit too similar to the brawling in Yakuza’s mainline series. Kenshiro’s superhuman, kung-fu-inspired punches and kicks are a feast for the eyes, and the animations are drastically different from Kiryu’s street-fighting. However, the combos you make with the square and triangle button are pretty much identical to Kiryu’s. Taking a fighting stance, swaying and blocking also work exactly the same.
When it comes to special attacks, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise works a bit differently. This involves pressure points, a key aspect in the art of Hokuto Shinken. After weakening an opponent with normal attacks, Kenshiro can target a pressure point by using the circle button. By targeting a pressure point, Kenshiro damages his opponent from the inside. This will stun your opponent for a while, and gives Kenshiro the time to perform a brutal special attack by pressing the circle button again. QTEs occur as these attack sequences play out to keep the player involved, and seeing your opponent explode and hear Kenshiro’s famous line “You’re already dead” is great fun. However, once you realize that you have to go through these sequences every time you perform a special attack, you may start to wish you were “already dead” yourself. I noticed myself sticking with normal attacks, just because I didn’t want to sit through yet another special attack sequence. Hearing Kenshiro say “You’re already dead” four or five times in one battle is just too much, even for diehard fans.
There isn’t much else that sets Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise’s battle system apart from the mainline Yakuza games. Burst Mode is only a variation of Yakuza’s Ultimate Heat Mode, and fights are lacking something like the varied fighting styles in Yakuza 0 to create (much needed) additional depth. Being able to create boost powers through encounters with characters you meet and use these in battle (somewhat similar to the powers you gain from the heroes in Breath of the Wild) is interesting, but not fleshed out enough to prevent battles from feeling repetitive.
Boss battles aren’t all that interesting mechanically, as most of the bosses you encounter simply have either a very large health bar or dodge and block pretty much any attack Kenshiro makes. That being said, seeing Kenshiro take on a giant or dodge bullets from a guy with two guns make for interesting set-pieces, and the action sequences that unfold during these boss battles make Kenshiro look cooler than ever.
Luckily, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise offers some entertainment besides the main story and battles. Getting lost in the back alleys of Eden is fun in itself, but seeing Kenshiro as a merchant, doctor or even a bartender is hilarious, and feels typically Yakuza. These activities play out as simple mini-games that may not be super interesting per se, but the situations they create are well worth the QTEs or shaking of a controller. There’s even a baseball-inspired mini-game that has Kenshiro hit at incoming bike-thugs with a giant steel pole. Bizarre, but exactly what I was hoping to find in a Yakuza spin-off, although I would have preferred the gameplay to be a bit more sophisticated.
For fans of the manga, it may sound inappropriate for Kenshiro to become a bartender or play a weird version of baseball. Shouldn’t Yuria be his only concern? Probably, but the developers somehow manage to come up with reasons for these hilarious activities to make sense. Fans of the manga are probably better off with the mindset that this is just a spin-off. Presenting a serious main story together with quirky side activities does make this title feel like a true Yakuza game, but it isn't as rich and diverse as you would expect from a main entry in that series.
After this first Yakuza crossover, it will be interesting to see where the series goes from here. Will Yakuza head in a similar direction as Dynasty Warriors and present one crossover after another, or is this just a one-time occurrence? Only time will tell, but at the very least, Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise is a title Yakuza and Fist of the North Star fans should put on their radar, while other gamers might want to consider better action-adventure games first.
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