Although the first game sucked monkey butt, this sequel is worth giving a chance...
It's basically your every day button-mashing adventure. Your just pretty much exploring beating the ever-loving crap out of anyone or anything you see. Then you watch it in the gloriest and goriest manner.
Yakuza 2 is based on the triad mobs and your fighting your way through many stages with different varieties of bad guys.
The graphics are very enhanced and textured but I felt that the PS2 is much more capable of producing higher-quality graphics since games such as Resident Evil 4 had produced near to awesome quality graphics (almost next generation graphics) and this game could have done better.
The story maintains the plot from the first Yakuza game (which was such a crappy game not worth mentioning about) and fortunately Yakuza 2 recaps you on some of the vital moments from the prequel in the start so you dont need to suffer through the first game to find out about the story.
The campaign felt too long for a brawler since it gets unbelievably repetitive and rather boring due to the small amount of combos (or what seems like small after playing for so long). The campaign lasts from about 12 hours I'd say.
The environments look beautiful and designed with much thought, and looks even greater than the normal character designs/graphics do.
The moves you undertake are presented in such a way that it looks intense and fast-paced which adds a sense of speed to your thinking and looks overall quite interesting to watch.
The storyline is amusing but it felt as if they were basically trying to retell the plot of the first story again except now from a different point of view.
Fighting can get highly boring after the first hour and I regret getting this for £20. It is not worth 20 bucks. Check your bargain bin, if under a tenner, yet even then be cautious and make sure your prepared to play a helluva long game with highly repetitive action in which you involve tapping buttons so rapidly and with such force that your probably destroy your controller.
Overall, Yakuza 2 isn't that bad of a game. SEGA has improved some elements and it definitely has been a big step forward compared to the first game but I think the game should have ended with this one. If a sequel is to be made, it will make the game way too long and mess up the story since Yakuza 2 nicely wrapped everything up, only leaving it on a brief cliffhanger which you could easily figure out on what happens.