Review #774: Fist of the North Star - Lost Paradise

 Yakuza goes Mad Max.

 Yakuza and Hokuto no Ken are things I really like, so it should be no surprise that Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, a Yakuza game with a Hokuto no Ken coat paint would be something I'd enjoy. You get a small city to walk around in while partaking in the usual Casino minigames and even a hostess minigame, it's Yakuza it had to be here, while punching enemies to death. A lot of voice actors from Yakuza reprise similar roles here, it's a bit surreal hearing Yakuza voices under Hokuto no Ken skins, and lemme tell ya, Takuya Kuroda(Kiryu) does a fantastic job as Kenshiro.

 The story is a very loose retelling of the Raoh arc but framed inside a bigger storyline concerning the city of Eden and the King of Ruin. So while Kenshiro will meet Rei, save his brother Toki from the prison of Cassandra, battle his impersonator and brother, Jagi, fight Thouzer and eventually attempt to settle things with Raoh, you'll also be embroiled in the story of Eden, assisting Xsana, the governess in defending the city of Eden and its secrets from the King of Ruin. Alright, I'm gonna be completely honest here... I hated what they did with the original storyline. Hokuto no Ken has a massive bodycount, both allies and villains, and while the early cutscenes in the game fool you into thinking the game will follow suit, barely any character dies. They might've done it in case they ever made a sequel, but it makes events such as the fight with Thouzer kinda lame. Rei is my favorite character in the series and they did him dirty, he loses to both Kenshiro and Thouzer and doesn't even manage to scratch either, which is quite infuriating, but he also gets turned into a damsel in distress by Jagi. Lame. That said, I absolutely adored the new cast of characters, Xsana, Jagre, Lyra and the King of Ruin are pretty interesting characters and have neat designs. The final boss is a bit disappointing, both for Yakuza standards and because the game itself had much cooler fights before it. It has one of the most epic uses of the "Omae wa mou... Shindeiru" line though.

 On another note, the tone of the game is quite different from the original manga. Not only do we have a ton of surviving characters, Kenshiro isn't as lethal as he used to be. Plenty of times after a cutscene Kenshiro will let the enemies live because reasons, heck, when you first fight Targa, Kenshiro says that he 'doesn't want to fight him'. That's not Kenshiro, Kenshiro forgives no one. The sidequests have plenty of silly, humorous moments, but they are pretty clearly written with Yakuza's brand of humor and not Hokuto no Ken's. Does any of this impair the game in any way or form? Not really, but I think they could've done a better job writing Kenshiro as Kenshiro and not as Kiryu.

 The game runs on Yakuza 0's engine rather than the Dragon Engine, so while the graphics aren't cutting edge, it runs at a smooth 60fps. Besides, it has a gorgeous cell-shaded look that makes everything pop and look straight out of the manga, albeit with colors. Getting used to Kenshiro's proportions may take a while though, he is one thick, beefy boy with thick, beefy limbs and the tiniest of butts. If they did something right with Rei it was giving him a proper butt. But I digress.

 Gameplay is exactly what you'd expect out of Yakuza, you walk around town engaging in both main story quests as well as side quests, or 'sub stories' as the games call them. Most of the things you'll do involve punching enemies, a lot of enemies, as they died in gruesomely delicious explosions of blood, since Hokuto Shinken is invincible and the style revolves tapping pressure points on the body in order to make it explode. Or heal itself. Or cure blindness. Or whatever the plot demands. The game goes a bit overboard with this, not unlike the filler anime episodes, so Kenshiro can heal random citizens by pressing their pressure points and get rewards out of it.

 Combat is fairly simple, square produces your basic attacks, triangle are your strong attacks, X is your dodge and circle is a bit special. Pummeling enemies will fill a skull icon next to their health bar, once full you can press circle to put them in the Meridian Shock state, which allows you to use a super move by pressing circle again. Or you can press circle again with the correct timing in order to hurt them before putting them in the Meridian Shock state, assuming they even survive it. The combat is quite fun, and dancing around the battlegrounds while tapping circle to make everyone explode is quite fun. The battle system is a bit more fun than Yakuza, since it allows for bouncing enemies around and hitting them while they are on the air, you can even use the circle presses while they fall. That said, there are no weapons, aside from solidified Hidebu screams left behind by fat enemies(I know) that you can pick up and use as a weapon for a few swings, and it can take a long while before you get any useful way to deal with crowds of enemies. And even then said tools are a bit lackluster. If you are lucky you'll face lower level enemies that you can spam circle on(Enemies that are about 10 levels or so below yours have their skull icon filled by default), or you could use Toki's technique to deal with two enemies at a time.... or if you are feeling naughty, you can use your Burst Mode in order to send everyone flying and crashing against each other. Burst Mode can be used once its gauge is full(By defeating enemies and using super moves) and grants you access to a few exclusive moves as well as extra power. Ken rips his shirt when entering burst, although just as the anime(And the manga, to a much lesser extent) it returns as soon as you exit burst mode.

 There's a fairly decent upgrade system in place here, every time you level up you earn a basic orb that you can spend on any of four branches: Body, Technique, Skill or Talisman, and every orb space on each branch has different benefits, from plain health or damage upgrades to extra Burst time, new super moves, new burst techniques or what have you. You may also randomly, or by defeating bosses, receive specific orbs that can only be used on their specific branch. As much as I enjoyed upgrading Kenshiro.... there's no way you'll be getting the most out of the upgrade system without playing the minigames, for you see, there's another, consistent way of getting these orbs: Trading points earned in the Casino, the Colosseum or Races for them. The grind is not as harsh and annoying as it was in Yakuza 0, but boy if I didn't spend an unnecessary amount of time playing the Colosseum in order to max my Body and Technique skill trees. If you are smarter, you'll trade your money for Casino chips and then trade those chips for the orbs. While there are no weapons in the game, you can craft Talismans to give yourself extra attacks(Such as a field of fire), benefits(such as healing over time) or utilities(Such as a free fuel refill for your buggy) but... most of the time I forgot about them. They have long cooldown times(Like 30 minutes or so) so it's not like they were something reliable or what have you.

 As with any Yakuza game there are tons of activities for you to do. There's Bar Tending, a Hostess manager, buggy racing(With a customizable Buggy!), a Rhythm doctor Ken minigame, Casino(Black Jack, Roulette, etc) as well as Baseball Batting.... with living enemies as the balls. Most of them are decent. The Racing mechanics are pretty slippery, and I think that them being so bad actually makes racing, and even driving outside of Eden, kinda fun. I know the buggy controls like hot garbage, but dammit if it isn't fun to drive around the post-apocalyptic dessert. On the other hand, we have the bar minigames.... You absolutely need to do the bar tender minigames if you want to completely every substory in the game, but while these minigames are fun on paper, the more difficult tasks(Rotate Right analog stick, Press the four face button in a certain order, Shake the controller), specifically the hard versions of the Analog Stick or Button pressing ones are quite tough and annoying, to the point that I think it might ruin your joystick. Their execution leaves a lot to be desired. I want to play the game, not break my joystick because I have to put pressure on the analog stick due to a dumb minigame.

 The game is pretty lengthy. I managed to finish over 60 out of the 80 sub stories and it took me almost 30 hours to finish the game. I feel like gating so many sub stories behind minigames was a bad idea, for instance, I really don't care about the hostess management, but I know it has a few sub stories that can only be done by advancing through that mode. They also went back in how sub-stories work, as they are no longer marked on the map, which, in my opinion, is a step backwards. Now you are supposed to run aimlessly through town, entering and exiting stores and what not checking to see if the new chapter you are in or if whatever sub story you just finished granted you access to new sub stories and you happen to come across them. Having a single playable character again also stings a bit, Hokuto no Ken has a huge roster of side characters, most of them die throughout the course of the story but hey, and by this time Yakuza was already giving us multiple playable protagonists, so.... I would've expected at least to have Rei playable. Did I mention Rei is my favorite character in the series? Alright....

 Fist of the North Star - Lost Paradise is probably one of the best Hokuto no Ken games out there, and I think the developers did a fine job at mixing it with Yakuza's gameplay. That said, I think they took a few missteps here and there that keeps it from reaching its full potential. Considering how they made most characters survive the ordeal, I wouldn't mind the Yakuza Team taking Hokuto no Ken in a new direction, with a playable Rei as an alternate character. Or Shu. Or anyone from the Nanto Seiken school. Just... stay away from Shura, nobody unironically likes Hokuto no Ken after the Raoh arc.
 8.0 out of 10