Kurohyou 2 REview: You Can Change Your Fate

For my proclivities, this is a Top 5, perhaps a Top 3 favorite games of all time. Way up there with Halo and Fallout 4 (spoiler) and Final Fantasy Tactics. Everything is top notch except for the song playing over the credits (sorry not sorry guys). Ukyo Tatsuya is the Mike Tyson of MMA. If you like Iron Mike, or MMA, or Ukyo I guess, then you will enjoy the hell out of this title. Review over I suppose... I'll get into it.

The story seems like it's going at a glacial pace at times, not as bad as Kurohyou 1 but still crazily slow. The story is ok, just ok, the stakes are far lower than in Kurohyou 1 and the resolution of the conflict is lacking in my opinion. On the other hand, the characters are very well-written, even with the voice change from K1 to K2. I like them both but K1 Ukyo Tatsuya sounds like a 20 year old and K2 Ukyo Tatsuya sounds like a 30 year old, if you ask me. Interesting change that I like. The Ashura group showing up and wrecking shit in Kamurocho at the same time that local gangs are making moves seem more important than the main story. Unfortunately, Ashura quickly becomes a non-issue when Ukyo gains access to the more powerful styles like Muay Thai, Pankration, and Aikido. The Kamurocho gangs plot is never concluded on this playthrough because I could not find how to continue the storyline with Yumiko and Akagi and all of them. The main story has it's high points but seem convoluted at worst and forced at best. Not great, nowhere near the weight and momentum K1 carries with it, but it's ok.

The gameplay in Kurohyou 2 is an improvement in almost every conceivable way from Kuroyou 1. I have zero games other than the first of the series to compare this one to because there are simply no other games like this one. The Yakuza series is similar-ish in "taste" or "aesthtic appeal" perhaps even in quality, but not it feel. K1 feels like you are hitting people with a sledgehammer every time you hit them. K2 is more like a claw hammer but because it's a claw hammer, it feels more realistic. Less epic, but more realistic, it depends on what you're looking for. Personally, I prefer the gameplay of K2. The walled heat actions are an absolutely brilliant addition to this series. Instead of having blue heat, then yellow, then red, there is only red and blue with walled heat actions becoming tricking to set up but "free." These heat actions can be performed as soon as the set up is complete and can be done at any time, meaning the momentum of any battle can shift with a simple shove into the wall. The Self-Taught style is very cool, and allows the player to customize the perfect style for the way they play. All the additions are positive, in my expert opinion, nothing good is taken away, and nothing bad is added. It's literally all better. Gameplay in this title is nearly perfect.

As far as audio design/soundtrack, every song is great but not like Kurohyou 1 where every track was an eargasm. The songs are great, but not literal perfection. There are a couple of bangers on here that are better than even most tracks on K1, like the motif of fighting the police is fantastic and some of the boss fights' tracks are just wonderful. Audio design of nearly every scene is great except for the footsteps don't always line up I noticed a couple of times, which can be annoying and immersion breaking. Audio design/ soundtrack is superb.

Art style is the same as Kurohyou 1 but less angular, more shapely, and better quality. The cutscenes have more attention to detail, the gameplay itself is easier on the eyes than K1, and the enhanced lighting and shadowing gives the entire game an overall more comfortable and more appealing feel. This game feels better than K1. Then again K1 is supposed to be about no hope and no way out and K2 is about giving up comfort to do the right thing. The art styles weirdly coincide with the graphical fidelity.

To conclude, K2 is better in every way except for the soundtrack and certain attacks in fights have more impact. The less impact even gives the game a better feel though, because the fights in K2 is so much faster, heavier impacts would be too "noisy" all the time. Less impact actually works better for this title, but I like the heavier impact of K1 more. The soundtrack here is wonderful, but not as good as K1 which is tough to compete with because it's a masterpiece of a soundtrack. The story is not as good simply because of the lack of stakes compared to K1's ridiculously high-stakes. In K1, if Ukyo lost a match, he was going to prison for the rest of his life, in K2 if Ukyo lost a match, his friends would have to find a new hobby. Not even the same ballpark, but the story has more twists and turns and is an ok story. K1's story is just way better. So minus story and soundtrack, K2 is better in every way. I think it ended kind weird, too. There is a lot unexplained, but I won't get into it. Check out both games if you haven't already, they are well worth your time.