The articlegameplay, story, development, reception
Story
Half of the game takes place in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, most noticeably a recreation of Shinjuku's red-light district Kabukichō renamed Kamurocho.
The other half takes place in Osaka, with the fictitious Sotenbori and Shinseicho areas modeled after Osaka's respectively Dōtonbori and Shinsekai districts. Although these areas were recreated as fictionalized versions, many real life landmarks remain such as Dōtonbori's Sammy Ebisu Plaza (サミー戎プラザ) and Shinsekai's Tsutenkaku Tower (通天閣) and Billiken (ビリケン).
Development
Yakuza 2 was announced in August 2006 with Sega promising an improved fighting system and further exploration. Nagoshi commented on some of his goals with Yakuza 2. In addition to providing a deeper dramatic storyline over what was found in the original, the game also has some themes that were not in the original, including an adult love story. The Sega team considered fan input when making changes to Yakuza 2.
One of the main aims in developing Yakuza 2 was improving its fighting engine. Accounting for fights against multiple opponents was one of the most important things that were considered when improving the fighting engine. It was made much easier, for instance, to attack foes that come at the player character from multiple directions, and to switch targets in the middle of a combo in order to quickly take out someone who may have snuck up on your flank. As a result, the fighting system was polished and the staff believed they succeeded.
Reception
Famitsu gave the game a score of 38 out of 40. IGN gave Yakuza 2 a score of 8.5 out of 10, and GameFan gave the game a score of Very Good, as well as their 'Best PlayStation 2 Game' award for 2008. Eurogamer rated the game eight out of ten.
In the week of its release in Japan, Yakuza 2 sold 281,836 copies. As of December 31, 2006, it sold 550,000 copies. It was the 98th best-selling game in Japan in 2008 selling 136,809 copies that year, while it was the third best-selling PlayStation 2 game in its release year, 2006, reaching lifetime sales of 827,978 in Japan. Only 40,000 copies were sold in North America.
