Extended Yakuza Ishin Trailer For PS4 Features... Gospel Music?

A 10 minute trailer was released for Sega's upcoming Yakuza game called Yakuza Ishin. The trailer features everything from the original reveal trailer from the Tokyo Game Show, along with a ton of stuff you probably did (and did not) expect to see. The one thing that will take everyone by surprise is the gospel tune that kicks in at the 6:30 mark.

The trailer comes courtesy of Dualshockers who, in turn, spotted it on the official Ryu Ga Gotoku site. The trailer is ripe full of story-oriented content and sets up a lot of the plot hooks for the game, but amazingly there's not an ounce of gameplay to be spared throughout the entire thing. Crazy.

As for the gospel tune... I have no idea where that comes from. I understand that the theme of the song is talking about a change coming and the world altering, a obvious similitude to Ishin's prequel status set within Feudal times during the transition of Japan's reliance on agriculture and farming toward a more industrialized society, but it just seems odd. The pace of the song and the theme of the song feels so... jarring.

Needless to say, the series hasn't moved so far away from its roots that you can't see where it still maintains a strong semblance to the other titles in the series. Many of the main players from the previous entries have returned and will, presumably, be playable at some point. Night-life activities and environmental interaction still seems to be hinted at with a few clips, showing some geishas on display and whatnot.

My main point of interest is on the fighting system – not that I'll be able to play the game anytime soon if a localized port isn't inbound – but I'm curious how close the fighting will be to the previous games and how well the sword play will work its way into the combative nature of the characters? Will swords kill people instantly? Will you have to wear them down? Will fist-play be a big part of it all? I kind of wish the trailer at least hinted at some of these gameplay elements, but then again it's Yakuza and you can very well expect a 30 minute trailer and not get a glimpse of gameplay throughout the entire thing.

Still, the graphics for the game look pretty astounding and Sega has spared no expense in making sure that Yakuza Ishin looks like a next-generation game for the PlayStation 4 and every aspect of the game seems to reek from the quality of being a CGI-style game.

I just can't wait to see how Yakuza will actually play when it launches for the PlayStation 4 (and the PlayStation 3) on February 22nd 2014. As mentioned, there's no date in sight for a localized port, but if you have a decent reading of the Japanese language and don't mind cinematic-heavy storytelling, you can spare the wait for a localized port and import the game... for a fee.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.