Review: Style of 'Like a Dragon: Ishin!' translates beautifully into Japan’s past

Ryoma can send out bears and tigers to maul foes or toss out fireballs to knock out adversaries. Yes, it’s not historically accurate, but the series, for all its intense melodrama, has never taken itself seriously. — Sega

It has taken almost 10 years, but Sega has finally brought Like a Dragon: Ishin! to US. shores. A spinoff of the series formerly known as Yakuza, it was a project that was far different from others in the series.

The most obvious difference was that it takes place in 19th-century Japan during the Bakumatsu. It was a fascinating era when two samurai factions clashed. One side defended the centuries-long reign of the military shogunate and the other sought a revolution and restoration of the emperor to power. Amid these two enormous forces, players take on the role of a man named Ryoma Sakamoto, who is searching for the man who assassinated his master Toyo Yoshida.