My immediate impression (I think those of others, too) is that this is "GTA in Japan." YakuzaGAF tells me this is inaccurate, that they are very different games.
From IrishNinja at GAF:
Let's discuss what
Yakuza is, and isn't.
Yakuza is not GTA
Back in '06 when Sega was first pushing to introduce the series out west, they not only hired some interesting vocal talent for the dub (thankfully ditched by 2), the marketing push gave some a warped definition of what the series was about. Given that GTA clones were doing well at the time, this was understandable but still seems to have left an image that isn't accurate: while you're definitely busting heads & enjoying a wide variety of activities/mini-games, you're not destroying the city...well, any moreso than the plot calls for.
Kamurocho is a big district with lots to do, but it's best to understand that it's not the same wide-open sandbox experience many western open world games shoot for.
Likewise, it's not Shenmue
Yu Suzuki followed his history of simulators with his magnum opus, and while the attention to detail & other elements clearly influenced Naghoshi in this franchise, the latter is not trying to be the former. To quote a gaffer:
"Yakuza is a brawler at heart, with adventure aspects. Shenmue is the direct opposite, a pure adventure game that very occasionally has a few fights."
It is very possible to love both series for different reasons, as tone, pacing, and the very nature of the games are quite different.
So, what then is Yakuza?
Yakuza is an action-brawler RPG, or a beat-em-up RPG if that works for you.
It's a sometimes serious crime drama infused with a strong sense of manly-tears-fist-to-the-sky type melodrama that keeps the series from taking itself too seriously.
It's a series where the last entry alone had me curbstomping dudes, driving taxis, playing baseball, hunting bears, training to be a J-pop idol, and smacking hooligans with bicycles for scuffing my shoes.
There's a lot to love here for classic Sega type fans - right up to DMC & Bayonetta people, as the combat ranges from simplistic to surprisingly in depth when you build it up with different characters/styles - but in its very DNA, you can see stuf like River City Ransom & Streets of Rage.
More here:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1319598&highlight=yakuza