I t has always taken a special kind of person to truly
appreciate the "Yakuza" series, which re-engineers flaws into
points of endearment like few (if any) other series can.
"Yakuza: Dead Souls" takes that bizarre two-way affection into a
whole new arena, but it never loses itself in doing so. An
existing confluence of brawling and storytelling goes slightly
nuts with the addition of zombies, firearms and more sustained
action than has typically been present in these games, but
everything that those earlier games comprised -- including the
weirdly wonderful tug-o-war between archaic and charming --
remains intact.  "Souls," perhaps obviously, isn't central to
the "Yakuza" canon, which up to now has crammed several
television series' worth of violence, drama, comedy, family
feuds, criminal dynasties, troublemakers and complete weirdos
into four numbered games and a spinoff that released only in
Japan. "Souls" takes "Yakuza 4's" setting and premise -- once
again dropping you into the shoes of four deeply uniqu