Yakuza: Like a Detective
This review contains spoilers
The combat is a step above Kiwami 2, and the story gets really good at the end. I especially like the idea of a corrupt pharma company that operates in immoral ways, with cooperation from the government, all driven by a scientist mad with power. I like how it touches upon the ways in which society looks down upon gang members from the supposed "dregs" of society, and the ways in which governments will do anything to chase success on the global scale. All while being a pretty compelling detective story.
And the combat is fast, frantic, and mostly pretty well balanced. Definitely one of the speedier games in the series. The perma-damage mechanic is super bullshit though, never hard to deal with but just annoying. I'd purposefully die on certain fights after getting hit to not have to waste a health pack on one afterwards.
My main issue with this game, though, is that basically everything it does to make it stand out from the Yakuza games in terms of gameplay is for the worse. Bad forced stealth sections, some late in the game had downright confusing map layouts. Investigation sequences that might as well be cutscenes with how easy the player interaction is. More chase sequences which are basically just QTEfests. Drones are....mostly okay but don't really feel like they add anything. A more trimmed down and combat-focused version of this would have been an all-timer and an easy second favorite in the series, as is it's middle of the road.
And the combat is fast, frantic, and mostly pretty well balanced. Definitely one of the speedier games in the series. The perma-damage mechanic is super bullshit though, never hard to deal with but just annoying. I'd purposefully die on certain fights after getting hit to not have to waste a health pack on one afterwards.
My main issue with this game, though, is that basically everything it does to make it stand out from the Yakuza games in terms of gameplay is for the worse. Bad forced stealth sections, some late in the game had downright confusing map layouts. Investigation sequences that might as well be cutscenes with how easy the player interaction is. More chase sequences which are basically just QTEfests. Drones are....mostly okay but don't really feel like they add anything. A more trimmed down and combat-focused version of this would have been an all-timer and an easy second favorite in the series, as is it's middle of the road.
Combat is pretty meh, music is good i just dont like all of them
everything else is really damn good
everything else is really damn good
Story: 10
Gameplay: 7
Gameplay: 7
Judgement is a Yakuza spinoff, and it shows. It shares a lot of the DNA from the main series. You got the open district of Kamurocho, a big emphasis on substories and minigames, and really impactful 3D beat-em-up gameplay. If you're interested in Yakuza, but want something a little different, where you play as an ex-lawyer gone detective, this is for you. Strongly recommend it. That said, the Keihin gang can eat my rear.
Fuck yeah, that’s what I’m talking about!! Give me that shit!!
Yagami <3
Solid game but I just don't engage with these characters as much as the melodramatic goofs of Yakuza.
Peak
The story is too fucking long and doesn't know what "keeping momentum" means
Como spin off es una locura. Aunque no deja de parecerse al yakuza, llega a tener su propia identidad, y los personajes originales son todos la hostia. Ojalá hagan más juegos.
The first few chapters drag a small bit but the rest is amazing, the plot makes sense even with how massive it is and uncovering the story is really entertaining. Also the final boss is amazing and one of my favourites in yakuza.
The story is easily some of the best work RGG has put out. A solid, engaging mystery drama revolving around a massive conspiracy without any mind numbing plot points. It wasn't a surprise to me when I found out Yokoyama didn't write this...
My story complaints are fairly minor:
The pacing for the first few chapters is quite slow.
A lot of the supporting characters just don't do a lot. Especially Kaito who is presented as Yagami's partner doesn't get much time in the spotlight and feels like kind of an errand boy at times.
The Mole is deliberately lacking in characterization, the story even refers to him as a mere "tool". Would've liked it if he had bit more going on.
Throughout the game there's numerous points you're forced to do random side cases as as a part of the main story despite the side cases being completely unrelated and them clearly not being written with this in mind. Seems like something they just threw in to pad out runtime, not that it was needed.
The side cases as a whole were pretty underwhelming, just a lot of been there done that stuff with some incredibly unfunny comedy thrown in, nothing was really memorable.
The detective gameplay overall isn't great, it's very basic and the trailing and chasing segments definitely overstay their welcome.
I say this in every review of every Dragon Engine game but I fundamentally despise the engine's physics. Everything about it is just so unpredictable and Judgement makes the bizarre decision of having Yagami's attacks "bounce" off the enemy when they're blocked or they have armor which makes things feel even worse. The game also makes the same mistake as Yakuza 6 with it's upgrade system, Yagami starts off extremely weak, your combo speed, damage, abilities are downright pathetic, it makes the early hours a chore to play. The entire SP system is fucked, street encounters give you laughable 9 SP per enemy and the only realistic way to fully upgrade Yagami is through chugging grocery shop SP potions (forgot what they're called) which cost a lot of money.
With that being said, once you do get upgrades the combat does get pretty fun. Yagami is easily the most technical and stylish RGG character, he gets access to so much stuff it almost becomes overwhelming, in a good way. Leapfrog and wall jumps alone add so much by giving you more ways of approaching fights than just doing a rush combo. He feels way more "at home" in the Dragon Engine than Kiryu ever did. The incredibly bizarre thing about Yagami's kit are the 2 styles. Through the upgrades app, tiger style gets like 50 skills while crane style gets... absolutely nothing. Not sure what the thought process behind that was but crane is basically pointless beyond some niche EX switcheroos.
also mortal wounds lol!!
At the start of the game there's very few street encounters which I thought was refreshing but once the Keihen Gang mechanic got introduced that changed very quickly. I thought you'd just beat em once and they'd fuck off but there is literally no way to permanently get rid of them.
If Judgement was only drone racing it'd be the easiest 5/5 stars in my life. Such a fun idea that's executed extremely well. The only slight issue with it is the abrupt difficulty spike in the championship league as the AI racers are straight up faster than you even with S speed. It's still very much doable with a good balance of skill, luck and save scumming between races.
Paradise VR is Judgement's money making mini-game. It's the type of thing I didn't really wanna play again after playing once but considering the amount of money you need for upgrades + quickstarter, that's not really an option (god forbid 100%ing the game with the drone part cost). The Kuro-Nyan mode started feeling more like a punishment because the 2 (two) unique encounters it has get old very very fast.
Great game with some really bizarre design decisions.
My story complaints are fairly minor:
The pacing for the first few chapters is quite slow.
A lot of the supporting characters just don't do a lot. Especially Kaito who is presented as Yagami's partner doesn't get much time in the spotlight and feels like kind of an errand boy at times.
The Mole is deliberately lacking in characterization, the story even refers to him as a mere "tool". Would've liked it if he had bit more going on.
Throughout the game there's numerous points you're forced to do random side cases as as a part of the main story despite the side cases being completely unrelated and them clearly not being written with this in mind. Seems like something they just threw in to pad out runtime, not that it was needed.
The side cases as a whole were pretty underwhelming, just a lot of been there done that stuff with some incredibly unfunny comedy thrown in, nothing was really memorable.
The detective gameplay overall isn't great, it's very basic and the trailing and chasing segments definitely overstay their welcome.
I say this in every review of every Dragon Engine game but I fundamentally despise the engine's physics. Everything about it is just so unpredictable and Judgement makes the bizarre decision of having Yagami's attacks "bounce" off the enemy when they're blocked or they have armor which makes things feel even worse. The game also makes the same mistake as Yakuza 6 with it's upgrade system, Yagami starts off extremely weak, your combo speed, damage, abilities are downright pathetic, it makes the early hours a chore to play. The entire SP system is fucked, street encounters give you laughable 9 SP per enemy and the only realistic way to fully upgrade Yagami is through chugging grocery shop SP potions (forgot what they're called) which cost a lot of money.
With that being said, once you do get upgrades the combat does get pretty fun. Yagami is easily the most technical and stylish RGG character, he gets access to so much stuff it almost becomes overwhelming, in a good way. Leapfrog and wall jumps alone add so much by giving you more ways of approaching fights than just doing a rush combo. He feels way more "at home" in the Dragon Engine than Kiryu ever did. The incredibly bizarre thing about Yagami's kit are the 2 styles. Through the upgrades app, tiger style gets like 50 skills while crane style gets... absolutely nothing. Not sure what the thought process behind that was but crane is basically pointless beyond some niche EX switcheroos.
also mortal wounds lol!!
At the start of the game there's very few street encounters which I thought was refreshing but once the Keihen Gang mechanic got introduced that changed very quickly. I thought you'd just beat em once and they'd fuck off but there is literally no way to permanently get rid of them.
If Judgement was only drone racing it'd be the easiest 5/5 stars in my life. Such a fun idea that's executed extremely well. The only slight issue with it is the abrupt difficulty spike in the championship league as the AI racers are straight up faster than you even with S speed. It's still very much doable with a good balance of skill, luck and save scumming between races.
Paradise VR is Judgement's money making mini-game. It's the type of thing I didn't really wanna play again after playing once but considering the amount of money you need for upgrades + quickstarter, that's not really an option (god forbid 100%ing the game with the drone part cost). The Kuro-Nyan mode started feeling more like a punishment because the 2 (two) unique encounters it has get old very very fast.
Great game with some really bizarre design decisions.
No es un 5⭐ por las misiones de perseguir y por el combate del Dragon Engine aún sin pulir pero la historia es la mejor en un juego de RGG
Incredible narrative, incredible villain, fun cast of characters that's all really hurt by its poor pacing. It has by far the most padding of any RGG game and some characters aren't fleshed out enough, mainly Higashi. It also had some very... strange parts which made me incredibly uncomfortable in a way I don't think the writers intended at all, I think they intended it very much the other way.
I love Saori though, messy hair women? awesome. gameplay is also some of the best in the franchise
I love Saori though, messy hair women? awesome. gameplay is also some of the best in the franchise
Yagami you son of a gun!
The Mole is me...
Better Call Saul: Japan
All hail Koro-Nyan!!
good game but def not anywhere near my fav, if the game didn't force u to do side content every fucking hour and if yagami had a personality this would have been better..
christ. i really tried liking this game as a diehard yakuza fan. but it was just so fucking boring oh my goddd. look i really really really wanted to like it. i swear i pushed thru every chapter waiting for it to finally get good. but it just didn't. it was so disappointing. i liked yagami and kaito but no one else.
i couldn't even pay attention to a youtube playthrough of this game man, how boring could it possibly get.
i couldn't even pay attention to a youtube playthrough of this game man, how boring could it possibly get.
Cannot understate how much I enjoyed this game. Same Yakuza feel with a different and grittier narrative with a fantastic new cast of characters to meet and grow attached to.
The twists were fun and didn't feel cheap (LOOKING AT YOU, YAKUZA 4) and the combat is like Akiyama but developed way further.
The twists were fun and didn't feel cheap (LOOKING AT YOU, YAKUZA 4) and the combat is like Akiyama but developed way further.
A captivating detective mystery that keeps you engaged with some stellar combat. Story definitely stretched longer than it needed to be.
J’ai absolument adoré ce jeu. De A à Z, j’ai pas cessé d’être surpris par le jeu, son gameplay, son histoire, ses personnages, tout. Évidemment, j’ai détesté les missions filature, ou les codes QR avec le drone, ou encore le fait qu’il y ait qu’une manière de se soigner d’une blessure mortelle. Hormis ça, le jeu est tellement jouissif. Le gameplay et système de combat est DE LOIN le meilleur de toute la licence Yakuza. Les personnages sont géniaux et Yagami est excellentissime, c’est peut-être un de mes personnages préférés de la licence et plus largement, du jeu vidéo. Tout ce qui est possible de faire à côté est aussi très bien travaillé, comme dans chaque jeu du studio, mais j’ai encore plus apprécié m’intéresser à ces derniers grâce à ce jeu. C’est une excellente expérience et un excellent jeu. Même le méchant est marquant, sa finalité, la finalité scenaristique globalement, wow. J’ai très hâte de me lancer dans Lost Judgement.
A good entry in the Yakuza franchise
Most notably the story starts off with a really strong hook and for the most part delivers a really engaging narrative. It does however, as Yakuza tradition, pull its punches quite often and makes you question "if they're so scared to kill any of their likeable characters, why do they all get shot repeatedly?"
The gameplay is solid enough, I played on hard and for the most part it was very manageable up until the end where I felt I was going to have an aneurysm when you really start to notice the lack of I-Frames and unreadable attacks that can kill you in one or two combos.
Side content is solid as always. Almost all new gameplay mechanics surrounding the detective portion of the game, suck. Tailing missions will bore you to tears with how uninteresting they are and the ripped off Phoenix Wright search for clues/presenting evidence mechanics are so watered down they are almost negligible.
Overall, a fun time and the highs of the story make this game worth playing, 8/10.
Most notably the story starts off with a really strong hook and for the most part delivers a really engaging narrative. It does however, as Yakuza tradition, pull its punches quite often and makes you question "if they're so scared to kill any of their likeable characters, why do they all get shot repeatedly?"
The gameplay is solid enough, I played on hard and for the most part it was very manageable up until the end where I felt I was going to have an aneurysm when you really start to notice the lack of I-Frames and unreadable attacks that can kill you in one or two combos.
Side content is solid as always. Almost all new gameplay mechanics surrounding the detective portion of the game, suck. Tailing missions will bore you to tears with how uninteresting they are and the ripped off Phoenix Wright search for clues/presenting evidence mechanics are so watered down they are almost negligible.
Overall, a fun time and the highs of the story make this game worth playing, 8/10.
This was great! Loved the new cast, Yagami's fun, and the main mystery and plot were great! Some pacing issues in the first half or so of the game, but the final 4 chapters whip.
The detective mechanics were fun, and I like just walking around Kamurocho so the tailing bits weren't too bad. The only big knock I would give the game is the side mini games are kind of boring and not fun. Drone racing blows!
Very excited to dig into Lost Judgement later
The detective mechanics were fun, and I like just walking around Kamurocho so the tailing bits weren't too bad. The only big knock I would give the game is the side mini games are kind of boring and not fun. Drone racing blows!
Very excited to dig into Lost Judgement later
Ei vaan napannut mul
Bello, ma troppi pedinamenti.
Its decent. Story is....okay. combat is a lot less janky compared to Y6. juggles are a welcome edition. very unfortunate that the "Detective' parts in the game, suck ass. its like how modern day games handle "stealth". not bad for a spin-off.
Some people might complain that Judgement is just like Yakuza but about detectives and I'm like, "Wait, they made a game that is just like Yakuza but about detectives?!"