The second title in the Dragon Engine and first big budget spinoff of the Like a Dragon series, Judgement is a fairly solid entry with an incredible story. That said, it struggles quite a bit with slow pacing, especially around the middle. Out of all the games I've played in this series it's certainly the worst at repeating itself and taking a long time to say a little, my worst pet peeve when it comes to pacing out dialogue and cutscenes.
On the subject of pet peeves, the combat is fairly solid... after you get the speed upgrades which take ages to unlock. Before that, this is one of the slowest feeling combat systems in the series, with base level crane style feeling like molasses even compared to Yakuza 1 on PS2. Tiger style is more fun to start with but for a game with style switching, it's a huge pain to have a style that feels so difficult to use for its downsides for half the game.
Once you get all those upgrades, however, the game becomes a refreshing take on the series' combat with a much different feel to the Kiryu games. Tiger style is all about quick blows to a small focus point, which crane style is about sweeping motions that are great at hitting multiple enemies at once. It's a good balance, and both are useful enough to work on both groups and single enemies despite the design leaning towards those use cases.
The story is refreshing as well, touching on the yakuza and Tojo clan but only in relation to the wider plot about crime in Kamurocho from a civilian and legal perspective. Yagami is a wonderful main character, with a history tying him to many different types of other characters who are fun to see interact. Perhaps it suffers from trying to introduce too many characters, as the plot takes a very long time expositing before things start moving into place, but once they do it's a wild ride that is incredibly engaging and memorable. Boss fights at the beginning and middle are alright, but the ones near the end of the game are franchise highlights I'll never forget the feeling of.
Overall Judgement is quite uneven but it has shining moments that help it stand out as a great entry in my memory. Perhaps I'll enjoy it more on a second playthrough, as you can bring your upgrades with you on a new game plus run. But regardless, I'll be thinking about this story for years to come. It's the strongest story in the franchise since Yakuza 2 which is still my personal favorite.
On the subject of pet peeves, the combat is fairly solid... after you get the speed upgrades which take ages to unlock. Before that, this is one of the slowest feeling combat systems in the series, with base level crane style feeling like molasses even compared to Yakuza 1 on PS2. Tiger style is more fun to start with but for a game with style switching, it's a huge pain to have a style that feels so difficult to use for its downsides for half the game.
Once you get all those upgrades, however, the game becomes a refreshing take on the series' combat with a much different feel to the Kiryu games. Tiger style is all about quick blows to a small focus point, which crane style is about sweeping motions that are great at hitting multiple enemies at once. It's a good balance, and both are useful enough to work on both groups and single enemies despite the design leaning towards those use cases.
The story is refreshing as well, touching on the yakuza and Tojo clan but only in relation to the wider plot about crime in Kamurocho from a civilian and legal perspective. Yagami is a wonderful main character, with a history tying him to many different types of other characters who are fun to see interact. Perhaps it suffers from trying to introduce too many characters, as the plot takes a very long time expositing before things start moving into place, but once they do it's a wild ride that is incredibly engaging and memorable. Boss fights at the beginning and middle are alright, but the ones near the end of the game are franchise highlights I'll never forget the feeling of.
Overall Judgement is quite uneven but it has shining moments that help it stand out as a great entry in my memory. Perhaps I'll enjoy it more on a second playthrough, as you can bring your upgrades with you on a new game plus run. But regardless, I'll be thinking about this story for years to come. It's the strongest story in the franchise since Yakuza 2 which is still my personal favorite.