Judge, jury and no executioner
Judgment is a nice change of pace from the regular Ryu Ga Gotoku's offerings which have mostly been Yakuza games and the occasional period piece (obligatory bring Kenzan and Ishin to the West) and a licensed anime game via Fist of the North Star. Introducing Kamurocho from a brand new perspective in the eyes of Yagami, a disgraced lawyer turned detective kinda gives the area a bit more life than I thought it would. It shares a few similarities with the Yakuza series but it manages to be its own thing with the introduction of certain things.
Judgment's story is honestly amazing with how much of it all pays off in the end and manages to perfectly tie up everything barring some pacing issues that I felt that kinda hampered my enjoyment a bit. The supporting cast and characters are definitely some of RGG's best here with how much heart they have and managing to give each character their spot in the limelight. I didn't like the inclusion of some side cases essentially being mandatory for story progression barring a few that was actually great character development but most of it felt like filler to me after a while. There's just a lot of depth in the story that I never really saw in the studio's previous efforts that I really appreciate here and hoping it continues the trend in the sequel while cutting some of the fat.
Judgment continues the brawler gameplay style via Dragon Engine and I have to say it's much improved over its predecessors here. Yagami moves with elegance and flows like the wind with his two main specialized stances, Crane which is mostly used for groups and Tiger which is more for duels or 1v1s specifically. Almost every motion is fluid and flashy to the point you can even bounce off the walls and do some cool attacks and pulling off flux fissures never gets old. Judgment introduces a lot of new gameplay elements such as chase sequences, tailing people, drones and investigating areas via the first person perspective. I'm mixed leaning into the negative on these elements with only really thinking the chase sequences are fun to play and everything else essentially being tedious after a while. Tailing people is what you sort of expect here, it makes sense for a detective to do this but it's never really stimulating and essentially just following someone but being farther away than usual. The drone is okay although a bit weird to control even with the alternative schemes and sort of find it baffling sometimes when people don't see the drones literally outside of a window in a cutscene. I wish the first person investigation segments had more to it but they're incredibly easy and simple that it doesn't really indulge the detective fantasy if at all here. The standard suite of side activities are here as well such as going to arcades, eating at specific restaurants, drinking at specific bars and a variety of sports such as baseball and bowling. The drone racing is alright and the VR board game are cool additions nonetheless. You can even have a girlfriend in this game which is kinda funny since the game pushes a love interest towards you too.
The soundtrack for Judgment is amazing which is nothing new but I feel like the mixing in the game is a bit off. This is not to mention the lack of audio options in the game which mostly has the battle themes completely muffled compared to the sound effects which is a huge shame considering some of the best battle themes in their video game library come from this game and the inability to personalize audio settings to properly enjoy them in the context of the game is something I feel should honestly be mandatory in games at this point. Probably not a huge concern to most people but I care a lot about audio in games as it is. A small point for the English dub being amazing here and how I experienced the game as well. A far cry from their initial effort with Yakuza back on the PlayStation 2.
Great and elegant combat, some tedious gameplay elements which I can attest makes sense in terms of the detective role you have in the game accompanying a great narrative and characters makes this a great game for those wanting a darker look at the underbelly of Kamurocho. A real shame this game might never head to PC but it's definitely worth getting a PS4 or PS5 for it along with a few games if you haven't already. A story about a detective finding out the dark truth and coming to terms with the ideals he held onto be morally correct or not.
Judgment is a nice change of pace from the regular Ryu Ga Gotoku's offerings which have mostly been Yakuza games and the occasional period piece (obligatory bring Kenzan and Ishin to the West) and a licensed anime game via Fist of the North Star. Introducing Kamurocho from a brand new perspective in the eyes of Yagami, a disgraced lawyer turned detective kinda gives the area a bit more life than I thought it would. It shares a few similarities with the Yakuza series but it manages to be its own thing with the introduction of certain things.
Judgment's story is honestly amazing with how much of it all pays off in the end and manages to perfectly tie up everything barring some pacing issues that I felt that kinda hampered my enjoyment a bit. The supporting cast and characters are definitely some of RGG's best here with how much heart they have and managing to give each character their spot in the limelight. I didn't like the inclusion of some side cases essentially being mandatory for story progression barring a few that was actually great character development but most of it felt like filler to me after a while. There's just a lot of depth in the story that I never really saw in the studio's previous efforts that I really appreciate here and hoping it continues the trend in the sequel while cutting some of the fat.
Judgment continues the brawler gameplay style via Dragon Engine and I have to say it's much improved over its predecessors here. Yagami moves with elegance and flows like the wind with his two main specialized stances, Crane which is mostly used for groups and Tiger which is more for duels or 1v1s specifically. Almost every motion is fluid and flashy to the point you can even bounce off the walls and do some cool attacks and pulling off flux fissures never gets old. Judgment introduces a lot of new gameplay elements such as chase sequences, tailing people, drones and investigating areas via the first person perspective. I'm mixed leaning into the negative on these elements with only really thinking the chase sequences are fun to play and everything else essentially being tedious after a while. Tailing people is what you sort of expect here, it makes sense for a detective to do this but it's never really stimulating and essentially just following someone but being farther away than usual. The drone is okay although a bit weird to control even with the alternative schemes and sort of find it baffling sometimes when people don't see the drones literally outside of a window in a cutscene. I wish the first person investigation segments had more to it but they're incredibly easy and simple that it doesn't really indulge the detective fantasy if at all here. The standard suite of side activities are here as well such as going to arcades, eating at specific restaurants, drinking at specific bars and a variety of sports such as baseball and bowling. The drone racing is alright and the VR board game are cool additions nonetheless. You can even have a girlfriend in this game which is kinda funny since the game pushes a love interest towards you too.
The soundtrack for Judgment is amazing which is nothing new but I feel like the mixing in the game is a bit off. This is not to mention the lack of audio options in the game which mostly has the battle themes completely muffled compared to the sound effects which is a huge shame considering some of the best battle themes in their video game library come from this game and the inability to personalize audio settings to properly enjoy them in the context of the game is something I feel should honestly be mandatory in games at this point. Probably not a huge concern to most people but I care a lot about audio in games as it is. A small point for the English dub being amazing here and how I experienced the game as well. A far cry from their initial effort with Yakuza back on the PlayStation 2.
Great and elegant combat, some tedious gameplay elements which I can attest makes sense in terms of the detective role you have in the game accompanying a great narrative and characters makes this a great game for those wanting a darker look at the underbelly of Kamurocho. A real shame this game might never head to PC but it's definitely worth getting a PS4 or PS5 for it along with a few games if you haven't already. A story about a detective finding out the dark truth and coming to terms with the ideals he held onto be morally correct or not.