It's rather impressive how RGG Studios can consistently think of gripping narratives for their games. Judgment is a detective spinoff of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon series, and like those games, it delivers a gripping and emotional narrative. This is easily one of the best stories they have created yet. All the new characters the game introduces are great additions as well. However, while I thoroughly enjoyed the story, the pacing was abysmal. The plot would start moving only for it to take the longest pause for you to complete a mandatory side case. That's fine as long as the side cases are at least entertaining, but more often than not, they're rather boring. It felt like filler for a game that honestly doesn't need it.
The combat in this game allows you to switch between two styles: Crane and Tiger. Crane Style is more for a group of enemies while Tiger primarily focuses on one. The combat is fun but needs some work. A great song to listen to while playing this game is Tubthumping by Chumbawamba. Yagami gets knocked down, but he gets up again. The enemies will never keep him down (only for Yagami to get knocked down again). It's all too easy for enemies to knock Yagami out during combat sections.
This being a detective game, there's going to be investigations and trailing missions. The investigation missions are harmless, just look around the crime scene for clues. Nothing major. The trailing missions on the other hand are a different story. They're not annoying or overly frustrating, they're just boring. I also found the camera angles during these sections to be pretty bad. You could be hiding behind a wall to avoid being spotted, but the way the camera is positioned might prevent the target from being seen. Because of that, a countdown will start saying you're losing the target (even though they're right there). You would either have to stay there and hope the target starts moving before the countdown reaches zero or leave the hiding spot and hope you don't get spotted. It's a lose-lose situation.
The side content is okay at best. None of the minigames caught my attention, except for the VR one. The majority of side cases are rather forgettable. I found the friendship system to be rather tedious after a while. All in all, they could have done a lot better.
Judgment is a great introduction to a new spinoff series. The characters are great as well as its story despite some pacing issues. The combat is flawed but fun. Definitely check this game out if you are a Yakuza fan.
The combat in this game allows you to switch between two styles: Crane and Tiger. Crane Style is more for a group of enemies while Tiger primarily focuses on one. The combat is fun but needs some work. A great song to listen to while playing this game is Tubthumping by Chumbawamba. Yagami gets knocked down, but he gets up again. The enemies will never keep him down (only for Yagami to get knocked down again). It's all too easy for enemies to knock Yagami out during combat sections.
This being a detective game, there's going to be investigations and trailing missions. The investigation missions are harmless, just look around the crime scene for clues. Nothing major. The trailing missions on the other hand are a different story. They're not annoying or overly frustrating, they're just boring. I also found the camera angles during these sections to be pretty bad. You could be hiding behind a wall to avoid being spotted, but the way the camera is positioned might prevent the target from being seen. Because of that, a countdown will start saying you're losing the target (even though they're right there). You would either have to stay there and hope the target starts moving before the countdown reaches zero or leave the hiding spot and hope you don't get spotted. It's a lose-lose situation.
The side content is okay at best. None of the minigames caught my attention, except for the VR one. The majority of side cases are rather forgettable. I found the friendship system to be rather tedious after a while. All in all, they could have done a lot better.
Judgment is a great introduction to a new spinoff series. The characters are great as well as its story despite some pacing issues. The combat is flawed but fun. Definitely check this game out if you are a Yakuza fan.