There is a great detective story buried here, starting with a seemingly straightforward Yakuza murder case that spirals deeper and deeper into a web of wild, far-reaching conspiracies. But Jesus Christ, there is just too much padding. This didn't need to be a 30+ hour game. Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's design philosophy is way outdated at this point; except for the pretty neat friend system this game is actually a noticeable step down from Yakuza 0 in terms of overall design (the latter being my only other point of reference from Yakuza mastermind Toshihiro Nagoshi so far).
Although I have a lot of love for Yakuza 0 and even Judgment to some degree, I'm not sure how much more time I will be spending exploring the studio's other titles. No matter how good their storytelling may be, if they truly want to retain my long-term interest, they need to show progress on the design front as well. Judgment is definitely an attempt to break away from their formula, but it's a superficial effort at best. Despite some new gameplay elements tailored to the detective angle this game is going for, you will still spend most of the time between cutscenes engaged in quickly tiresome street brawls and the occasional minigame. Unfortunately, the lack of a story-driven campaign attached to any of these minigames is yet another way in which Judgment feels like a step down from Yakuza 0. Moreover, Ryu Ga Gotoku is simply uninterested in providing interesting combat mechanics and enemies, hoping that the over the top heat action cinematics alone are enough to keep fights engaging. While these cinematics are indeed quite priceless, even the most outrageous ones get stale after the umpteenth time.
This is true for the game at large. The overall presentation absolutely kicks ass and Kamurocho feels alive as ever, but it really cannot sustain a game of this length. You've already seen what there is to see after the first few hours (especially if you're already familiar with the setting from the Yakuza games), so from then on the vast majority of the game will have you running up and down the same few streets, beating up the same few goons around every other corner just to progress the story. The characters are mostly cool, Yagami is a badass protagonist (in his own, aloof way) and Kaito is the perfect ex-Yakuza sidekick. Sadly, the few female characters that exist are relegated to obnoxiously misogynistic supporting roles, serving as either bait, glorified cheerleaders or tragic murder victims.
So yeah, these are some very generous 4 stars I'm awarding here. Gotta give credit to a game where smashing random people's bicycles and maintaining a constant stock of Jack Daniel's are your most powerful combat tactics.
Although I have a lot of love for Yakuza 0 and even Judgment to some degree, I'm not sure how much more time I will be spending exploring the studio's other titles. No matter how good their storytelling may be, if they truly want to retain my long-term interest, they need to show progress on the design front as well. Judgment is definitely an attempt to break away from their formula, but it's a superficial effort at best. Despite some new gameplay elements tailored to the detective angle this game is going for, you will still spend most of the time between cutscenes engaged in quickly tiresome street brawls and the occasional minigame. Unfortunately, the lack of a story-driven campaign attached to any of these minigames is yet another way in which Judgment feels like a step down from Yakuza 0. Moreover, Ryu Ga Gotoku is simply uninterested in providing interesting combat mechanics and enemies, hoping that the over the top heat action cinematics alone are enough to keep fights engaging. While these cinematics are indeed quite priceless, even the most outrageous ones get stale after the umpteenth time.
This is true for the game at large. The overall presentation absolutely kicks ass and Kamurocho feels alive as ever, but it really cannot sustain a game of this length. You've already seen what there is to see after the first few hours (especially if you're already familiar with the setting from the Yakuza games), so from then on the vast majority of the game will have you running up and down the same few streets, beating up the same few goons around every other corner just to progress the story. The characters are mostly cool, Yagami is a badass protagonist (in his own, aloof way) and Kaito is the perfect ex-Yakuza sidekick. Sadly, the few female characters that exist are relegated to obnoxiously misogynistic supporting roles, serving as either bait, glorified cheerleaders or tragic murder victims.
So yeah, these are some very generous 4 stars I'm awarding here. Gotta give credit to a game where smashing random people's bicycles and maintaining a constant stock of Jack Daniel's are your most powerful combat tactics.