In the very short time I binged through the Yakuza series towards the end of last year, I fell in love with how wacky, emotional, action-packed, and unique it was. And with the final chapter closing on main protagonist Kiryu's saga in Yakuza 6, it was time for a new star to shine.
Enter Yagami, a disgraced Kamurocho lawyer turned detective who finds himself, with the help of friends and unlikely allies, solves one of the biggest criminal cases the district has seen.
Overall Judgment manages to hit all of the beats that made the first 7 Yakuza games so good. The story was gripping and cinematic, the characters were all memorable and likable, with the villains being as menacing as ever. I think this story in particular has plenty of twists and turns that felt mostly unpredictable, not to mention feeling more realistic and possible.
Aside from the story, in typical Yakuza fashion, you have an insane amount of side content to find. You can side missions, referred to as "side cases" in the game, which range from heartfelt to downright absurd. I will say that these side cases don't quite reach the heights that the mainline series does though, aside from a few memorable ones. Also, even with the vast amount of mini-games you can engage in, there's shockingly no karaoke. Still, I'm not one to complain about a lack of content, Judgment still gives you hours upon hours of content to explore. And the edition of drone races were an absolute blast. Not to mention the fact that this series continues to utilize the same map while still giving us new and memorable stories and side content is honestly incredible.
Game-play is similar to Yakuza in the sense of the whole beat-em-up fighting style. This time, much like Yakuza 0, Yagami has two different fighting stances depending on the situation, as well as new moves to unlock in the skill unlocking section (amongst many other up-gradable things.) Yagami's combat took me awhile to get used to compared to the Kiryu styles I got so used to utilizing, but I also appreciate the way it separates itself from the other games.
It also separates itself in the game-play department in ways that didn't quite stick the landing, and those were the tailing and clue searching missions, of which there were many. Overall they felt clunky, uninteresting, and derailed the momentum of the rest of the game.
Derailing from my one minor negative thought on the game, I wanted to bring up the visuals of Judgment, which utilizes the Dragon engine from Yakuza 6 as well as Kiwami 2. Once again this game looks phenomenal due to this engine. The attention to detail throughout this map is stunning, as well as the facial models of the characters. Just walking through this city at night and seeing all the lights reflecting off of the surfaces and puddles never gets old.
Overall Judgment isn't without it's flaws, but that could also be said about the majority of the mainline Yakuza series, at least in my opinion. And just like those game, the bad doesn't even come close to outweighing the good. This is one fantastic game.
Rating: 8/10
Enter Yagami, a disgraced Kamurocho lawyer turned detective who finds himself, with the help of friends and unlikely allies, solves one of the biggest criminal cases the district has seen.
Overall Judgment manages to hit all of the beats that made the first 7 Yakuza games so good. The story was gripping and cinematic, the characters were all memorable and likable, with the villains being as menacing as ever. I think this story in particular has plenty of twists and turns that felt mostly unpredictable, not to mention feeling more realistic and possible.
Aside from the story, in typical Yakuza fashion, you have an insane amount of side content to find. You can side missions, referred to as "side cases" in the game, which range from heartfelt to downright absurd. I will say that these side cases don't quite reach the heights that the mainline series does though, aside from a few memorable ones. Also, even with the vast amount of mini-games you can engage in, there's shockingly no karaoke. Still, I'm not one to complain about a lack of content, Judgment still gives you hours upon hours of content to explore. And the edition of drone races were an absolute blast. Not to mention the fact that this series continues to utilize the same map while still giving us new and memorable stories and side content is honestly incredible.
Game-play is similar to Yakuza in the sense of the whole beat-em-up fighting style. This time, much like Yakuza 0, Yagami has two different fighting stances depending on the situation, as well as new moves to unlock in the skill unlocking section (amongst many other up-gradable things.) Yagami's combat took me awhile to get used to compared to the Kiryu styles I got so used to utilizing, but I also appreciate the way it separates itself from the other games.
It also separates itself in the game-play department in ways that didn't quite stick the landing, and those were the tailing and clue searching missions, of which there were many. Overall they felt clunky, uninteresting, and derailed the momentum of the rest of the game.
Derailing from my one minor negative thought on the game, I wanted to bring up the visuals of Judgment, which utilizes the Dragon engine from Yakuza 6 as well as Kiwami 2. Once again this game looks phenomenal due to this engine. The attention to detail throughout this map is stunning, as well as the facial models of the characters. Just walking through this city at night and seeing all the lights reflecting off of the surfaces and puddles never gets old.
Overall Judgment isn't without it's flaws, but that could also be said about the majority of the mainline Yakuza series, at least in my opinion. And just like those game, the bad doesn't even come close to outweighing the good. This is one fantastic game.
Rating: 8/10