I really dug Judgment when I played it earlier this year so I was pretty hype for the sequel. For my taste, it doesn't quite stack up. I still think it's a pretty solid title but I have my hang ups.
To start on the positive side, the combat is super smooth. Some of the most fluid gameplay they've had. Snake style is a ton of fun, I loved parrying and making enemies look like fools. That said, I could've done without Yagami taking so fucking long to get up sometimes. I get it's to make him feel more human compared to other protagonists (mainly Kiryu) but it started to grind my gears some. I played with the Japanese audio but the voice acting is always great. Visually this thing's beautiful.
Story wise I'm up and down. They went a similar route with the prior title, giving sympathetic edges to the villains. I dug a fair amount of the characters, I liked seeing the gang back again. But I do think this lost me a little towards the end. I'd personally prefer if they did these LA Noire style with different cases. Maybe give me four cases, four chapters each. The long winded conspiracy shit started to drain me. I think the court segments help tie everything together but it's still so drawn out it gets exhausting.
The side content has always been a plus for me with these games. There's a ton of it, some won't appeal to you at all, but surely something will catch your eye. I liked the side cases here though I'm not into the whole listening to people on the street and trying to twitter search keywords to find substories. Some of this stuff was kinda overwhelming with just the amount of content I didn't find too interesting. I don't care about finding squirrel graffiti then wandering in a circle for 2 minutes to find a fuckin' pebble or something. Extracts can be useful but I never really needed them, I'll never care about VR, I don't care much about becoming BFFs with every stray cat either. So for me, outside of the side cases none of them really hit for me.
Outside of the combat I had issues with the other gameplay features. Parkour is boring, the stealth is pretty weak even laughable at times. Tailing still isn't very good. Chases sequences are still just OK. I wasn't too big on the gadgets either. It felt like filler to pad out the gameplay. Nothing kills momentum like fighting your way through a warehouse of thugs only to stop and start lockpicking doors or fumbling around searching for some obscure clue on where to go next.
All in all, I liked it. Overrated to a degree. If they make another Judgment I'll play it, if not I won't lose any sleep.
To start on the positive side, the combat is super smooth. Some of the most fluid gameplay they've had. Snake style is a ton of fun, I loved parrying and making enemies look like fools. That said, I could've done without Yagami taking so fucking long to get up sometimes. I get it's to make him feel more human compared to other protagonists (mainly Kiryu) but it started to grind my gears some. I played with the Japanese audio but the voice acting is always great. Visually this thing's beautiful.
Story wise I'm up and down. They went a similar route with the prior title, giving sympathetic edges to the villains. I dug a fair amount of the characters, I liked seeing the gang back again. But I do think this lost me a little towards the end. I'd personally prefer if they did these LA Noire style with different cases. Maybe give me four cases, four chapters each. The long winded conspiracy shit started to drain me. I think the court segments help tie everything together but it's still so drawn out it gets exhausting.
The side content has always been a plus for me with these games. There's a ton of it, some won't appeal to you at all, but surely something will catch your eye. I liked the side cases here though I'm not into the whole listening to people on the street and trying to twitter search keywords to find substories. Some of this stuff was kinda overwhelming with just the amount of content I didn't find too interesting. I don't care about finding squirrel graffiti then wandering in a circle for 2 minutes to find a fuckin' pebble or something. Extracts can be useful but I never really needed them, I'll never care about VR, I don't care much about becoming BFFs with every stray cat either. So for me, outside of the side cases none of them really hit for me.
Outside of the combat I had issues with the other gameplay features. Parkour is boring, the stealth is pretty weak even laughable at times. Tailing still isn't very good. Chases sequences are still just OK. I wasn't too big on the gadgets either. It felt like filler to pad out the gameplay. Nothing kills momentum like fighting your way through a warehouse of thugs only to stop and start lockpicking doors or fumbling around searching for some obscure clue on where to go next.
All in all, I liked it. Overrated to a degree. If they make another Judgment I'll play it, if not I won't lose any sleep.