Going into this game, I was keeping my expectations in check. I had heard some good things, but I was skeptical. After getting done with Yakuza 6 and the bittersweet ending of that game, I wasn't sure about spinning up a new series with a new protagonist.
I'm happy to report that in many cases, this first outing of Yagami succeeds more than it doesn't. After all, this is mostly a Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio-game through and through. It mostly contains the expected melodramatic main story, the sometimes wacky side quests (Side Cases in this game, to reflect the investigative nature of our protagonist du jour) and a smattering of mini-games and assorted activities.
Where I feel like this new detective framework falters a bit is in the implementation of new gameplay features. Yagami isn't part of the yakuza. He's a private investigator, and as such there have been a lot of features added to reflect that. There are tailing missions (pretty boring across the board), investigating a scene for clues (inoffensive at best), presenting evidence in dialogue etc. What I'm getting at is that these are superficial layers of detective-stuff that mostly got in the way and I mostly wished that they were over whenever I found myself in one of those situations.
At this point, RGG Studio games are like a classic rock band and Judgment is their big renaissance tour with new material, but I felt like I just wanted to hear the classics. Every new "song" (if you will bear with me in this metaphor) felt forced and boring.
Judgment feels at its best when it's performing the familiar; combat is in my opinion the best it's ever been, the friendships got somewhat of an overhaul as compared to Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2 and are almost all interesting, the side cases are hit and miss (many of the aforementioned tailing missions show up in these side cases). And most of all, the main story with all its production values was an amazing experience. The early chapters were really strong, making me invested in these new characters that I've never heard of. The final stretch of about 5-6 or so hours was amazing, building up relentless momentum that made it hard to put down. The middle chapters felt kind of meandering - there definitely was some table setting happening to put all the pieces in place for the final stretch, but at the time felt kind of inconsequential. In the Yakuza games, I never much minded when the pacing of the story dropped to a lull since I was inhabiting a world I was deeply invested in with characters I've grown to love over the course of multiple games. In Judgment, the plodding middle chapters made me have a harder time wanting to pick up the controller and start a session.
For all of the criticism I've raised in this review, I still feel like Judgment is an overall great package, and I'm happy to see where the franchise goes.
I'm happy to report that in many cases, this first outing of Yagami succeeds more than it doesn't. After all, this is mostly a Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio-game through and through. It mostly contains the expected melodramatic main story, the sometimes wacky side quests (Side Cases in this game, to reflect the investigative nature of our protagonist du jour) and a smattering of mini-games and assorted activities.
Where I feel like this new detective framework falters a bit is in the implementation of new gameplay features. Yagami isn't part of the yakuza. He's a private investigator, and as such there have been a lot of features added to reflect that. There are tailing missions (pretty boring across the board), investigating a scene for clues (inoffensive at best), presenting evidence in dialogue etc. What I'm getting at is that these are superficial layers of detective-stuff that mostly got in the way and I mostly wished that they were over whenever I found myself in one of those situations.
At this point, RGG Studio games are like a classic rock band and Judgment is their big renaissance tour with new material, but I felt like I just wanted to hear the classics. Every new "song" (if you will bear with me in this metaphor) felt forced and boring.
Judgment feels at its best when it's performing the familiar; combat is in my opinion the best it's ever been, the friendships got somewhat of an overhaul as compared to Yakuza 6 and Kiwami 2 and are almost all interesting, the side cases are hit and miss (many of the aforementioned tailing missions show up in these side cases). And most of all, the main story with all its production values was an amazing experience. The early chapters were really strong, making me invested in these new characters that I've never heard of. The final stretch of about 5-6 or so hours was amazing, building up relentless momentum that made it hard to put down. The middle chapters felt kind of meandering - there definitely was some table setting happening to put all the pieces in place for the final stretch, but at the time felt kind of inconsequential. In the Yakuza games, I never much minded when the pacing of the story dropped to a lull since I was inhabiting a world I was deeply invested in with characters I've grown to love over the course of multiple games. In Judgment, the plodding middle chapters made me have a harder time wanting to pick up the controller and start a session.
For all of the criticism I've raised in this review, I still feel like Judgment is an overall great package, and I'm happy to see where the franchise goes.