The 5 Best Things About Judgement On PS5 (& The 5 Worst)
For those unaware, Judgment is a spinoff to the Yakuza series. It features a new protagonist, Takayuki Yagami, as well as a new set of gameplay mechanics. It’s kind of like Yakuza got mixed up with the Phoenix Wright series as Yagami starts out as a lawyer but then becomes a detective.
Most of the game then is Yagami unraveling mysteries through some good old fashion detective work. Don’t worry Yakuza fans, there is still plenty of street brawling to be had. That said, not everything about this spinoff works. There’s more to say about this 2019 revamped game so let’s weigh the pros and cons of picking it up on PS5.
10 Best: Graphics
This game already looked great on PS4, but it looks even more crisp now on PS5. What really sells this game graphically are the character models. They are out of this world in terms of finer details. Not all characters are created equal like NPCs but this praise is true for the most part. The food also looks good enough to eat.
9 Worst: Same Old City
Kamurocho is one of the most iconic locations in video games. That said seeing it time and time again makes the allure seem less impressive each time. It is in greater detail on PS5 like the character models and being able to go in and out of locations seamlessly was a great transition that happened in the PS3 generation. That doesn’t diminish the fact that exploring Kamurocho again can make players feel empty. There are some new locations to be fair, but the majority of the game is a bit of a rehash.
8 Best: Characters And Story
Not only are the models impressive, the characters themselves are all great. From the game’s hero of Yagami to one of the big bads, Captain Hamura, they are on par with past Yakuza games. They can be dramatic, scary, charming, and every characteristic in-between. Like always, side quest characters are even whackier. It doesn’t get as crazy as Yakuza: Like A Dragon but overall the characters, story, and even English voice acting all help sell this world.
7 Worst: Lip Sync
As great as the voice acting is in English, there are some noticeable uneven lip movements. About 80-90% of the game’s lip movement is spot on, but then there are some scenes where it seems like no work was done. It’s a bit jarring considering most of the game is done to perfection.
On top of that not everything was dubbed so street thugs and side characters speak or react in Japanese. It’s odd but doesn’t detract as much as the lips.
6 Best: Detective Angle
For the most part, every Yakuza game is centered on some kind of mystery. The only difference here is that Yagami is a legitimate detective and has more detective-like ways of investigating crimes. This also means that a majority of the side quests in the game are cases given to his agency. The pure detective angle then is an appreciated change to this series even though the story is still fixated on the yakuza and other gangs.
5 Worst: Trailing Missions
The mini games that play out through Yagami’s investigations are another story. Players will go into first person mode and look at clues with vague directions, put pieces of a case together through presenting evidence in dialogue trees, and chase down criminals in the streets. The worst among them are the trailing missions, which force players to slowly walk through Kamurocho on seemingly never ending strolls. Since the idea was implemented in video games, no one has liked trailing missions.
4 Best: Good Old Fashioned Brawling
It’s a bit weird that a lawyer now detective is so good at martial arts. Yagami and every detective should know how to defend themselves, but every hero in this series is like a kung-fu master. As silly as it is it’s still fun to pummel enemies with fists as well as random objects like street comes, bikes, chairs, TVs, and so on. The emphasis on skill point allocation rather than straight leveling up was a nice change to upgrading too.
3 Worst: Canned Animations
There is a downside to the brawling action of Judgment. Almost every standard animation at Yagami’s disposal is the same as every other hero before him. His fighting style is more fluid than say Kazuma’s, but him pinning a guy to a wall or hitting them with a broken bike finisher is the same.
Some unlockable moves do help change or add some animations. However, like Kamurocho, seeing a majority of the same stuff again and again can make something as fun as the combat seem less exciting.
2 Best: Load Times
One can barely blink before this game is ready and loaded between segments. Getting set up is a different story from the start so there’s still no saved resume like in Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. It’s no longer than any other game’s logo screens but that is a fine problem to have since the other loads are super fast. Even though the PS5 has been out for a few months now, with tons of fast loading examples, it’s still a treat to see fast times especially after playing the PS4 version of Judgment.
1 Worst: Quick Time Events
Quick Time Events, or QTEs, have not been cool since the PS2. God of War did not invent them, but that game seemingly made them more engaging and dynamic. After that point it became common to implement them in games. Kingdom Hearts II famously added them after God of War to mixed reviews. Their popularity has died off over time so seeing them so prominently in this game and in the Yakuza series overall is weird to say the least.
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