Judgement Review

Eyes like these can't see much. Can't tell an innocent man from a murderer.

As I came around to 'Like a Dragon: Ishin', I decided that if I wanted to speed up my journey to the front of the franchise, I would need to double us- thus was born the plan to play and review Ishin alongside this, Judgement- a game of quite some significance within the franchise. As 'Yakuza: Like a Dragon' indicated the series moving into RPGs going forward, Judgement was born to affirm the existence of action combat games into the near future, carrying on the direct legacy of Yakuza 6 but born in a different narrative body with a totally new protagonist. That of Takuya Yagami- detective on the mean streets of Kamaurcho. Little did I know that the murder mystery of Judgement would bear a curious mirror of the murder investigation that spurs on much of Ishin's plotline. Curious parallels, that. Totally accidental. (I wonder if I'll find similar parity with my next double-up: Lost Judgement and Like a Dragon: Gaiden.)

Placing us on the otheside of the law for the first time in this series, I'll admit to feeling slight trepidatious as to how RGG would handle a detective story- would they play it safe and rely on cliches? Would they make it too similar narratively to the Yakuza games to the point where the perspective change was made redundant? I should know better than now to hold concern over RGG's writing chops, fool that I am. For Judgement deftly tells a genuinely enthralling serial killer mystery wrapped with excellently interwoven character stakes that marry the drama of being at a knife's edge with the swelling rise of confronting your past and finding strength in your own most shameful failings. I come out and say it right away, I was enamoured with Judgement's plot from start to finish.

From the get-go the premise lays it on strong by presenting Yagami as relatively fresh-faced lawyer who won a case against the state. A little bit of real world trivia as to why this is such a big deal- Japan famously holds a 99% conviction rate. They don't hull you into the courtroom unless they've already got your ass fitted out for a jumpsuit. For Yagami to serve as one of the few, on a murder trial no less, lets you know exactly what you're dealing with when it comes to our protagonist. A defiant of the odds who pursues his vision of the truth relentlessly- even when all the world seems against him. And like any good story, this reflects cleanly in the adventure to come. Of course as any great drama goes, Yagami's victory soon turns into his greatest shame after an incident that shatters his self-belief and causes him to hang-up practicing law altogether in order to go off the beaten path and become a detective with his Ex-Yakuza friend, Kaito.

It's important to note that even when pried from the Yakuza main brand, Judgement is still intrinsically linked with the world that RGG spent decades spelling out throughout the franchise. Yagami's adoptive father is head of a third-tier family of the Tojo Clan, the dealings of the Yakuza are relevant throughout the plot. What we're really getting out of Judgement that is unique from a narrative point is both the view of a largely law-driven protagonist who believes in the sanctity of the justice system, and the fact that we're in the hands of a 'human' again. Which is to say, Kiryu is famously described as being not human. The things he does, beating up 100 thugs by himself in Yakuza 5, taking a leadpipe to the head and not flinching in Yakuza 6- they're inhuman feats of lunacy. Yagami, on the otherhand, actually suffers a concussion for the first time in this entire franchise. He often has to fight large crowds with his friends at his side, he runs away when outgunned. Yagami feels mortal, which reintroduces long lost dramatic tension to the danger in the story.

There's an endearing quality to Takuya's performance that is based in his somewhat aloof and charismatic carefree attitude I find somewhat reminiscent of one of my favourite RGG protagonists- Akiyama. The man is never without a sarcastic comment to bring down the tension, and his parenthesis comments he throws in now and then never fail to get a smile out of me. However Tak comes wrapped up with this earnest passion which flares up in the appropriate moments that can just be electric to watch- for those moments when you see the blazing conviction and feel not just his determination but also his humanity underneath. I think that was what made Nishikiyama's iconic Yakuza 0 speech a never-failing tear jerker, beyond the helplessness was the real human relatability of feeling lost and hollowed- that doesn't always have the chance to flare up with Tak, who naturally guards that otherwise fragile side of himself with a quip and hand-wave, but in those moments it does it connects like a gut punch. Genuinely fabulous!

The Detective's Kamurocho

Judgement feels like it has something to prove right off the bat, boasting ambitious cinematic angles of charred crime scenes and flashback narratives that simultaneously portray and link the investigation of 'The Mole' and the investigation of the case three years previously that marked such a turning point in Yagami's life. For the tale it tells of Tak's personal and outward redemption I would actually mark this as fundamentally better written and more investigative than 'LA Noire', Rockstar's own take on switching up to the otherside of the law to tell a story of deep flaws and grit. (Although I have a soft spot for both games, naturally.) 

Tak also boasts a noir-style narration of events where he'll have an internal comment on his observations as people talk, which range from actual insight to literally just stating the obvious as though you can't see it. This tool of bringing the player into his mind is ideal for selling for vision of being the detective who scours crime scenes for corroborating clues, compares characteristics to identify perps, tails people through the bustling streets and even leads the odd chase or two. RGG committed fully to the detective fantasy and it slides into the gameplay formula with a commendable smoothness. Of course, paying attention actually has some vague value within the game too, with investigations potentially revealing extra information that can unlock optional boosts to stats, or incorrect dialogue choices even rarely leading to otherwise avoidable fights.

Being not a street thug for the first time in the franchise, Takuya tends to try and minimise the damage he causes during combat. He'll still kick around enemies like ragdolls, but in the rare instance he nearly kicks a guy off a building, he'll rush to save him. A stark contrast to Kiryu who, you might remember in Yakuza 0, double drop kicks a guy out of a third floor toilet window and just assumes the guy survived it. This new approach also means Tak doesn't pick up a lot of the dropped weapons throughout the game, like knives and guns, and those he can pick up are usually tied to newly animated debilitating heat actions, rather than the old one where protagonists would literally try to carve people's head's in with crowbars and then claim moral superiority in the next scene.

Combat

In a return to action combat, Yagami plays much like Kiryu does with a basic set of combos spruced up by Heat Actions- Tak's form of combat is a sort of self-taught martial arts that focuses on fluidity and agility, allowing some of his action scenes to come across as a more exaggerated Jackie Chan movie. Tak also boast two distinct combat styles to switch between with various utilities. Tiger style is designed to focus on single targets whilst Crane is ostensibly designed for groups, although personally I found Tiger to mostly be what you use when you want to take a target down and Crane being the back-up for those times when you're surrounded and need to buy some room. Although Crane has this strangely sluggish activation window for it's basic combos that make it functionally useless in dire moments of being completely surrounded, essentially nullifying it's best use case. I mostly used Tiger throughout most of the game, consequently. 

New to this game, and hammering home that 'Tak is actually mortal' point is the Mortal Wounds system, which provides an extra kick to enemies charge-up special attacks which knocks off chunks of your full health in a semi-permanent manner. Essentially it's some kind of 'light wear and tear' system which necessitates Tak taking off time to visit a doctor here and there. Unfortunately that doctor charges and arm and a leg in the early game meaning that until you secure a decent revenue stream (of which this game has very few) or you'll do what I do and sail along several chapters with half your health bar blocked off. Honestly, sometimes it's better to just literally stand there and die when you catch a mortal wound rather than drag that around for the next ten hours of playtime.

Side cases

Just as with Akiyama in Yakuza 4, RGG wanted to really sell the daily life of a Kamurocho investigator, which means Tak's side stories are all about performing some detective work for his clients in all kinds of seemingly straightforward tasks that blossom into memorable adventures all of their own- just like in Yakuza. Maybe you'll start off by following a spouse someone suspects to be cheating, actually a lot of these stories start with that, only to find yourself wrapped up in a investigation of a love scam, or a third party blackmail or anything other than the most boring expected path. RGG never go for the obvious, and that's what makes their side quests the most entertaining in the industry!

Some of the most memorable standouts including the repeating exploration into the various perverts of the city that hound the streets in supervillain style get-ups and personas. Then there's the book publisher that needs you to solve quirky little logic puzzles in order to secure a lucrative publishing deal. Oh, and I can't forget the entire K-drama style tale of crime family legacy based around the wellbeing of a single cat. (That one leads to mid-air drone combat!) There's not a single iota of quality dropped in the wackiness of side content and it's great to see RGG at the top of their game once again, making you question literally who could come up with this stuff after every new wild diatribe.

Friends in need

New to Judgement, and adapted from the original Ishin, is the 'Friends' system- wherein Yagami will make friends with the people across the world that he investigates cases for and just meets randomly on the street. They can be just cashiers at the local convivence store, or celebrity chefs hanging outside one of their own restaurants for some reason. Yagami can interact with and build a steady rapport with them to the benefit of maxing out and becoming decent friends with them- perhaps narratively representing Tak reaching back out to a world which he largely shut himself off from those three years past. Although what exactly makes him start being friends with the entirety of Kamurocho now is anyone's guess. Most all friends carry a unique story you learn about them, and some even provide small benefits if you max out your rapport.

Some benefits are as little as dropping a few materials your way when you meet them, which can used in the new 'Extracts' power-up system that one friend presents you, and others will just greet you as you pass them on the street, filling up your Heat gauge. (Which is actually called 'EX' in this game but it functions exactly the same as Heat so we're just calling it Heat.) Some friends might even pledge to come to your aid in combat, and will show up during dynamic open world encounters to pledge their strength to you- which is quite the boon considering the actually huge gangs of thugs the game chucks your way in the latter hours of the game.

Around town

Of course, Judgement comes with own version of Kamurocho packed with new side activities to bring the world alive in that manner that just comes expected with RGG games these days. These range from courting various girlfriends through their dedicated storylines, dragging them across town to kill time and grow closer, to just playing House of the Dead. Oh yeah, they developed their very own House of the Dead clone and put it into this game as an arcade activity because at this point, why not? The only omission which strikes at my soul- Tak doesn't get to go to Karaoke. Maybe the big name actor who plays him was too self-conscious to embarrass himself in the recording booth- either way we missed out on a potential new slate of RGG karaoke classics. So sad.

The Prestige

As the mystery ticks on towards it's apex and the threads start to unravel, Judgement transitions to a position very familiar to Yakuza 7 players- positioning the protagonist in a place of absolute powerlessness in the face of their opponent. Typically not the direction that cat-and-mouse style noir stories end up veering, but great fodder for final act priority shifts. RGG are always skilled at taking traditionally non-exciting topics and transforming them into lynchpin matters of life and death, and Judgement's Alzheimer's Medication 'AD-9' is no exception; providing a impressively terrestrial and real-world framework to present something as surreal as a modern day serial killer who goes around collecting their victims eyes. (Hence the Japanese version of the game's name: 'Judge-Eyes'.) 

The final act is a intense and solid execution of every kind of action you want from a story like this, courtroom drama, emotional confrontations, race-against-the-clock moments and even a good old fist fight or eight. They even, much to my shock and surprise, managed to avoid doing the modern RGG thing of piling seven endings on top of one another before and after the credits to belabour the same point incessantly. (I finished Ishin first, so maybe I still had the extra ten minutes of story after the final fight of that game still sore in my brain.) I love a good book-end on character growth, and though Judgement might not surprise in that regard it does satisfy, to such a degree I wonder how it's sequel would carry that momentum going forward.

Amon

Last and very least I need to discuss this game's Amon, because of course they brought back the series-stable finale superboss. I think he's worth mentioning because Shin Amon might be one of the franchise's worst. Amon has always been an exercise in presenting the least balanced, most bull, frustrating boss fight that the team could come up with- but even I was blown away by the fact that this Amon has an opening move in his first phase where he takes your phone. Your only means of pausing and accessing your inventory? He takes that. And unlike when similar mechanics are introduced in Kingdom Hearts fights, you can't get that back! You have to finish that fight without being able to eat any of the healing items in the already limited inventory menu, and without being able to take a breather by pausing for a few seconds. All of that is without mentioning his second phase, an impromptu game of 'match the colour with your style' rounded out by a finale phase of 'switch quickly to the opposite style in order to break my damage shield but be prepared to switch back immediately because the stage is full of stun-locking beams that will lock and instantly kill you for being in a the wrong style for a second too long. Well done boss-developing team, you've outdone yourself and I hate you for it.

Summary

Judgement is mix of the familiar we love about RGG's Like a Dragon games mixed in with some fresh new twists which distinguish this spin-off franchise as something just unique enough to stand on it's own legs. It revives a otherwise long-lost human fragility to the characters and world that heightens the stakes when lives are actually placed on the line, and provides the standing leg from which to deliver heartfelt passionate performances that the game carves out the odd scene or two for at it's most climatic moments. It feels like a refresh button on the Like a Dragon formula just before it started to grow stale, and for effective detective gameplay placed atop the gripping narrative, I knock in an extra notch to the grade bringing my review score up to an A Grade. Of course with a recommendation for Like a Dragon fans, as well as a rogue encouragement for 'LA Noire' fans who were sad that game never got a sequel or sparked any game development trend. Judgement may feel different to the style of game that was going for, but there's a certain heart to it's systems that are undeniably reminiscent. I think you'll like what you play.