Judgement(AKA Judge Eyes) is a 2018 Playstation 4 video game developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku studio and published by SEGA. The game is a spin off to Yakuza series that's well known in Japan and has an adult fanbase in the west. After the initial release in Japan, Judgement was pulled from shelves because one of the voice actors was arrested for possession of Cocaine. If you didn't know, all character models in the game are modeled after real actors in Japan. His part in the game was soon removed from Judgement as well as a a yet to be released Kingdom Hearts III. Judgement gained from the scandal though since sales for the game shot up after the news broke. Judgement would soon go on to win awards for storyline and gameplay. Ryu Ga Gotoku is considering a second game due to the game's success worldwide.A lawyer must live with the regret of helping a man go free who then killed his girlfriend in cold blood and set her house one fire. A year latter, he lives as a private detective by night in Kamurocho just trying to make ends meet. Little does he know that this city holds more dark secrets than just the workings of Yakuza gangs as murders began to happen where the victims have their eyes gouged out. People refer to this case as the Mole killings……
It's extremely hard to not compare Judgement to Yakuza considering they are both set in the same universe. People who only want to play Judgment and not the Yakuza series are welcomed to. The two games(series of games) don't connect in anyway outside of location, then maybe the mention of the Tojo clan.(Yakuza gang) Playing at least one Yakuza game before Judgement will give you more of an appreciation for the plot. Yakuza as a series shows the development that Kamurocho under goes throughout the years where you get to see the city survive economic change on top of other factors. Seeing what the city looks like in Judgement was sort of a treat as you walk along the city streets remembering events that happened in the Yakuza games. I've only played three Yakuza games but I know enough to feel proud at how far Kamurocho has come. Some things never change when it comes to the Yakuza. Our hero Takayuki Yagami or just Yagami finds himself partnering with a excommunicated Yakuza and running into the ruff men more than I would have liked. Story events have you meeting a lot of different characters who are mostly people from the judicial system or gang bangers. One thing that brings the story alive is the characters who all add a piece to the puzzle. Many mechanics features in gameplay are exclusively for this game. Players have the ability to investigate areas and people in active mode, use a drone to spy on people, take on side cases, build friendships, etc. What you need to focus on the most while transversing the city is making friends with the locals and earning money whatever way you can. There's a lot to do outside of these two things that's also featured in the Yakuza games(excluding certain in city games) however, you can come back to them after you finish the game if you're a completion perfectionist. Battle controls are taken from the Yakuza 0 game where you can switch between two battle fight styles. Which one you choose will depend on your enemy(s) you face. Make sure you upgrade your skills across the board frequently so latter on in the game you will be super powered up to the point that your battle style won't matter so much. In order to do this you need SP which you receive after you make correct choices during interrogations or from just completing tasks in the story. Healing yourself constantly is VERY important as well. Judgement has damage called mortal wounds that effect Yagami if he's hit by a bullet or a boss's special EX move. The only way to cure these wounds is to have medical kits on hand. MAKE SURE TO ALWAYS HAVE MEDICAL KITS ON HAND BEFORE PROCEEDING IN THE STORY! Otherwise you will be in for hell unless you're really good at dodging/running the fuck away. Learn to be quick to react while fighting because pressing the correct button on time makes a difference in special moves you preform. Bouncing off walls gets real precise out here folks! I do agree with the reviews saying that certain game elements are too easy. Chasing people isn't really a challenge. You can literally bump into a bunch of people and still catch up to the person you're chasing. I've only had difficulty on some chases that didn't have anything to do with the main story. Investigating in active mode was a bit harder if you don't have keen eyes- at least for me. Picking locks took me a bit to get used to but I got the hang of it though. My honest opinion after looking at all the qualities Judgement has to offer it that I don't think that Yakuza and Judgement are better than each other. They both exist to compliment each other instead. Judgement made improvements on some issues that were frustrating in a few Yakuza games similar to a futuristic version of what already was. Nothing more nothing less.
I decided to play Judgement using the English voice acting since Yakuza has always used only Japanese voice acting. My experience wasn't disappointing for the most part. There was few choices that made me scratch my head really hard. A stereotypical Chinese accent used as a character voice made my ears perk up twice. A stereotypical gangster voice that you could hear was clearly performed by a black person recorded for a gang leader. "THIS IS YAGAMI" being said at random during non voice acted section of conversations like he's answering the cellphone. These exampled bothered me the most, though it wasn't deal breakers that affected the overall brilliant storytelling. The main English cast actually did a damn good job on keeping the same strong emotion that the Japanese voice actors have. Also a big plus is that the English cast actually had Asian voice actors. Alexandros provides two theme songs for the game. Both taken from their latest album: Sleepless in Brooklyn(They recorded Judgement's opening theme on the rooftop of a New York Studio.) and I'm really not mad at that.
Judgement is a good game that will hook you like the characters are hooked on the never sleeping life in Kamurocho. I felt a sad happiness when the game's credits started to roll down my television screen. Another group of game characters that made me feel a connection….GONE…. Man, let's pray a sequel gets made.
WARNING: BELOW IS A VIDEO OF GAMEPLAY THAT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS. CAUTION IS ADVISED.
No comments:
Post a Comment