Judgment

It took over 100 hours, but I've finished the story and gotten almost all the trophies of Sega's Judgment. I'm going to swing back and finish up the platinum, but I figured I'd put a tiny review together while the ending was fresh in my memory.

Judgment is a pretty good Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio game — another "one of those", in short. It has the same DNA as Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami, for sure, but the detective story is an enjoyable change of pace from the yakuza story of the main series. Takuya Kimura steals the show, of course, and he seems to naturally slot into the story, to no surprise.

A very good game, but probably not making it to my list of favorites because some of the detective-y elements of the gameplay aren't very engaging, instead ending up being kind of the low point of the game. But, overall, it's a very good package, and as expected for the series, the story and writing comes together for a fast-paced finish. You also get to play Fighting Vipers and Virtua Fighter 5 inside the game, so there's not a lot to complain about.

Grade: B+ (2024-01-14, PS5)

Some more random parting thoughts:

• Man is Judge Eyes such a better name. In addition to story stuff, the engine seems to have some focus on eye tech.
• Speaking of engine tech, for some reason, the game also seems to have a smoking (or smoke in general) motif. It does look very good.