Reviewed on Playstation 5
Also available on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has built a reputation with their Yakuza and Judgment series of games. Mixing in serious crime drama with wacky over-the-top diversions that make their games unique and a blast to play. The latest game in the franchise is called Lost Judgment which is the sequel to 2018’s Judgment. The Judgment series revolves around Takayuki Yagami, a lawyer turned detective, and the crime mysteries that Takayuki has to solve.
For Lost Judgment, the crime mystery revolves around the death of a teacher from a nearby high school in the Yokohama area. It is up to Takayuki to find out what caused the death of the unfortunate teacher and the events leading up to it are filled with twists and turns that make it an entertaining story to see through to the end.
Besides trying to find out who caused the death of the teacher, Takayuki will also be helping out in investigating the mysteries that are happening within the school. Within the story, Takayuki becomes an advisor for this mystery-loving club called the Mystery Research Club. The Mystery Research Club asks Takayuki to help them figure out this figure that they call “The Professor” which has been causing trouble within the school and has been affecting multiple students and clubs. So, it is up to Takayuki to engage in various activities within the school to get information about “The Professor”. These activities can range from helping a School Dance Club win the Nationals, becoming a leader of a biker gang, and tons more. The School story is where Lost Judgment shines as this is where the wackiness that the Yakuza and Judgment franchise is known for pops up.
For the combat of Lost Judgment, this is where the game truly shines as this is one of the most engaging combat that the franchise has ever done. It makes you feel like you are playing a Jackie Chan film with Takayuki’s specialty in Martial Arts. He has three styles: Tiger, Crane, and Snake. Each combat style has different perks and cons. Tiger style is best for taking down enemies with its hard-hitting combat style but can be bogged down by how slow it takes to hit enemies. Crane style is best for crowd control with how nimble Takayuki becomes and immediately gets access to a move set that allows him to fight with gravity-defying kicks, the con of the Crane style is that it doesn’t deal too much damage as the combat style just focuses on swift movement over raw power. Lastly, is the newly implemented Snake style. Snake style is used to get access to counter attacks and out of the three styles. Snake style is my favorite due to the move set that Snake style has. Being able to counter and follow it up with devastating attacks looks awesome when you pull them off successfully.
Despite praising the game’s combat and story, I was quite disappointed with the overall game. When comparing the content of Lost Judgment to the previous Judgment and Yakuza games, it felt tamer and more self-restrained than the previous games. This is disappointing because I adore that Ryu Ga Gotoku has been very ballsy with each game they made trying to one-up each game by making it wackier and crazier than the last. For Lost Judgment, they took a step back on the wacky side of the series and wanted to tell a more serious story that while being good, it doesn’t hit the right notes as the previous games did.
In summary, the game is a decently good time that has a lot of content to keep you engaged for weeks. If you like mystery games with great combat, I recommend the game, but I suggest that you play the other games first before trying out Lost Judgment.
Final Score: 7/10
Gabriel Craig Hernal Rivera
Gabriel Craig Hernal Rivera is an Engineer. A graduate of De LaSalle University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Engineering. He currently works at Accenture U.S. in Metro San Francisco as a Training and Development Specialist. Outside of work, Gabriel enjoys exercising, watching various TV series programs, and especially video games. He also enjoys watching videos regarding Game Design, Game Theories, and in-depth reviews on video games to get a better understanding of the current trends in gaming.
