Written by James Nicolay
Title: JYDGE
Developer: 10tons Ltd.
Publisher: 10tons Ltd.
Genre: Action, Twin-stick Shooter
Price: $14.99
Also Available On: XB1, Steam, PS4
It is pronounced ‘Judge’—the voice acting in the game said so. Aside from the bad spelling decision, Jydge is an enjoyable twin-stick shooter full of customizable options that the game can be enjoyed in many different ways. If only there were more stages available and less requirement of replaying the very few stages again and again, Jydge would’ve been a very easy recommendation to make.
In Jydge, you play as a lawful, futuristic supercop given very short missions. Most of the missions can be accomplished in less than ten minutes—hence, this is quite a good game to pick up in short bursts on the NIntendo Switch.
There are only four Acts, with five levels each, which consist of three missions at a time. You play through normal difficulty levels initially, and each level, there are three medals (or goals) to accomplish. First medal is the required mission; the other two are supposedly optional missions. The missions are varied: slaying targets, rescuing hostages, detonating bombs, going stealth, etc. At first, finishing these missions are fun until you realize that some levels will unlock only after being able to collect a certain number of medals. And this is where the game, I feel, did not get it quite right: many missions can only be unlocked if (and only if) you will collect MOST of the supposedly optional medals. The tendency is that you will have to replay the same level at least twice in order to get all medals as some missions are too difficult to get all three medals in one go. Some even require some equipment or weapon requirements in order to successfully collect all the medals of the levels. After unlocking Act II, Hardcore missions for all existing levels unlock. And you will have to replay all the new missions in the existing levels in Hardcore mode to unlock more medals. And after unlocking Act III with the required number of medals, Grim missions will be unlocked. And you have to repeat all the levels again to get the new medals. Eek.
Fortunately, the gameplay is tight and very well-executed. Controls are great, and the visuals and sound effects and background music are very apt for its futuristic narrative.
The best feature of the game is definitely the unlockable collectibles. You can improve your cyberware, where you can customize the armor and boost your hit points, melee damage, and get advanced skills such as being able to hack computers, getting shield, etc. You can also fully power your gavel (fancy name for the Jydge’s gun), and equip some upgrades such as the bullets (each upgradable up to nine times), special bullets (such as laser, stun grenades, micro missiles, etc), and even apply some gavel mods such as having extended magazine for your gun, getting longer range, being able to heal when killing targets, etc. All of these can be bought with the money you earn in every missions, and unlocking these awesome upgrades make the repetitive missions less annoying.
Overall, I still found myself enjoying Jydge. I wish there were more stage varieties and maybe some tough bosses to beat instead of the horrible repetitive levels and medal system that Jydge forces on the player. At least, you can actually play local co-op with another player, but I think online multiplayer would also be probably interesting or at least a functionality of seeing the stats of records of other players around the world.
It is pronounced ‘Judge’—the voice acting in the game said so. Aside from the bad spelling decision, Jydge is an enjoyable twin-stick shooter full of customizable options that the game can be enjoyed in many different ways. If only there were more stages available and less requirement of replaying the very few stages again and again, Jydge would’ve been a very easy recommendation to make.
In Jydge, you play as a lawful, futuristic supercop given very short missions. Most of the missions can be accomplished in less than ten minutes—hence, this is quite a good game to pick up in short bursts on the NIntendo Switch.
There are only four Acts, with five levels each, which consist of three missions at a time. You play through normal difficulty levels initially, and each level, there are three medals (or goals) to accomplish. First medal is the required mission; the other two are supposedly optional missions. The missions are varied: slaying targets, rescuing hostages, detonating bombs, going stealth, etc. At first, finishing these missions are fun until you realize that some levels will unlock only after being able to collect a certain number of medals. And this is where the game, I feel, did not get it quite right: many missions can only be unlocked if (and only if) you will collect MOST of the supposedly optional medals. The tendency is that you will have to replay the same level at least twice in order to get all medals as some missions are too difficult to get all three medals in one go. Some even require some equipment or weapon requirements in order to successfully collect all the medals of the levels. After unlocking Act II, Hardcore missions for all existing levels unlock. And you will have to replay all the new missions in the existing levels in Hardcore mode to unlock more medals. And after unlocking Act III with the required number of medals, Grim missions will be unlocked. And you have to repeat all the levels again to get the new medals. Eek.
Fortunately, the gameplay is tight and very well-executed. Controls are great, and the visuals and sound effects and background music are very apt for its futuristic narrative.
The best feature of the game is definitely the unlockable collectibles. You can improve your cyberware, where you can customize the armor and boost your hit points, melee damage, and get advanced skills such as being able to hack computers, getting shield, etc. You can also fully power your gavel (fancy name for the Jydge’s gun), and equip some upgrades such as the bullets (each upgradable up to nine times), special bullets (such as laser, stun grenades, micro missiles, etc), and even apply some gavel mods such as having extended magazine for your gun, getting longer range, being able to heal when killing targets, etc. All of these can be bought with the money you earn in every missions, and unlocking these awesome upgrades make the repetitive missions less annoying.
Overall, I still found myself enjoying Jydge. I wish there were more stage varieties and maybe some tough bosses to beat instead of the horrible repetitive levels and medal system that Jydge forces on the player. At least, you can actually play local co-op with another player, but I think online multiplayer would also be probably interesting or at least a functionality of seeing the stats of records of other players around the world.
RATING: 4/5
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