10tons is on a roll recently, filling my time with their own take on the Hotline Miami formula. Their newest release Jydge comes just a few weeks after releasing Time Recoil (click here for my thoughts on it). This entry is set in the universe of Neon Chrome, where the criminal element has gotten a little out of control, so the powers that be have initiated the Jydge program, which is essentially the love child of Robocop and Judge Dredd.

The game is more dynamic and varied in terms of visuals than previous games in this genre, from 10tons or otherwise. The bright neon greens and purples add a nice cyberpunk feel to a genre that is often too bland or repetitive. I was impressed with the fact that I did not once have an issue with an enemy blending into the surroundings; this has been a huge issue with similar styled games.

The missions featured in this title do offer a great deal of variety, ranging from hostage rescues, stealth encounters, survival levels, or simply killing every criminal the level can throw at you. While most of these variations are fun and work well, the hostage rescue missions in particular are a bit of an annoyance, particularly at the beginning of the game. Unfortunately, your bullets not only kill the enemies but the hostages as well, and until you are able to purchase the upgrade that will disable friendly fire, you run the risk of putting a bullet in their head, even while they are off screen. This was a major annoyance at the beginning of the campaign and caused me more failures than actually dying. I’m not saying the enemies do not pose a danger, because they do, especially in later levels.

Luckily, your Jydge is fully customizable and has the potential for a respectable number of upgrades to both the character and your weapon. The sheer number of options is staggering, leaving a number of options available to experiment with, such as buffs for your character, the hostages, or the type of ammo/secondary fire your gun. Experimentation will be essential in later levels, as the design and difficulty will spike fairly early into the game. I found myself having to switch the loadouts between being able to take a lot of damage to being able to deal additional damage. I’m still struggling to find a happy medium well into the third act.

You’ll unlock these upgrades by completing challenges and need to earn cash to purchase them. Earning cash is surprisingly easy and comes at a decent pace for the majority of the game, which means you won’t be grinding for cash. Even if you fail a mission a number of times, you retain any cash earned for that run, which can be enough to make crucial upgrades between runs; this is so kindly offered opposed to having to back out the menu and make any changes. However, I was disappointed in the lack of an instant respawn, as it made each death more annoying and cheap deaths less forgivable.

Each of the game’s 18 stages feature a number of difficulties that can be unlocked, each coming with a set of 3 challenges that include times to beat, not being hit, or killing everything that breathes. Most of these cannot be done in a single run, which leads to additional replays of each level being required. While I am sure at some point, someone will be able to flawlessly kill everything and rescue 5 hostages while not taking damage in 20 seconds, it’s not going to happen for everyone.

I am never one to complain about additional content being offered, but 10tons thought it would be best to lock the level progression behind medal completion. After completing Act 1, I was disappointed to find I would have to start the act over on the new Hardcore difficulty to progress. With minor changes to the hostages, enemies, and pickups, this felt more like padding than extra content. Without this requirement, most players could complete the entire game in an hour, if not less. This feels like a huge step backwards after the 50+ levels featured in Time Recoil.

The difficulty does not really seem to make the game more challenging, as much as it changes the layout and placement of the enemies. I did notice towards the second act, some of the enemies become massive bullet sponges, which still didn’t offer much of a challenge. Your Jydge can take a fair amount of punishment as well, and with the upgrades mentioned above, it can become a full-fledged tank.

While Hotline Miami will always be the king of this newer genre, 10tons continues to excel by making an enjoyable experience. Despite being flawed, I enjoyed it and would recommend purchasing this day one.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Interesting Visuals
• Huge Amount of Customization Options
• Replay Options

Cons

• Forced Replays for Progression
• Weak Hostages

Jydge was developed and published by 10tons. It was released on PC, PS4, and X1 the week of October 3rd, 2017 for $14.99. The game was provided to us for review on X1 and PS4. If you’d like to see more of Jydge, check out the official site.

 

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