Review for Akiba's Beat. Game for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 15/12/2016
Akiba's Beat, latest addition and first action RPG of the Akiba's Trip franchise, has reached physical and digital shelves around the world with a double load on its shoulders: satisfying the fans of the brand and supporting the ruthless competition of such sacred monsters, first of all the Adamantine 5 person by Atlus.
Developed by Acquire for consoles Playstation 4 e Play Station Vita, Akiba's Beat unfortunately shows its side on the whole technical front starting from graphics, spartan even for a portable title, continuing with the qualitative poverty of the models of enemies, protagonists and animations, to conclude with the extreme lack of inspiration in design of the environments and creatures faced, which are reduced to a scarce ten aesthetics (excluding bosses) that are repeated in the various dungeons with different skins.
What Akiba's Beat denies to the pleasure of the eyes, it fortunately compensates for with its audio sector: the music tracks are all catchy and, although not memorable, always pleasant; the dubbing is of a good standard, in both Japanese and English. This facilitates the use of dozens and dozens of hours of banter among the numerous protagonists, who constitute an essential element of Akiba's Beat as much as the action RPG component.
The plot does not dare much and remains linked to the very classic oriental styles in the aesthetic and psychological characterization of each character, as well as in the events narrated. The final result still manages to satisfy and, stereotypes aside, each protagonist has the right space to express himself and make the player become fond of himself.
As already mentioned, dialogues and side quests are a key element of Akiba's Beat as much as exploration and combat, so anyone interested in completing the game 100% will have to take into account the time to invest in more or less frivolous conversations and comic curtains in full Japanese style, including some nice breaking of the fourth wall.
Just like the writing, Akiba's Beat gameplay is inspired by the classics of the JRPG genre. The combat system is clearly (and far too much) inspired by the Linear Motion Battle System of the Tales of, only with much less polish: the controls react slowly and i 30fps they do not help to smooth the action. Unfortunately or fortunately, the challenge level - at normal difficulty - is really low and the battles are reduced to button smashing to launch standard attacks, with just a few variations every now and then to break the repetitiveness of the moves on the screen.
Just like in the Tales of, the player has the freedom to control the character they prefer both during the clashes and in the exploration, using the skills of each and their respective Image Mode. The latter mode is the best and most original idea of Akiba's Beat: once the corresponding bar is filled, those who activate the mode will enjoy unlimited stamina for standard attacks and a increasing multiplier of physical and elemental damage, all accompanied by music tracks chosen by the player, each of which will have different duration and effects during the battle.
In full RPG style, Akiba's Beat will make you invest hundreds and hundreds of yen in the purchase of ever more powerful equipment for the various protagonists, to which, however, other articles are added, namely the components of Personal Pumputer (also called PP) as a motherboard, graphics card, RAM and Hard Disk; each of them increases both the offensive stats of the respective character and the effectiveness of the Image Mode. Last, but not least, the possibility of obtaining looks for the various supporting actors, to change the clothing.
Overall then Akiba's Beat shows many small good ideas, but little and badly developed, as well as surrounded by technical intricacies and repetitiveness due to a lack of variety in the actions to be performed. The final result is just above the sufficiency, commendable just for those narrative elements typical of the genre, well thought out and supported by good dubbing.
Akiba's Beat is a mediocre title from every point of view and very expensive (49,99 Euros on the PSN European store in the PS4 version) for what it offers. For all fans of the JRPG genre, the best solution is to wait for a price drop and / or vent your desire for fantasy and maid cafes on equally expensive, but much more thick titles.
► Akiba's Beat is a game developed by Acquire and published by Acquire Marvelous USA for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, the video game was released on 15/12/2016
