Review : Akiba’s Beat for the PS4 & PSVita

Welcome to the next Skiller (and mgs2master2) Review.  Akiba’s Beat !!!!!!

Format Reviewed: PS4 EU edition and PS Vita US edition
Developer: Acquire
Publisher: PQube (EU)
Genre: Action RPG, JRPG
Release Date: 19th May 2017
Platforms: PS Vita, PS4.. NO PSTV at the moment.
Other Editions: NEET Edition: PS Vita, PS4

*This was a co-review between Skiller and Mgs2master2. Skiller did the PS4 Version, while Mgs2master2 did PS Vita version. Thank you to both PQube and XSeed who provided the codes as both staff members are located in different regions*

Premise of the game

“Set in a hyper-stylized recreation of Akihabara, AKIBA’S BEAT plunges you into the heart of the mecca of Otaku culture, but all is not as it seems!
A haven for music fans, the go-to place for idol obsessives, a one-stop shop for household electronics – over the years, Akihabara has meant many things to many people. Now, with dark forces at play, the memories, hopes, and dreams of Akihabara’s colorful denizens are becoming a reality. Their delusions are taking physical form and with that, threatening the very fabric of time and reality!
Stuck in a never-ending time loop, it is up to you take on the freakish manifestations of Akihabara in an action RPG like no other! The battle to the Beat, timing your actions to the background music and dealing the most damage.
Meet Electric Town’s colorful characters and form your best team to take on their collective imaginations.”

Character Development 

Skiller’s take: 9/10
Starting up of the game has a lot of comedy, they put a lot of thought into how to Draw in the player. With how the characters talk and interact with the others. But I will say the commentary from Pinkun does get a little too much if you play the game for a few hours he keeps just saying the same few lines over and over. ( do note you can change this later on but it just means the same thing with a different character’s voice )

They have lots of side Quests that let you get to know the Members of your team, they get kind of funny example of this is one for Saki,” Chapter 1 Side Quest – Champion of Righteousness” I guess she’s a Die-hard fan for a kids show that seems to be a play on “Sailor moon”, it’s great and adds more fun to the game, Give the characters more Life than just extra character to battle with.
there is always a way to help you find your next target for the Said Sub-event by just finding your next marking “?” following them will get the Sub story moved forward, sure this makes things simple but really, in the end, it’s better than aimlessly running around somewhere looking for god knows what.

Mgs2master2’s take: 6/10
The character development is good in this game. There are funny moments as well during their development. However, what ultimately upset me is each character fell into the stereotypical role of an anime. I get this is the idea that the developers went for, but in a subjective point of view, this is where most games fail in terms of character development. Akiba’s Beat becomes hit or miss on this subject matter.

Visual/Sounds –

Skiller’s take:10/10
The games got some very bright and Vivid colors. They have kept the City’s resemblance in the game to the real word as close as they could. The music is very soft and enjoyable, even though most of the music is just set on loops, the loops are timed right and there is no Jittering, it’s actually a very relaxing soundtrack. One thing you will notice is they took most of the NPC ( unless there part of the store) and made them just a Colour.
also if you don’t really want to go wandering around they have a Jump command in the Map window that just allows you to jump to a save point in each section of the game. As you progress in the game the Map gets a little bit bigger as areas open.

Mgs2master2’s take: 7/10
On the PSVita version, for the most part, it is alright. However, the vita version does not fully hold up. The visual quality is not on par with the PS4 version with obvious downgrades made. It is still appealing, but not as the PS4 version. The audio quality for the Vita version as well degrades a bit. It has a good soundtrack but still sounds as if something was missing there. It just does not sound good in some areas.

Battle Style –

Skiller’s Take: 9/10
This style to me is a Timed battle format, it has the Ability to allow you to get big attacks since you have the ability to set a number of Attacks at 1 time to a higher amount when collecting or buying Personal Pumputer (PP) Equipment this allows you to build your characters a lot, along with the actual Equipment. The other good thing is that you can switch to the other characters if you want to control them instead inside the battle or you can just use the command system to let them auto attack. One cool trick I noticed was that if you allow your enemies to get bunched up you can attack them all at one time to Push your attacks further. One thing I did not like is the Skill shortcut system it had a bit of getting used to of using the Analog sticks (both) to set off other skills.
Grand Phantasm is the boss you face at the end of each Stage, the stages start out pretty linear, but very quickly start to become more and more elaborate. Adding in Puzzles and things you need to do to move on to the next area. The game gets progressively harder as you move into the game, they do extend the gameplay a little bit I did push the limits a little by not going back into some of the stages to level up the characters by Chapter 5.

I was a little under leveled sure I could get the Battles done but it would take a while for me to kill anything. so it doesn’t seem to be a grind fest style of a game but your open to it if you want. And I would Recommend a little bit or the Battles do get long, always try to get the best Gear for your PP/Equipment/Trading Cards this all controls your stats and how much damage you can do.  Getting an Advanced attack on the enemies is pretty simple the enemies are Stuck to a Said section of movement the only time they can seem to come out of it is when you are in the Section they are and close to them. So, if you tread lightly you can bypass enemy’s or wait for them to turn their back so you can attack. little bit different but it works.

Mgs2master2’s take: 6/10
I agree with my colleague Skiller on some points on this topic. However, I do disagree in some aspects from playing on the PS Vita version. The PS Vita version, there is a bit of slowdown, but nothing that is game breaking or putting off. It is only a few seconds difference, and barely noticeable. You are still battling to the beat of the drum in the game. However, the game seemed to become a grind fest after a couple chapters. It is not like these battles are difficult at all. It just breaks down into endless and pointless battles as the game goes on. It feels as if there became a budget issue in this area and all the developers could do at this point was just put stuff into Akiba’s Beat to artificially increase the length. These battles are very forced and it became a major issue with me.

Gameplay Elements –

Skiller’s take: 8/10
The Shop selection is great but most of the Shops just carry the Same stuff in all of them, sure this is good but there are some bad points. I’m one of them people that if there were many shops I would be checking them all to make sure I have everything from each on “ I found myself doing that with this game even after noticing that each shop of said type will carry the same as the last shop” but in the end least you know if you missed something from the shop a mile away you don’t have to walk always to that one to get that item you needed.
There seems to only be 1 section that’s different when it comes to Apparel Shops and that’s the Accessory’s, all the other items seem to end up shared Even the accessories are shared for most of the part there is normally only 1 or 2 different from the rest Junk street seems to be the Main one for Boosters.

The Card System in this game adds a Full new aspect, I do wish you could have done a bit more with them like actually have a card Dual System where you could win them or something.

Mgs2master2 take: 5/10
For the not so good side, Akiba’s Beat takes what the first game provided and strips it down quite a bit. Mechanics were removed, the stripping and dress up mechanics are gone, the romance mechanic is gone, and alongside much more that was stripped away (pun intended). It takes the first game, uses it as a foundation, then tears downs a great deal. The game functions well enough as a successor but devolves in several areas. It left a bitter taste in my mouth to do this. I found the game very straight forward with very little to do besides the story. It took what made Akiba’s trip unique and just ripped it out in this game. I have to wonder why this became an issue and occurred.

In Closing:

Skiller’s take:
if you’re into RPGs I don’t see why you would not like this one it’s a Great Add to the Collection, I found this 100x better then “Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed”,  Sure it has its ups and down like the Clunky Skill system. However, the story itself is above the previous title. Following it and reading all the Nice Quips is nice and refreshing from the Knuckle grinder JRPGs. The Story and Stages evolve as you go, things difficult as you move into the game so it gives you a chance to get better at the game before it decides to just Murder your character.  The game will give you a lot to do from Quests to just running around on the map, if you want, there are over 20-50 hours of content, if you take your time to explore and try to find everything. Good luck getting all the cards ? There seem to be 2 things of DLC if they get moved over to this side that’s the Maid/Butler Costumes and Idle Set …

Stuff like this picture just makes the game fun and comic like I find this great 

I will leave you with this picture.  Would it still be Finger licking good? Until Next Time Friends Enjoy your games no matter what types you like.

Mgs2master2’s take:
Akiba’s Trip, while having issues, was a unique title that took risks other games did not. In Akiba’s Beat, it retained some of the elements but ripped out that uniqueness. This baffles me as I am still trying to process why this happened. This game felt very straight to the point, with little to deviate from the main path. It took me about 15 hours to clock out in the game, and I do not plan to return. It was fun to an extent, but Akiba’s Beat is a title that just feels like a budget title. I am not sure what kind of budget, but it feels to have had a lower than the first title. Veterans of the first game may find themselves turned off due to the mechanics that made the first game unique are stripped away. I would still recommend this title just to get a feel for it, but understand that it is a straight forward game that becomes a grind fest towards the end of the game and feeling overall bland. This is coming from a huge JRPG fan.

Skiller’s score breakdown:

Character Development – 9/10
Visual/Sounds – 10/10
Battle Style – 9/10
Gameplay Elements – 8/10

Overall Score – 9/10

Mgs2master2’s score breakdown:

Character Development:6/10
Visual/Sounds:7/10
Battle system:6/10
Gameplay Elements:5/10

Overall score:6/10

Both staff members gave their overall opinions of the game. Ultimately, whatever version you decide to play, you (the player) will draw your opinion and conclusions of the title. You may agree or disagree with the reviews here. We would like to hear it. Please leave us a comment below stating your thoughts and we will interact and talk about those experiences. Regardless, we hope you have fun.

*This was a co-review between Skiller and Mgs2master2. Skiller did the PS4 Version, while Mgs2master2 did PS Vita version. Thank you to both PQube and XSeed who provided the codes as both staff members are located in different regions*