Akka Arrh Reviews
Chaos is actually choreography, as an unreleased Atari arcade game gets the full Minter treatment.
A fascinating reimaging of an 80s classic that never quite existed, but as interestingly unique as it is, it lacks the elegant simplicity of its more famous stablemates.
Akka Arrh is an interesting experiment. Despite its shortcomings, Atari fans can still find some fun in this blaster from the past – the game just comes with a big asterisk. As much as I’m excited to see a lost piece of gaming history revitalized and brought to modern consoles, overwhelming visuals and confusing, abstract game mechanics bring the experience down.
Akka Arrh is simple enough in its objectives, but there's plenty of enjoyment and skill involved in placing bombs and firing at enemies.
Akka Arrh is a super cool game which is impossible not to like, and very difficult to put down.
The coin operated "classic which has never been" comes back to life thanks to one of the most visionary and iconic game designers of the 80s. And it's gorgeous.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Akka Arrh is a resurrected version of a game that never existed. And if you don't know the lore, it's ok. It's colorful chaotic nature will keep you at bay for a few hours. You can get those high scores, and win, but it won't be easy. If you want that Atari pain, this is a little less hurtful than usual, but mastering it will still take a while.
The core loop is a simple one, but it’s not as instantly addictive as many of the other games from Atari's prime. While it’s satisfying to pull off a huge combo, and requires a surprising degree of strategy, by the time you’ve played through the core 50 levels of the game, you won’t be as anxious to dive back in as you might hope.
In its push to revitalize the iconic company, Atari hired video game icon Jeff Minter and his Llamasoft software house to bring this 40-year-old classic into the ninth generation of gaming. The challenge Minter faced was to drag an outdated, quarter-eating concept into today’s open-world, live-streaming market. He pulled it off.
As irreverent and disruptive as one has come to expect from the mind of Jeff Minter, Akka Arrh is a game that, rather than based around all-out cattle space warfare, requires a certain level of restraint to wring the most from its scoring potential. Learning to dally with its diverse and ever-changing threats is almost mathematical, but still liberating and rewarding to overcome. It may struggle to appeal in the long-term in the same way as Tempest or his recent Polybius, owing to its slightly less absorbing construction; and those uninitiated in Minter's unusual thought processes may find it altogether abstruse. Nevertheless, it certainly earns a rightful place in his catalogue of psychedelic, slightly barmy, and altogether addictive score-based challenges.
To that end, I wholeheartedly recommend Akka Arrh for those on the fence about VR. Or perhaps those wanting a laid-back arcade experience that incorporates VR in ways that most of us can handle without being overwhelmed. It’s a simple arcade game that doesn’t require much effort to learn, but is worth the psychedelic trip to master and replay over and over again.
Akka Arrh is a fascinating game that finally gets a proper release after forty years. The gameplay is fast, addictive, and embodies everything great about an 80s arcade experience.
Akka Arrh is a great arcade throwback with some cool, vintage vibes. The cost of the game at the time this review was published is a bit more than I might jump at, but the action and trippy visuals will keep you busy testing your arcade skills for a while.
Once the controls are sorted out, Akka Arrh reveals itself as an absolutely fantastic shooter that plays like nothing else out there.
Akka Arrh is a near-sensory psychedelic experience, offering challenging, non-stop action that appropriates precise but hard-to-master mechanics. There's a purposefully confusing look, with touches of modernity supporting an idea misunderstood decades ago.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Akka Arrh won't click with most people right away. It takes a while to understand how to effectively use the bombs and bullets while wrangling a free-aiming cursor. The inclusion of another level to travel to briefly when things get hectic can be a bit too much to handle all at once. When it does click, it becomes a beautiful destructive symphony that pushes a psychedelic landscape for a signature Jeff Minter title. This is well worth the trip if you want a shooter that moves away from the genre norms.
Akka Arrh is a chaotic but addictive space shooter where the player uses a stationary cannon to defend against attacks. The game combines randomness and player skills to create a challenging and rewarding gameplay experience, where the objective is to score as high as possible by creating chain reactions with a single bomb. Fans of retro-style games will enjoy the entertaining and nostalgic experience Akka Arrh offers.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Akka Arrh takes a while to grow on you but once it does, it's hard to put down. From its trippy aesthetics to its tricky gameplay, this is one old-school experience that'll remind you that video games are best when they're simply fun.
The game has been out for other platforms for a while, but gets a PSVR2 option for the Playstation 5 version and this makes a bigger difference than you might originally think. While the 2D version is a lot more difficult to understand and keep an overview, the PSVR2 option makes the game a lot clearer. You are in the middle of your tower and with the two layers you have a lot of depth in the different levels. It doesn't happen often, but this is a game that is really much better in VR. This is a game for Atari and Minter fans and players who are interested in the history of this game. It's great to discover old prototypes and make them accessible to many people. You will quickly notice why this game remained a prototype and did not reach the arcades in the eighties.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Akka Arrh is a relic from a lost time, making itself quite at home with a modern player through overwhelming visuals and a gameplay loop that seeps into your gray matter.