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 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 The challenge Minter faced was to drag an outdated, quarter-eating concept into today’s open-world, live-streaming market.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.
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 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.
There are times when I really did start to feel like I was getting Akka Arrh, that I was so close to slipping into that state of bliss the best arcade games can provide. Inevitably though, some new mechanic would show up and knock me right out of it. That’s not to say I didn’t have fun with Akka Arrh, it’s an incredibly interesting game worth a look from fans of classic arcade games and fans of Jeff Minter, but the same issues that kept that original prototype from the 80s from seeing the light of day are still present and stop it from being a must-play.
Make no mistake, this reimagining is easily the definitive take on Akka Arrh, especially if you compare this modern entry to the original in Atari 50 and see just how much Minter was able to evolve the concept test marketed all those decades ago, and finally realizing it in an addictive fashion that modernizes the game a while also adding great scorechasing elements, just like he did with Tempest before.
When it comes down to it, Akka Arrh is a fun arcade game but probably an acquired taste. If you think back to the old days when you walked through the arcade, you could watch the game’s demo before you decided to slip a coin in. If I go by this logic, I would slide in a few coins and play Akka Arrh. But I’m unsure I would return to it once I had my fill. If you love your retro or looking for a quick arcade fix, I absolutely recommend Akka Arrh, and if this leads to more relics from the past getting tuned up and re-released today, then I’m all for that.
A remake of a never-released prototype might seem overly ambitious, but Akka Arrh certainly lives up to the mystery of its source. It may even be too simplistic for today's players, used to more elements and options, but here's a game that deserves to be known, especially by fans of Atari's legacy.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
If this is what Atari will keep releasing from now on, I’m game. It might be a brand new title, but Akka Arrh feels like the perfect marriage between the Atari of old and the technology of today. It’s also weird as hell. It took me a while to understand what on Earth I was supposed to do in this game, but once I got the hang of it, I had a blast with this bizarre mixture between a space shooter, a puzzler… and a golf game.