Akka Arrh Reviews
If you’re a fan of a bit of craziness mixed with tripped out and colorful colors, and can live with sketchy gameplay, it may work for you
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.
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
Chaos is actually choreography, as an unreleased Atari arcade game gets the full Minter treatment.
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 The challenge Minter faced was to drag an outdated, quarter-eating concept into today’s open-world, live-streaming market.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.
To be sure, Akka Arrh is a niche game: to enjoy it, you not only need to enjoy old school arcade shooters, you also need to enjoy Llamasoft's specific brand of psychedelic weirdness on top of that, as well as the weird idiosyncrasies in the game design. But if all of that appeals to you, then the good news is that Akka Arrh exists, and it's pretty fun.
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.