Akiba's Beat Reviews
Akiba's Beat is both a stellar role-playing experience and a heartfelt yarn with bite. One of 2017's best RPGs so far, and a new personal favourite.
While the game might not be better than its peers, it would fare better if it were judged separately.
Akiba’s Beat is a strong entry in the series, and one that I absolutely prefer over the previous ones. It’s a shame that the game received such poor critical reception, because I definitely recommend this to anyone looking for an addicting battle system, fun and engaging story, and interesting characters. There are some negatives that can’t be ignored though, such as the amount of backtracking required, the times when the story just falls flat and isn’t as interesting as other portions, and not streamlining other features. All of that aside though, I still found enough enjoyable with Akiba’s Beat, and hopefully the series will continue on and continue to get even better!
Akiba's Beat is a music based combat game that rarely misses a note. When it does miss, however, it loses its beat.
At the end of the day Akiba’s Beat is an alright JRPG, even if it gets by mostly by just ticking the boxes in the checklist for all games in the genre.
Your experience is less about the thrill of the fight, and more about watching characters you love annihilate enemies in creative and spectacular ways.
You'll spend far more of your time watching cutscenes then you will exploring dungeons and defeating enemies, so while the combat system is quite basic, the eclectic mix of characters and twisting storylines will hold your interest through to the end. Thus, if you think of Akiba's Beat as a visual novel with some light gameplay elements instead of thinking of it as an action RPG, then you'll probably enjoy it a whole lot more.
For all of its noticeable issues, Acquire's risk to try something new in Akihabara pays off.
Akiba's Beat may not set the JRPG world on fire but it is quirky enough to enjoy.
If you can appreciate a trope-filled homage to Japan’s nerd culture as a whole, Tales and Persona-style gameplay, and enjoy a game with plenty of dialogue, then this one’s for you.
If you’re into otaku culture, or are itching for another Tales experience, Akiba’s Beat is a title worth looking at. Its competencies create a game that’s, while not amazing, worth the time I put into it.
It’s obvious that Akiba’s Beat is inspired by hit titles like Persona and to a lesser extent Tales Of, but it misses the mark and doesn’t manage to deliver what made those titles great. The story has its moments, but its bogged down by a wordy script and clichéd characters. The repetitive combat doesn’t help, and Akiba’s Beat goes down as another forgettable JRPG.
A competent, if not stellar, JRPG. Despite poking fun at many of the genre's tropes it can't quite help falling into them itself. Self-aware humor, a decent plot, and some endearing characters elevate the game above the mediocre affair it could otherwise have been though.
Although a tribute to the likes of Persona and the Tales of Series, Akiba's Beat doesn't have quite enough substance to recommend another Sunday visit to Akihabara.
Akiba's Beat is a great game for the Japan fans and a very long experience, but it gets buried due to its similarities to the Persona saga and technical simplicity.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
While I can most definitively say that Akiba's Beat is a marked improvement over its predecessor, I can't help but feel that in its aspiration to become like the much beloved Persona and Tales series, it has lost an identity of its own. Despite its improvements, with the stellar lineup of games all bidding for your time this year, it's hard to recommend Akiba's Beat over its superior alternatives.
Akiba's Beat caters to the niche audience who will definitely have a good time discovering the ins and outs of Akihabara through an entertaining and interesting story. However, hardcore RPG fans will be disappointed with the combat and dungeon exploration that they're probably used to seeing in PS2 and early PS3 games. There is fun to found in Akiba's Beat for those who wish to give it a try, but it will most likely be added to the backlog and quickly forgotten.
Ultimately, Akiba's Beat is a poor sequel, a weak homage, and a lackluster game. The strong localization elevates it slightly, but it's crippled by its attempts to impersonate better games. With Persona 5 and Tales of Berseria still fresh on the shelves, it's hard to justify why you'd play this over those games, and once you do, you'll find it difficult to stop noticing the game's "me too" trait. It's not the worst JRPG on the market by any means, but it has very little going for it in terms of strengths. The humor hit enough to give the experience some value, but otherwise it's something for those who've burned through the other top-notch JRPGs on the PS4 and are desperate for a little more.
Akiba's Beat stirs too far away from the mechanics that made the first game so fun, resulting in a sequel that is merely a shell of its former self. It is a not a bad action RPG if you can ignore its connection to the past games.
NEET: Short for “Not in Employment, Education, or Training.”Typically considered to be underskilled shut-ins who live by themselves in humble yet comfortable apartments, NEETs are known to mooch off their parents’ good will to play video games and watch anime all day instead of looking for work.