Akiba's Beat
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for Akiba's Beat
For all of its noticeable issues, Acquire's risk to try something new in Akihabara pays off.
Akiba's Beat is a tedious action RPG that has very few redeeming factors and one that has made me appreciate Akiba's Trip even more and that is saying something.
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
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.
Akiba's Beat is a generic and mediocre videogame. Instead of improving the flaws of its predecessor, it loses its personality. It is a standard JRPG that gives no satisfaction when playing it.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Akiba's Beat is a bad game, but it's an even worse sequel. So many aspects of the previous game, Akiba's Trip, are abandoned or watered down in this title, from the downgraded graphics, to the lack of customization, the poor characters, and more. Akiba's Beat abandons it's roots, instead trying so desperately to fill shoes far too big for it. Like the Chinese knockoff Transformers toys in my local deli, Akiba's Beat attempts to emulate many big franchise without the budget, skill, or style of any of them. You will buy it for a steep discount and know exactly what you're getting into, or you will laugh at it and walk away before buying the game it tries to be.
Even if Akiba's Beat had a higher budget and more time, it lacks any unique features, mimicking what other games do, but worse. For 40 hours you'll mash X through slow dialogue, then run around a dead environment, and then do more dialogue until you get to mash square against sponges. If Akiba's Trip is the shirtless jock who kicks the door with beers in hand, Akiba's Beat is the timid cocktail-drinker standing in the corner with one hand in his pocket. Technically functional, but spiritually dead.
Akiba's Beat is in a strange position, having been released right after two other Japanese role-playing games dealt with very similar topics. While it doesn't have strong enough writing to eclipse these titles, it does feature a few story beats that keep it from being a D-grade Persona. From a combat perspective, the game feels like a Tales game, but without any of the polish. There's room for improvement in practically every area, but it's still a decent RPG that is worth playing for those that somehow ran out of RPGs in their backlog.
