Akiba's Beat

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
55

Mixed or average reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 33
  3. Negative: 10 out of 33
Buy Now
Buy on
  1. CGMagazine
    May 16, 2017
    90
    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.
  2. Digitally Downloaded
    May 16, 2017
    80
    This combat system is a lot of fun. Each character does have distinct abilities and a role in the battlefield, and the action is fast enough that you’ll need to think quickly as you play. The crowning achievement of combat is the super attacks that you work towards (usually in time for the boss battles).
  3. Meristation
    May 17, 2017
    78
    Akiba's Beat doesn't offer something different from other Japanese RPG games. However as the games progresses it becomes an interesting title and alternative in the genre.
  5. GameGrin
    May 22, 2017
    75
    All in all, Akiba’s Beat is a solid game that presents itself very well. Despite a couple of flaws here and there, the title offers a lot in the way of content and entertainment value. Whether it’s the interesting visuals, the great use of music, or the well-constructed story, it’s not hard to see how this game beats out the competition.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 40 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 40
  3. Negative: 10 out of 40
  1. Rangertwin1208
    May 24, 2017
    5
    After playing the game for 40 hours and finally beating it, I'm gonna keep this review kinda short (SPOILERS):
    Pros:
    -The story is alright.    After playing the game for 40 hours and finally beating it, I'm gonna keep this review kinda short (SPOILERS):
    Pros:
    -The story is alright. Is about a young otaku (described as a NEET) and a few teenagers getting trapped in a repeating Sunday and the heroes must fight against the delusions of Akihabara while encountering a pink-caped man who knows the occurrences of the events. It doesn't manage to be the "Groundhog Day of JRPG" but so far, is been okay. The downside is that the story drags very slowly during the first hours in the game and personally, about 3 hours in and the story finally catches up an interesting twist. There's a True Ending in the game where you achieve it by doing it all the sub events but is nothing more than an extension to the original ending.
    -Characters are okay for the most part. Their english dub is voiced pretty decently (even if the pink-caped man and a few sounds as if they don't give f*ck) and their wacky personalities can make these characters a bit likable. However, like the story, during the first hours it was a huge pain to even give a crap towards the characters. Also, if you aren't a fan of stereotypes that loves to shout cringy lines, meta jokes and at times boring exposition, you aren't gonna like them. If you are however interested in the otaku culture, I suggest you give them a shot.
    -The soundtrack, while not my all time favorite, is pretty good and is almost on par with its previous predecessor.
    -The anime scenes are beautifully animated and can sometimes feel as if you were watching an anime.

    With that done, now for the cons, which let me tell you, there's A LOT:
    -Due to budget constraints graphics are sub-par and can sometimes look as if it was made as an early PS3 game.
    -The anime scenes and character deigns are good, that doesn't mean their animations are good. Most of the time the animations such as running just looks wonky.
    -The dungeons are based on the delusions of people which sounds good on paper but poor on its execution. Instead of having a few twists and turns, the structure designs is mostly bland and straight-forwards similar to the dungeons in Cyber sleuth, and Persona 3/4 and instead throws throws at you switches because why not.
    -Aside from the bosses, all the enemies from all dungeons are basically re skins with no unique attacks.
    -The combat is very similar to the Tales games but way worse. It is very unpolished and it doesn't have much flow. Hell, it feels as if you were hitting the air. You can use up to 8 skills but only some of those are useful. Your attacks depends on Action Points so there's a bit of strategy since you can block, dodge, use items, and even command your comrades as well but with better gear and more AP, you can just go all Kratos on their asses.
    -The Ai can sometimes be useful but at times they use skills that aren't very effective against certain enemies.
    -The hub world, Akihabara, while looking big and very pretty, is a step down compared to its predecessor and just feels lifeless. There's nothing to do other than run around, talk with certain story related characters, 4-5 sec loading screens, and buy items and equipment at item shops (which are mostly menus because you don't actually enter the shops which is just lazy design).
    -Missions are very tedious and mostly consist of talking to certain people, fetch items and kill certain amount of enemies. Worst part is that you can only accept one mission AT A TIME.
    -Imagine Mode is basically Rage Burst from GE2; your character gets stronger and a J-Pop song of your choice plays out. Just that. Not even rhythm based. This mechanic is very OP meaning you can breeze through boss battles very easily even on Normal.
    -There are ranked based cards which give you bonuses but it is mostly the title system from the Tales games. Nothing new to see here.
    -Characters like Pinkun (This game's Navi) won't shut up during dungeon exploring. They just keep pointing out EVERYTHING you do and find in the dungeons.
    -There isn't a lot of interactions between the world and the characters. Hell, there aren't even dialogue options like in most RPGs. Instead of doing something important, you're just the observer.
    -There isn't a lot of content or customization compared to Akiba's Trip.
    -Dialogue cutscenes lasts between 5-10 min. So if you aren't interested in exposition, prepare to mash the X button A LOT.
    -Maps cannot be zoomed out.
    All in all, is just an bland mediocre/average inoffensive RPG that's only recommendable if you want to kill some time until more bigger and better RPGs releases or if you are an otaku. If you're looking for a great RPG on par with Berseria, Persona 5, Nier, Zelda, Trails, etc., or you're a big Akiba's Trip fan, is best off that you avoid it. It lacks any of the charm from the previous game and it would have been acceptable if it was released during Akiba's Trip release. Is PLAYABLE and I played worse games, but is just not worth $50.    … Full Review »
  2. TsukasaHiiragi
    May 16, 2017
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. Oh Acquire, what did you do? What did you do to the beloved Akiba franchise? I was looking forward to Akiba's Beat for quite a long time, and then after playing...this? It is a huge backstep from the original Akiba's Trip, not only does the original look better...on PS3 but is also more engaging, and more fun to play. The Akiba's Trip fan inside me wants to be exceptionally harsh here and rate this very low, but to be fair - I'll say this game shouldn't be compared to the previous games at all.

    Akiba's Beat is a massive downgrade sadly. Whilst so far, I have no problems with the quality of the story or the excellent work by the dub cast everything else is painfully average. The interesting mixture of a groundhog's day style story by having to repeat Sunday endlessly and having to discover the delusions of people in Akihabara and restore time, all sound good - the problem is that why pick a Sunday?

    Because of this; mostly all of Akiba is dead - shops are closed and have very little; if any interaction; in fact shops are mostly useless since the few shops that are available all sell the exact same items! It essentially makes the Akihabara setting useless because once you've walked around the area, there literally isn't any reasons to stay so you'll be fast travelling from plot point to plot point.

    The story whilst interesting, can sometimes drag on for too long and get boring which is a problem and these pacing issues so far have been consistent, story // story // move to plot points around the map // story x3 // move around to plot points // rinse and repeat a few times before you finally unlock the dungeon and then, you would think they couldn't possibly mess the actual RPG side up? Well they did...

    Even the dungeons have issues, combat is a psudo action/turn based combat that just feels...not fun; some people have said it is similar to the tales series, for me - It is similar to the older style Star Ocean series, your character has PP which are depleted each time you attack, when you have used up the PP you have to wait a few moments for them to recharge leaving you open to attack. There is a blocking and dodging mechanic but most of the time it serves little point since you'll be getting hit regardless, most battles contain multiple monsters, and typically almost always the majority of them target the player instead of the support members, not that it matters because most trash monsters die in a few seconds anyway and healing items are plentiful so at least.

    Imagine mode is where the game gets more complicated, this is your stereotypical build-up to your ultimate attacks. This is activated by..the typical keep attacking to fill the bar method and then unleash, which is obviously the most useful against bosses. The problem is; imagine mode is something akin to Project Diva? It starts a timed sequence with directions flashing on the screen - this part is the most confusing and the tutorial is quite vague - the main advantages is this mode removes the cost of skills, and prevents character knockdown so you can unleash.

    There are many extra elements as well, like unlocking maids to help you with hints to unlocking a card game system similar to Love Live School Idol, with obviously the best UR (Ultra Rare) cards being the most valuable. Whilst, all these extra features are great - it still doesn't make up for the painfully average experiences, and really poor impressions in the early stages of the game.

    If this game was the prequel to Akiba's Trip and came out back in say 2013/14 then this game would have rated far higher, but releasing this game which is essentially inferior to it's predecessors in virtually everyway, and in 2017....is just asking for some harsh criticism - heck, they did't even get licenses to any of Akihabara stores/logos this time around so everything has odd and stupid names.

    If you're still reading this review by this point; I'll leave you with this final words. I don't hate Akiba's Beat; but as a huge fan of the Akiba's Trip series this unfortunately is a big disappointment and should have been so much better; I seriously hope this doesn't kill the franchise and that the developers learn from these mistakes.    … Full Review »
  3. Dovangarden13
    May 24, 2017
    1
    I REALLY hate this game, and it is sad I must. I really wanted to like it, especially since I'm a huge fan of Akiba's Trip and I'm definitelyI REALLY hate this game, and it is sad I must. I really wanted to like it, especially since I'm a huge fan of Akiba's Trip and I'm definitely a sucker for JRPGs so I guess you could at I had high expectations. Needless to say, I was very disappointed. The characters, while having pretty good designs, are mostly stereotypes of stereotypes that aren't worth caring for, especially since they cant stop shouting meta jokes and slangs, even during dungeon exploration (Pinkun is the worst offender). Some people might like it but for me, it was just a cringe fest. Not to mention these dialogue cut scenes lasts way too long (there aren't even dialogue choices, which is something every RPGs needs to have). Because of this, I ended up skipping most of the dialogues. The story is okay for the most part but it builds up way too slow when it shouldn't and I just wasn't invested very much. Akihabara feels and looks soulless compared to the on in Akiba's Trip. There are few citizens in different colors with no faces to add a bit of life but it just fails because a lot of these just repeat the same animation, not doing much. All you do there is just run around, talk with story related NPCs and buy stuff. No mini-games, no interactions, nothing. Hell, most of Akihabara's iconic places are replaced with fake dumb names probably due to copyright. You can buy equipment in the form of clothing and accessories in item shops (and by shops I meant item menus) but they just mostly sell the same stuff as always. There are few upgrades for your melee weapons but there isn't a lot of purchasable weapons. And the costumes in the game are mostly DLCs. The graphics are like from a mid 2000s PS2 game, and it is not great. Especially since at time it can look pretty blurry.

    The dungeons' designs sucks despite being based on delusional themes. They are just similar to Persona 4's dungeon designs, where you just go forward, maybe activate a few switches, keep going until you reach the boss. The enemies' designs are just recolored versions of themselves and trust me, you'll see them a lot. Some of the bosses can have a good design but is nothing special. The combat is a blatant ripoff of the Tales games' combat, but worse. It lacks any of the polish, weight, strategy or fun of the Tales games (Tales of Hearts R has a better combat than this game). During battle (which you can get the upper hand if you strike them first), you can block, dodge, use skills, attack, and command your teammates, but most of the time, you'll just keep spamming the attack buttons and a few useful skills, until the Imagine Mode fills up, which is very OP in boss battles (minor enemy fights can be done in less than 30 seconds with no skill required). Missions is what can you expect from an RPG (fetch these, kill those, talk to this person). You can't even accept them all, you can only accept one at a time, which sucks. The animations of your characters are pretty sluggish and aren't programmed well, with the prime example being the running animation. The only thing I liked from the game is the OST but it just isn't on par with Akiba's Trip's OST.

    In conclusion, it just a bad RPG. Seeing people praising it, with one site even calling it "One of 2017's best RPG" (yeah, and The Order 1886 is 2015's best shooter) just blows my mind. If they were PS vita gamers, it's understandable considering that not a lot of games are coming to the Vita. But for the PS4 owners? Why waste your money on an overpriced low budget PRG when there's way better RPGs already out on the horizon like Persona, Tales, Dragon Quest, Tales, Yakuza, etc. with underrated ones like Atelier, Digimon and Utawarerumono. They should have just released the game the same year Trip was released because releasing it this year is just asking for trouble. It just lacks anything that made the Persona games, Tales games, and even Akiba's Trip special, and seeing that even Japan wasn't very impressed with the game, and barely even selling 20k copies, I guess it was already to be expected. This saddens me because I really expected much from Acquire and Xseed, but instead, is "Star Ocean 5" all over again, and it worries me of what will happen with the franchise. Do yourself a favor and don't buy this game. If you have a PS4, get Persona 5, Berseria, Nier Automata or Digimon. If you have a Vita, get trails of Cold Steel, Persona 4 Golden, Digimon (again), Atelier, or Caligula Effect. Avoid this game as possible, for it is just a massive downgrade from its predecessor in terms of gameplay (excluding the stripping), graphics, story, and content.    … Full Review »
See all user reviews »