To that end, I wholeheartedly recommend Akka Arrh for those on the fence about VR. Or perhaps those wanting a laid-back arcade experience that incorporates VR in ways that most of us can handle without being overwhelmed. It’s a simple arcade game that doesn’t require much effort to learn, but is worth the psychedelic trip to master and replay over and over again.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane for a minute. Back in 2012, I stumbled across this neon racing shooter game called DYAD. I purchased it for my PS3 because I was heavily into psychedelic and sensory-overloading imagery, seeking the potential rush I got when playing WipEout on my PlayStation. I remember some of my friends saying that the game’s neon imagery combined with its momentum-based puzzles assaulted their eyes. I vehemently disagreed – it was the mind-bending, eye-melting, neon-infused game I wanted to play.
In 2012, I was interested in 3D gaming because 3D televisions were all the rage. I wanted particles and neon lights to bombard my face as I jettisoned through hyperspace listening to DnB music. While active 3D was a pipe dream for gaming, passive 3D was palatable. I remember wishing DYAD to have a spiritual successor in the form of a 3D game.
It’s been 12 years since DYAD. Virtual reality games have entered the chat and are competing with our attention alongside AAA “flat” games being released on our home consoles. Instead of having 3D gaming, we have immersive experiences with headsets.
Minutes into playing Akka Arrh, I began experiencing nostalgia of playing DYAD back in 2012 as well as Atari’s classics. Imagine Galaga meets Star Raiders meets Asteroids, except a faceless narrator congratulates you for your accomplishments. Despite the constant bombardment of pink, lime, and yellow particles that flew everywhere my eyes could see in my PSVR2, I felt fully at ease with shooting blinking enemies that entered my little square containing my turret.
Indeed, this was an Atari classic on my hands – a game that was approachable enough for me to try without becoming discouraged with its difficulty.
Throughout my review period, I learned that Akka Arrh was an Atari prototype from the 1980s that never made it to cabinets and consoles until a short while ago. Apparently, it was too complicated. Or perhaps the world wasn’t ready for it. When it ended up being released in the Atari 50th Anniversary Celebration, it gave players a taste of what could have been in all of its incomplete glory. Fast forward to present day, Jeff Minter has refined the title and made it available on multiple platforms, including the PSVR2.
Akka Arrh ended up being a simple play rather than an intensive and exhausting gauntlet of arcade trials and tribulations. There were no VR controls from the start. I didn’t have to jump around or move about. Instead, I used the PSVR2’s Sense controllers’ joysticks to move above, firing an attack with a single button press.
The gist of Akka Arrh is similar to a tower defense game, really. Using the joysticks, I was tasked with aiming at and shooting projectiles that flew at my little turret (whose name was apparently Akka Arrh). When I destroyed the bullets that came near, they would explode in an ever-growing shape. If a bullet came in contact with the explosion, it would blow up, too, creating a chain reaction of geometric shapes that basically played itself while I waited for the chain reactions to finish. The longer the chain reaction, the higher my high score. If I fired my default weapon, my chain reaction multiplier reset.
Some enemies couldn’t be defeated by my typical bullets, requiring a secondary ammunition that I acquired from chain reactions. If I was out of secondary ammo, I had to wait to attack these enemies until I had chained enough explosions together to garner enough ammo.
Every so often, a powerup would show up on my screen that would make the visual busyness more chaotic, but in all the right ways. Some powerups automatically shot lightning bolts from my turret and killed everything in sight, while others modified my cursor and filled the screen with my bullets.
In essence, Akka Arrh is an ammunition management game with high-score chasing mechanics. It’s forced me to relearn my approach to how I play arcade shooters. I couldn’t help but enjoy the contradictory nature of Akka Arrh – it’s simultaneously chaotic yet calming. For games like Galaga, I was trained to shoot now, ask questions later. Clear the screen as quick as possible and call it a day. Otherwise, my enemies would move faster and faster and destroy me, ending my dreams of my high score. Here, less is more. Err – doing less results in a higher score. Making a meaningful choice to shoot at a specific cluster of enemies was key in succeeding.
The jump from flat screen to my PSVR2 headset was less of a jump than I would have expected, but it sure was a proper fever dream fueled by arcade aesthetics and flashing lights. Thanks to the game’s mechanics, I occasionally had time to watch bullets fly by my eyes while I waited for my chain reactions to run their course. Akka Arrh has 50 levels, and the game grows progressively more chaotic yet challenging as I proceeded. But it was a delightful trip.
There is very little that compares to the experience of Akka Arrh. It’s a unique combination of bullet management, tower defense, neon frenziness, and arcade shooters that reward players with careful shooting. In the virtual reality space, the players’ eyes are rewarded with polygons that shatter onto oblivion, sending particles and streaks of color in every direction. It’s a gorgeous celebration of color that makes me wonder how other arcade classics can, and should, make their way into the VR space.
Before wrapping things up, I want to discuss two things that may give some users pause when considering Akka Arrh for the PSVR2.
Let’s first talk about the neon and psychedelic ambiance of Akka Arrh. I personally love it when games employ creative and visually striking aesthetics, but it wouldn’t surprise me if some users would experience discomfort and become disoriented by the flashy neon effects. In my review of Ultros, I praised the art direction. There’s something positively unsettling about an all-neon aesthetic that steps away from typical color schemes and palettes. When an aesthetic such as one used in Ultros or Akka Arrh is implemented well, it makes for a truly unique yet trippy playthrough. However, in a VR setting, it would make sense for these neon distractions to be tiresome thanks to the sheer number of objects flying toward the player’s eyes. These effects are a lot, but the effects are worth experiencing if only once. Thankfully, a setting exists to tone down some of those color effects, so I would recommend turning that on if you become overloaded by the neon explosions.
Second, and most importantly, the passive VR experience. As mentioned earlier in this review, Akka Arrh’s experience skews closer to a passive VR experience rather than an interactive mixed reality environment where the player’s movements directly impact the game. The VR effects emerge in the form of environmental responses all the while the player defends their turret. Blowing up enemies and pickups causes gigantic bursts of particles to ricochet and launch themselves towards and all around the player. It’s as though the VR player is the recipient of the effects without needing to directly cause the explosions with their movement.
Where does this leave Akka Arrh, then? Who would want a VR experience that is less of an active, in-your-face experience and more of a passive but still flashy arcade shooter? It isn’t a matter of want for Akka Arrh.
It’s a matter of should. Akka Arrh is a VR game that you should play if you’re a new PSVR2 owner.
One of the first trials of getting into virtual reality is the hurdle of adjusting to being bombarded with effects that look real and show up in front of your face. Virtual reality is jarring, folks. As much as I recognize the irony in recommending a psychedelic arcade shooter like Akka Arrh for new VR owners, it’s a perfect fit for one who is unprepared for the full potential of virtual reality writ large. Akka Arrh doesn’t task the player with figuring out complex controls that are tied to movement. Instead, it exposes them to some of the virtual reality experience, albeit passively; if the player can become accustomed to the visually striking neon geometry of Akka Arrh, they can handle more of the PSVR2’s library.
To that end, I wholeheartedly recommend Akka Arrh for those on the fence about VR. Or perhaps those wanting a laid-back arcade experience that incorporates VR in ways that most of us can handle without being overwhelmed. It’s a simple arcade game that doesn’t require much effort to learn, but is worth the psychedelic trip to master and replay over and over again.
A review copy of Akka Arrh was provided for DigitalChumps for the purpose of this review.
