akiba strip or akiba's trip (PSP): game review
if you're one of those people who've always wanted to go to Akihabara, you might wanna try virtual trip of the real Akihabara in Japan along with the real shops and experience what it's like in maid cafe, yes? then go try this adventure-RPG game for PSP; Akiba's Trip, or you can also read it as Akiba Strip.
outline story: (according to what I understand so far)
you play as the main protagonist who's found almost dead beaten by one of the strongest vampires in Akihabara; Abeno Yuu. his sister; Fumizuki Rui sees that and tried to help you by kissing on the lips as well as giving her blood in order to save you from death. this way also transforms you into a vampire indirectly. those vampires like Yuu and Rui are commonly called kageyashi in the game so I'm going to use this term from now on. a few agents from NIRO (an investigtion organization whose purpose is to kill kageyashi in town) passes by and bring you to their hideout. later when you wake up, you find yourself being tied half-naked in a dark room with a few NIRO agents forcing you to speak out about those kageyashi before you lost your consciousness. having no idea about kageyashi, those agents explain that there have been a lot of kageyashi found in Akihabara to you and it's their job to erase their existence. you even learn that the girl who helped you back to alive is a kageyashi. being a human who's transforming into one of those kageyashi itself, they offer to help you get back into a human being but they want you to help them fight alongside them to kill those kageyashi in exchange. still curious with the girl who helped you before, you then agree to help and they teach you how to kill kageyashi; vampire in human disguise. like humans, kageyashis wear clothes as if they're normal humans, so it's your job to strip their clothes and let them burned to death as their skins exposed to sunlight. thus, it begins your journey to fight kageyashi and restore peace at Akihabara.
important points in the game:
- since you belong to a secret organization, you're required to dress as a normal otaku who often wanders around Akihabara. yes, it's the time to cosplay!! you can even put yourself an idol dress or a neko-mimi.
- you can obtain outfits by buying them at the stores or after you strip a kageyashi if you have the ability to do so
- there are many types of people wandering around in Akihabara, like otaku, cameraman, businessman, gothic lolita girl, students, foreigners etc. and each person requires different ability. for example, if you want to obtain businessman outfit from a businessman then you need to master businessman stripping ability.
- if you beat a kageyashi without stripping them, then you it means you can't get their outfit. you have to forcefully take off their outfit once their blood is running low before their clothes ripped off automatically.
- you can't beat normal people such as otaku, cameraman, jobless man or foreigner. even if you provoke them to fight, they'll eventually run away from you.
- you have NIRO agents and several people from Akihabara on your side who spend most of their times at the secret hideout.
- for the first time playing, you can only play as a guy and can only wear guy's clothing but you'll be able to wear girl's clothing as the story proceeds and can play as other character as the main protagonist or even a girl for your second time playing, but the story will stay the same.
- equipment can be bought at stores or by defeating kageyashi. weapons are counted into drop-items so you have to pick them up on the street. weapons may vary from idol-poster, umbrella, even PC monitor, TV, notebook and other electronics. clothing works as an armor, while the ability to strip certain outfit can be obtained by purchasing software at game stores.
- the flow of the game is divided into main missions, and each detail will be sent to your cellphone mail.
- there's also a chat board called Potsuri, in which you can find more info about what's going on or some tips if you read carefully.
- check the notepad to find out about important info such as overall info about all the stores in the map, as well as how to save the game.
- once you go out from Akihabara, it means game over. you need to stay away from entering the ticketing machine over at Akihabara station <--- I did this once, and I thought it was the way how to save the game.
- aside from buying software, you can learn how to strip certain people by meeting up the master over at the building rooftop; a mysterious and sexy woman (judging from her silhouette)
- there are 5 ranks when you strip kageyashi, you need to beat a group of 3 people with different difficulties in order to gain a rank. I don't really know how this rank thingy works but I guess you can only wear certain outfits if you reach certan rank.
- there are police officers almost everywhere so you must be careful when stripping a kageyashi. if you're caught then you have to pay for certain amount of money in order to be released. try not to strip in front of them.
- the main protagonist isn't invincible. since you're playing as a kageyashi, you'll lose and die when your outfits are completely stripped. there are times when you lose your outfit if those kageyashi try to strip you, but you can pick the option to retry and you'll be back from the latest scene with your complete outfit <--- at least this is what I've been doing when I don't wanna lose high-grade outfit.
several types of people you'll most likely find in the game: (might exist in the real Akihabara):
- fujoshi who's always mumbling "that person must be seme. that person must be uke". LMAO
- foreigner who's looking for Toranoana
- someone who's giving out pamphlets
- someone who's asking for donations
- otaku who's pissed off in front of a maid cafe 'cause he lacks 10 maid points to get a reward
- maid running to you offering to enter the maid cafe, not to mention there are also neko & usagi maid later on.
- someone who's upset 'cause he can't go to see his idol's secret live
- another otaku whos' mumbling "this isn't much different from Nipponbashi in Osaka". aha, I see the point.
- cosplayers with cameraman around
- idols who held their photoshoot session in public
- students who are meeting up with their friends
- etc.
good things:
I'm amazed at how many types of people exist in the game. I thought I knew what otaku is like, but nah.. don't call yourself otaku unless you play this game to see what real otaku is like. I suppose this game is targeted for male players since there are a lot of moe essences in the game such as; maid cafe to please you, the stripping point; which means you can see girls in underwear, also neko-mimi or usa-mimi anyone?
you know there are many types of otaku like, game otaku, anime otaku, idol otaku, etc. and you can experience all of those otaku in this game. you can fight a bunch of people to win over a limited action figure, go through the hassle just to obtain a premium membership ticket to attend a secret live of Dirty Little Princess (an idol unit consists of twin-tailed twins), fangirl all over a popular series (in the game) called IT Witch Maria and even obtain her costume, consult with Nobu about eroge stuffs, or even test your knowledge about Akihabara or IT Witch Maria at the maid cafe.
and who says otaku only wears boring clothes? you can be a fashionable otaku by wearing fashionable clothes, either by obtaining them through stripping kageyashi or buying expensive clothes at the stores. there are several clothing stores and accessories where you can buy sunglasses to complete your businessman look, a tail to be a perfect neko maid, or even a rucksack to be a full-fledged otaku.
if maybe you've watched Ore no Imoto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai and wish to have a cute little sister, then you've got one already. cute little (and tsundere) sister is available at the later part of the game and you can event visit her, dress her in a sexy or cute outfit (it costs money though *sigh*) or even just say hi and ask how's her day.
the music, BGM and sound effects are well done. it really brings back memories when you go strolling around Chuo-dori and you can really hear the maid saying "yoroshiku onegaishimasu" while giving out the pamphlets. it's the atmosphere I'm talking about. or when you hear the song of curry pan when you wander around the station. FYI, you can even hear the full ver. of the song of curry pan in
bad things, maybe?
despite all of the good things, the graphic of this game isn't that smooth for PSP, but I guess that's paid with the cute-looking characters designed (you'll see what I mean once you play the game and see the drawing of each character when they talk, SO MOE!). the game lags when you encounter a lot of enemies in the battlefield so it slows down your movement during the battle. I also kinda expect more at the maid cafe, it's great that you can play a lot of games with the maid and get maid points as reward with but what disappoints me is, they don't have the feature of the maid drawing something with ketchup on your omelet rice. no, even if you order omelet rice, you can't see the omelet rice! ;_;
I've been to Akihabara twice but it was always night so I didn't really notice the surrounding but I'm amazed by how they put real stores in the game such as Sofmap, (though they change it into.. let me see, Softmac? or something like that), Toranoana but I didn't see Animate? I should at least be able to see blue-looking store but.. I feel like I don't see one, even if it's not available to visit. but yes, the shops are real. I also notice there are some other food-related stores such as Yoshinoya (if I remember correctly it's written Yoshidaya but I can recognize the orange trademark), KFC and Pepper Lunch but too bad that we can't visit them. the only shop that you can visit to buy food is the convenience store in front of the station, and the maid cafe. you might notice there's also a curry shop with catchy song, but you can't go in either :\
since this is like half-RPG where it requires you to interact with other character, I suppose it'd be difficult if you don't understand Japanese or can't read kanji characters. the game is kanji-heavy and there's no furigana, and what's more.. the voice of the character only comes out at the beginning of the game and there's no voice for the rest of the game except when you speak to them though it's mostly a single word like "ah" "arigato" "gomen". I mean, come on you write the seiyuu names at the official website but you can only hear their voices for the first few minutes in the game? o_O I know there's another drama CD released a few months ago but still..
the loading screen takes quite some times and it's annoying that you need to go through the loading screen every time you enter the store. moreover, the camera rotation isn't that convenient and it's annoying when you go out from certain store and you press the wrong direction so you end up going inside the store again, there you see the loading screen again. argh.
though the game often clearly says where to go, there are some times when it's not mentioned clearly about your next destination or what to do, especially in sub-missions so if you can't figure out, I suggest you look for a guide to help if you're lost. I use this one by the way. there are also other helpful info. the game itself feels like visual novel to me since you have to pick certain options for the story to proceed and I often burst out laughing since the options are hilarious and so otaku-like!
overall, I find this game is really fun especially if you're curious about otaku as well as Akihabara. there are also several endings and other sub-missions which can only be completed if you play the game for the 2nd time so it's always nice to play again. and I really like the original design for the game, you might wanna take a look at the illustrator's twitpic page to see more cute & moe illustrations for the game.
so now I expect you to understand why you can read it as Akiba's Trip or Akiba Strip? since you can take a tour around Akihabara (Akiba for short), that's when you go for Akiba's Trip. but if you're talking about stripping kageyashi, then it's Akiba Strip. for more info about the game, you can check the official website and play mini-games but no, they're not like what you actually do in the game haha. be cautious of your surrounding and plug-in your earphone before clicking those pervy mini-games. the Japanese wiki page also has some info and explanation about the characters (seriously, I couldn't read their names until I checked this page. well um, except Nobu, Sara, Yanabe or other names written in katakana), as well some unfamiliar terms.
PS: screenshots are taken from PS3navi
outline story: (according to what I understand so far)
you play as the main protagonist who's found almost dead beaten by one of the strongest vampires in Akihabara; Abeno Yuu. his sister; Fumizuki Rui sees that and tried to help you by kissing on the lips as well as giving her blood in order to save you from death. this way also transforms you into a vampire indirectly. those vampires like Yuu and Rui are commonly called kageyashi in the game so I'm going to use this term from now on. a few agents from NIRO (an investigtion organization whose purpose is to kill kageyashi in town) passes by and bring you to their hideout. later when you wake up, you find yourself being tied half-naked in a dark room with a few NIRO agents forcing you to speak out about those kageyashi before you lost your consciousness. having no idea about kageyashi, those agents explain that there have been a lot of kageyashi found in Akihabara to you and it's their job to erase their existence. you even learn that the girl who helped you back to alive is a kageyashi. being a human who's transforming into one of those kageyashi itself, they offer to help you get back into a human being but they want you to help them fight alongside them to kill those kageyashi in exchange. still curious with the girl who helped you before, you then agree to help and they teach you how to kill kageyashi; vampire in human disguise. like humans, kageyashis wear clothes as if they're normal humans, so it's your job to strip their clothes and let them burned to death as their skins exposed to sunlight. thus, it begins your journey to fight kageyashi and restore peace at Akihabara.
important points in the game:
- since you belong to a secret organization, you're required to dress as a normal otaku who often wanders around Akihabara. yes, it's the time to cosplay!! you can even put yourself an idol dress or a neko-mimi.
- you can obtain outfits by buying them at the stores or after you strip a kageyashi if you have the ability to do so
- there are many types of people wandering around in Akihabara, like otaku, cameraman, businessman, gothic lolita girl, students, foreigners etc. and each person requires different ability. for example, if you want to obtain businessman outfit from a businessman then you need to master businessman stripping ability.
- if you beat a kageyashi without stripping them, then you it means you can't get their outfit. you have to forcefully take off their outfit once their blood is running low before their clothes ripped off automatically.
- you can't beat normal people such as otaku, cameraman, jobless man or foreigner. even if you provoke them to fight, they'll eventually run away from you.
- you have NIRO agents and several people from Akihabara on your side who spend most of their times at the secret hideout.
- for the first time playing, you can only play as a guy and can only wear guy's clothing but you'll be able to wear girl's clothing as the story proceeds and can play as other character as the main protagonist or even a girl for your second time playing, but the story will stay the same.
- equipment can be bought at stores or by defeating kageyashi. weapons are counted into drop-items so you have to pick them up on the street. weapons may vary from idol-poster, umbrella, even PC monitor, TV, notebook and other electronics. clothing works as an armor, while the ability to strip certain outfit can be obtained by purchasing software at game stores.
- the flow of the game is divided into main missions, and each detail will be sent to your cellphone mail.
- there's also a chat board called Potsuri, in which you can find more info about what's going on or some tips if you read carefully.
- check the notepad to find out about important info such as overall info about all the stores in the map, as well as how to save the game.
- once you go out from Akihabara, it means game over. you need to stay away from entering the ticketing machine over at Akihabara station <--- I did this once, and I thought it was the way how to save the game.
- aside from buying software, you can learn how to strip certain people by meeting up the master over at the building rooftop; a mysterious and sexy woman (judging from her silhouette)
- there are 5 ranks when you strip kageyashi, you need to beat a group of 3 people with different difficulties in order to gain a rank. I don't really know how this rank thingy works but I guess you can only wear certain outfits if you reach certan rank.
- there are police officers almost everywhere so you must be careful when stripping a kageyashi. if you're caught then you have to pay for certain amount of money in order to be released. try not to strip in front of them.
- the main protagonist isn't invincible. since you're playing as a kageyashi, you'll lose and die when your outfits are completely stripped. there are times when you lose your outfit if those kageyashi try to strip you, but you can pick the option to retry and you'll be back from the latest scene with your complete outfit <--- at least this is what I've been doing when I don't wanna lose high-grade outfit.
several types of people you'll most likely find in the game: (might exist in the real Akihabara):
- fujoshi who's always mumbling "that person must be seme. that person must be uke". LMAO
- foreigner who's looking for Toranoana
- someone who's giving out pamphlets
- someone who's asking for donations
- otaku who's pissed off in front of a maid cafe 'cause he lacks 10 maid points to get a reward
- maid running to you offering to enter the maid cafe, not to mention there are also neko & usagi maid later on.
- someone who's upset 'cause he can't go to see his idol's secret live
- another otaku whos' mumbling "this isn't much different from Nipponbashi in Osaka". aha, I see the point.
- cosplayers with cameraman around
- idols who held their photoshoot session in public
- students who are meeting up with their friends
- etc.
good things:
I'm amazed at how many types of people exist in the game. I thought I knew what otaku is like, but nah.. don't call yourself otaku unless you play this game to see what real otaku is like. I suppose this game is targeted for male players since there are a lot of moe essences in the game such as; maid cafe to please you, the stripping point; which means you can see girls in underwear, also neko-mimi or usa-mimi anyone?
you know there are many types of otaku like, game otaku, anime otaku, idol otaku, etc. and you can experience all of those otaku in this game. you can fight a bunch of people to win over a limited action figure, go through the hassle just to obtain a premium membership ticket to attend a secret live of Dirty Little Princess (an idol unit consists of twin-tailed twins), fangirl all over a popular series (in the game) called IT Witch Maria and even obtain her costume, consult with Nobu about eroge stuffs, or even test your knowledge about Akihabara or IT Witch Maria at the maid cafe.
and who says otaku only wears boring clothes? you can be a fashionable otaku by wearing fashionable clothes, either by obtaining them through stripping kageyashi or buying expensive clothes at the stores. there are several clothing stores and accessories where you can buy sunglasses to complete your businessman look, a tail to be a perfect neko maid, or even a rucksack to be a full-fledged otaku.
if maybe you've watched Ore no Imoto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai and wish to have a cute little sister, then you've got one already. cute little (and tsundere) sister is available at the later part of the game and you can event visit her, dress her in a sexy or cute outfit (it costs money though *sigh*) or even just say hi and ask how's her day.
the music, BGM and sound effects are well done. it really brings back memories when you go strolling around Chuo-dori and you can really hear the maid saying "yoroshiku onegaishimasu" while giving out the pamphlets. it's the atmosphere I'm talking about. or when you hear the song of curry pan when you wander around the station. FYI, you can even hear the full ver. of the song of curry pan in
bad things, maybe?
despite all of the good things, the graphic of this game isn't that smooth for PSP, but I guess that's paid with the cute-looking characters designed (you'll see what I mean once you play the game and see the drawing of each character when they talk, SO MOE!). the game lags when you encounter a lot of enemies in the battlefield so it slows down your movement during the battle. I also kinda expect more at the maid cafe, it's great that you can play a lot of games with the maid and get maid points as reward with but what disappoints me is, they don't have the feature of the maid drawing something with ketchup on your omelet rice. no, even if you order omelet rice, you can't see the omelet rice! ;_;
I've been to Akihabara twice but it was always night so I didn't really notice the surrounding but I'm amazed by how they put real stores in the game such as Sofmap, (though they change it into.. let me see, Softmac? or something like that), Toranoana but I didn't see Animate? I should at least be able to see blue-looking store but.. I feel like I don't see one, even if it's not available to visit. but yes, the shops are real. I also notice there are some other food-related stores such as Yoshinoya (if I remember correctly it's written Yoshidaya but I can recognize the orange trademark), KFC and Pepper Lunch but too bad that we can't visit them. the only shop that you can visit to buy food is the convenience store in front of the station, and the maid cafe. you might notice there's also a curry shop with catchy song, but you can't go in either :\
since this is like half-RPG where it requires you to interact with other character, I suppose it'd be difficult if you don't understand Japanese or can't read kanji characters. the game is kanji-heavy and there's no furigana, and what's more.. the voice of the character only comes out at the beginning of the game and there's no voice for the rest of the game except when you speak to them though it's mostly a single word like "ah" "arigato" "gomen". I mean, come on you write the seiyuu names at the official website but you can only hear their voices for the first few minutes in the game? o_O I know there's another drama CD released a few months ago but still..
the loading screen takes quite some times and it's annoying that you need to go through the loading screen every time you enter the store. moreover, the camera rotation isn't that convenient and it's annoying when you go out from certain store and you press the wrong direction so you end up going inside the store again, there you see the loading screen again. argh.
though the game often clearly says where to go, there are some times when it's not mentioned clearly about your next destination or what to do, especially in sub-missions so if you can't figure out, I suggest you look for a guide to help if you're lost. I use this one by the way. there are also other helpful info. the game itself feels like visual novel to me since you have to pick certain options for the story to proceed and I often burst out laughing since the options are hilarious and so otaku-like!
overall, I find this game is really fun especially if you're curious about otaku as well as Akihabara. there are also several endings and other sub-missions which can only be completed if you play the game for the 2nd time so it's always nice to play again. and I really like the original design for the game, you might wanna take a look at the illustrator's twitpic page to see more cute & moe illustrations for the game.
so now I expect you to understand why you can read it as Akiba's Trip or Akiba Strip? since you can take a tour around Akihabara (Akiba for short), that's when you go for Akiba's Trip. but if you're talking about stripping kageyashi, then it's Akiba Strip. for more info about the game, you can check the official website and play mini-games but no, they're not like what you actually do in the game haha. be cautious of your surrounding and plug-in your earphone before clicking those pervy mini-games. the Japanese wiki page also has some info and explanation about the characters (seriously, I couldn't read their names until I checked this page. well um, except Nobu, Sara, Yanabe or other names written in katakana), as well some unfamiliar terms.
PS: screenshots are taken from PS3navi