Jeff Minter and his software house Llamasoft are names which need no introduction. Or actually, maybe they do at this point — it’s 2023 and there are probably quite a few gamers out there who have never touched Attack of the Mutant Camels, Tempest 2000, or even Polybius. Well, suffice it to say that Jeff Minter is a lovely English man with a fondness for ruminants who’s been making shoot-em-up video games for longer than most readers of this website have been on the planet Earth. He’s back with Akka Arrh, and it has all of his trademark design that’s made him such a beloved name amongst people into this sort of thing.

In Akka Arrh, you take control of a stationary star cannon tasked with defending your life pods against oncoming geometrical enemies. It’s as classic arcade Video Game as you can get — no leveling up, no lengthy narrative, just straight up action. You have two means of defense against the oncoming horde: bombs and bullets.

Bombs are triggered by pressing the fire button and create a shockwave from their point of impact that destroys enemies, which in turn create their own shockwaves. The more enemies you destroy with a single bomb, the higher your score multiplier. Bullets are earned by destroying enemies with bombs and can be fired by holding down the button rather than tapping it. Firing bullets doesn’t reset your combo counter, and certain enemies can only be destroyed by them.

Akka Arrh

It sounds simple enough — a kind of shoot-em-up golf in which you’re encouraged to use as few bombs as possible to wipe out your foes. But it gets more complex with the addition of powerups and enemies which can go “downstairs” to try to steal your precious life pods. If this occurs, you’ll have to zip down there to blast them before they can carry off your goods.

All the while, a bevy of audiovisual effects cascade onto the screen. Messages float by like “the world ought to kiss your face” and “these messages could be distracting.” Vocal clips play when you collect power-ups. Colors flash vibrantly — so vibrantly, in fact, that I had to turn the “dynamic colour effects” setting to “subdued.”

In all, Akka Arrh is classic Llamasoft, and is easy to recommend for anyone still invested in this kind of game. It features over 50 stages that get progressively more intense and chaotic, and the emphasis on restrained bomb usage gives it a slightly more reserved and intellectual feel than many similar titles.

Sadly, as of this writing Akka Arrh only has 18 Steam reviews. In a world in which a game like Vampire Survivors is a massive success, surely there is an appetite for this kind of arcade experience? Maybe there aren’t enough roguelike elements for a modern audience. Or not enough vampires? Who knows.

A copy of Akka Arrh was provided to Fanbyte for coverage by the publisher.

Jeff Minter Rides Again With Akka Arrh

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