Am I even allowed to be doing this, I mean it was in the retro game room so I suppose so

So, like most of you, I got a massive haul from the current Steam Sale for the Christmas season. Neptunia 1-3, Valkyria Chronicles, Killer is Dead, Saints Row IV, LA Noire, and LEGO Star Wars, and of course, Akiba's Trip. I originally wanted to to buy Akiba's Trip when I simply found that it was a) made by Xseed, who did Senran Kagura, and b) John Cena.  Strangely, While I went into this expecting this thing to be basically a console version of Senran Kagura, because you strip people and there's massive amounts of fanservice, with ridiculous jiggle physics and pantyshots and the like. Was I right?

GRAPHICS - 7: So this game came out in what, 2013? And for the PS3? in terms of other games that came out by then, this doesn't look that graphically advanced. It reminds me of a more advanced version of the graphics from Jet Set Radio. Well, they both take place in a busy Japanese urban area. The only difference is that JSR actually takes place at night.  I would have loved for the game to have some sort of time progress shown, because its always 12 noon. Maybe some battles at night? Or some cutscenes at night. The places look very samey after a while, even though there is about, 10 or so areas you can see. It is based on a real life area in Japan, Akibahara (2012-2013), so it gets a pass on that.

SOUND - 5: I... didn't spend too much time listening to the music, mostly because I was too busy getting back on track because the PC version crashes in very inopportune moments... a lot. I listened to mostly No More Heroes music which is pretty top-notch. But from what I heard, its nothing special. just a bit of rock, techno. I wouldn't doubt that its mostly Japanese inspired music, because this game loves to throw Japanese culture at you. Then again, this game is based on a real life location, so its kind of hard to not do that. 

VOICE ACTING: Its a pretty wonderful cast, with Michelle Ruff and... That girl who voiced XJ-9? What sucks is that the XJ-9 lady is   uncredited, even though she made both me and my friend go crazy trying to find what that voice was. In fact, I don't think they actually credit the English voice actors in the credits, just the Japanese ones. Overall, the VA is pretty good, but some of the lines (where they say anime with an accent and tsundere like it's supposed to be said) are kinda cringy.

ADDICTIVENESS - 9: I'd say I played this as much as I did with Fire Emblem: Awakening when I first got it, but thats not even close. I played this game for nearly 30 hours within 4 days, so it comes close. The game has multiple paths, with one of them being completely different than the other 3. There's also multiple weapons and clothes (including a Neptunia Body Pillow!), and probably one of the better New Game+'s I've seen. You start with your old equipment, but you can actually change your player model to random citizens of the city, main characters, and you can pretty much be them in appearance, but not in cutscenes (in cutscenes you are still referred to being the default player character). The best part is that the game resets your level, but not your equipment, so there is still some sort of progression kept in there instead of sweeping through the entire game with no effort whatsoever, which would make a new game+ almost pointless. So overall, it keeps the game somewhat fresh when playing multiple times with quite a bit of replayability with multiple weapons (with many different and varied attacks), 4 different difficulty levels, 5 mostly unique paths, and an Arena and side missions.

STORY - 8: The story is basically you've been made into a man-made vampire with a lust for life energy with no reason whatsoever, where you are about to be killed. when suddenly, you are saved by a purple-haired girl (because you gotta have unnatural hair colors in Japanese games) with an umbrella.You obviously take a "lethal" hit for her, almost die, and she saves you by making a blood contract, where she kisses you (to transfer the blood to you) and saves your life. You have your sanity and reason back, however, you are still weak to the sun. So, you join up with this girl, her sister, and your otaku buddies (which features 2 guys who are brothers, an old dude, a maid, the childhood girl friend and your shut-in sister) to stop the other man-made vampires (called Synthisters) by stripping them and save the world Akiba. The story sometimes doesn't make sense with the gameplay, because synthisters die when exposed to sunlight, but it's always sunny and they are out in shorts. Some of them can stand out in the sun with just a freaking bandanna. No shirt, no pants (sometimes no underwear).
   But besides that, the story is pretty well done. The localization is also well done. Your sister, Nana, says various "bro" related puns, like Broseus, Brotector, Brotaku, Brotagonist, Bronic and the like and memes being refrenced in either the 4chan-ish "pitter" or dialogue options. The best part, like I said, is probably the endings, because while 3 of them are fairly similiar, they have new scenes in them with the certain character, one is completely different (where you actually fight your friends) and one is a secret, and only shows up at the end of the credits. Some characters should have had an ending, but overall the endings they have already are great.

DEPTH - 8: Again, multiple pathways, multiple weapons, multiple difficulties, an interesting New Game+, and, well, you get pictures of various parts of the story (either from the endings or stripping the main characters). Somehow you can wear down the durability on clothing (which is how you are able to strip them) with blunt objects, like bats, or straight up ridiculous weapons, like the aforementioned Neptunia Body Pillow, a capsule machine, or bus signs. You can also wear female clothing (but not underwear because obvious reasons, unless you choose a female model) which can be funny, and is actually needed for a mission. Overall, the clothing in game seems sorta traditional for regular Japanese citizens.

 So, you are going to be stripping a lot of people. So, seeing the same old strip animation for everyone would be old, yes? Thankfully, the game lets you change your stripping "arts".One of them is extremely quick and another one being based on Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (which I absolutely love). In fact, you can even customize your walking animation/stance, and change the display quality by the most minute thing, too. 

DIFFICULTY - 5: I chose 5 because it was middle of the road, as this game has varied difficulty. With one or two enemies, the game is a piece of cake, even bosses. But with about 10+ enemies, it can be an extremely difficult task to finish, and on higher difficulties, where the AI dodges every attack you have, this can become nerve-wracking. While it's nice to be able to control the difficulty like that, it's hard to make difficult bosses in a way, besides giving them a bunch of minions (a bunch of minions that'll help you reach a higher combo multiplier and take their underwear). Overall, anyone should be able to play the game comfortably. Well, you gotta get over the stripping and stuff, but...

OTHER: Akiba's Trip doesn't have as much fanservice as Senran Kagura (although I'm pretty sure Senran Kagura played it up for laughs). I compare the two because they have one company in common: XSeed. While yes, this game has jiggle physics, not everyone has massive, g-cup breasts. The models for the characters aren't really the best, besides the main characters. You don't really fight the Main characters much, either (unless you go through the alternate route, where you fight all of them), and the main characters, again, aren't overly-sexualized. Speaking of which, this game also features men getting stripped, in fact, I think it's mostly guys, so everyone gets some fanservice.  If anything, this game throws mostly otaku/weeaboo culture at you instead of sexualization. Yes, they use the term "weeaboo"
and "Otaku" in the game, along with the ever popular "waifu". Actually, XSeed didn't even make either of these games, they just localized it. XSeed somehow is now known for doing these kinds of games, and considering it got me to buy it because of name recognition, I'd say its a bit of a good thing.

In conclusion, I had a lot of fun with Akiba's Trip, and for 20 bucks (on sale), it was definitely worth it. While there definitely is the fanservice, it is a pretty fun game with interesting and simple combat, charming cel-shaded graphics, and a moderate amount of replayability. If you wanted to play ( or have played) Senran Kagura, or just... like playing animu games that know it is one, this game is definitely worth checking out.

I have no idea what that game is - this is the first time I even hear of the company - but you surely make it look like interesting. You use ample details to show the game's strengths and weaknesses. You also use ample details with other similar online games. High 5!