Akiba's Trip: Hellbound & Debriefed Review

Debriefed follows the other Akibas Trip games in style by collecting a wide range of items that can be used as weapons, from wooden swords to rugged keyboards to anime body cushions for girls. You and your opponents are vampires and the way to defeat them is to destroy their clothing by engaging in fights, tearing them and exposed the shadow souls to direct sunlight to fry them. Be aware that the undead resemble their synthisters unclothed, but the way Shadow Souls is implemented in this game is much more captivating.

One of the biggest attractions of the Akibas Trip series is that you can explore what amounts to a real Akihabara, from rampant demonic activity to the whole naked strip thing. Hellbound and Debriefed are games that ushered in a trend to recreate Akihabara's explored past. I think a lot of people know that just because of that premise.

The Akibas Trip franchise is one that has been sitting on my periphery for a while. Akiba's original trip to North America was released in 2011 for the PSP and shortly before the launch of the Vita, but was largely ignored. While the Akibas Trip series has never been rated well in West Africa, it is difficult to ignore the central mechanics of lingerie in Akihabara.

The inevitable horror factor is rampant throughout Akiba's trip. From stripping people off as if they were public to paying the main characters to try on outfits equipped with their own free camera mode to pamper them. As a fan of AKIBA's Trip franchise, aside from the archaic design frustrations that held back the original games (AKIBA Trips Plus is an extended version of Undead Undress), I found it hard to find anything redeeming about this quality check. I noted that it has a loving fanbase, but it was hard not to notice its slapstick fighting game.

The only saving grace of the game is the graphics and character image, which is a high quality 3D model. Otherwise, the attempt to tickle the games is not well executed, especially since it is a remaster of a PSP game.

Akiba's trip is aware of how stupid his premise is, and the localizer does a great job with the way it's written. He takes things that don't work in the game and makes them better. The first is that it is a game, which means he refines the experience of being undead and unclothed.

This is the first time a game does something like this, and to read it is just amazing. The game does what no game has done before and it's amazing.

The debriefing of Akiba is cool, but is outdone by the undead stripping. Various everyday items and clothing items get improved health and defense, and while each action is functional, it is a million miles more rewarding and more fun with some precision and a real sense of weight. In Hellbound, there is a real territory: Derief, which at least somehow makes sense, and that is the mechanics of his struggle and the ability to use random objects, be it baguettes, electric guitars or weapons.

The HD graphics do little to improve the look and feel of the PSP game. Add to that the lack of a target system that lets you swing a weapon to pull an enemy out to capture another, and although there is a neat mechanism that lets you find hidden enemies with your flip phone camera, it is rarely used. There are a lot of other problems associated with the port, such as the music and voice drowned out by the voice, and the occasional frame drop by someone dressed as your underage sister in a photo for a mini-game that feels unpleasant and tasteless.

I know the implicit sexiness that the game draws from the puns of the title. I understand fan service and finding quirky excuses to take off your enemies, but this game feels outdated.

If there is one saving grace to this game, it is the surprising quality of the writing. To be honest, I have to admit that the Hellbound / Debrifed story is one of the parts of the game I like better than the game itself or its sequel. Despite its poor attempts to create a seductive video game, it is still a strength of the games humor and writing that makes it worth a look.

I know I've been a fan of the game my whole life, but I still don't understand it. You get annoyed when you don't find what you need, a side task fails because you don't have the right skills, or get blocked in the game for months.

It is not the only time that you will be reminded that this installment was not the first attempt at this type of game or that the developer is doing his best with an outdated title. It is just that I was expecting to buy this game and was surprised and disappointed by the quality of the remaster.

I understand what happened to the original game but its limitations are frustrating. Even with the impressive HD release, this is a game that runs badly on the Switch.

There is so much in this PSP title that you wish it were a remake or a proper sequel. The outdated visuals have an impact on the overall experience, and since it's a PSP game, the look has an impact.

The PSP title is not an easy game, but its charm is enough to make you want a real sequel. Its lack of quality of life solidifies it as a relic of the past, but its well-written characters make it a suitable companion for your Otaku friends group.