Hands on: Akimbot showcases smart weapon tactics with a PS2 charm

In these uncertain days of live service fumbles and AAAA pitfalls, there is comfort in the familiar. Akimbot is certainly that, harking back to the golden days of the PlayStation 2. It apes Ratchet & Clank‘s over-the-shoulder platforming and charm, no question. But its take on shooting action has me sold.

My demo of the game during PAX West was my first experience with Akimbot, having barely heard of it until last weekend. In short, the third-person action game, coming from developer Evil Raptor, stars a dynamic duo set to defeat an egomaniacal villain and rescue the galaxy, all the while blowing up a shitload of enemies using a variety of loud and colorful weaponry.

No school like old school

As I began the demo, I was pleased with how quickly my old, pre-arthritic digits got into the motion. I slid right into the gameplay loop, running and blasting away enemy bots like I’d been playing the game for years. You can jump, double jump, wall-run… the works. It performs just like those old PS2 shooter/platformers of yore and is just as much of a blast.

Akimbot stars a pair of bots on a quest to defeat the villain Evilware. You play as Exe, who takes on legions of robotic foes with a small arsenal of weapons. Floating behind him is Shipset, a sarcastic and witty bot who acts as a foil to Exe’s cooler personality. Akimbot certainly makes no qualms about what kind of game it’s trying to be, but that’s okay. Ratchet & Clank‘s ageless style is exciting and fun. There’s no need to hoard it.

But I don’t want to focus too hard on its similarities when the differences are what left the stronger impression.

The classics still work

I’ve played quite a few Ratchet & Clank games, even drumming up a list of every release in existence. They’re fantastic; the franchise wouldn’t be still going for more than two decades otherwise. But there is one gameplay quirk about the gunplay that low-key bothered me. Shooting using the series’ array of fantastic sci-fi weapons always felt good, but I had a hard time finding any rhythm. I would pick a favorite weapon, use it until I ran out of ammo, swap to my second favorite, and so on. Not so with Akimbot.

Unlike the aforementioned example, the Akimbot demo showcased a lineup of more traditional weapons. I had a machine gun, a sniper rifle, and a rocket launcher as my default picks, easily swappable via the right and left controller bumpers or d-pad. You may be irked at the idea of a Ratchet-like not having a weapon that launches clowns with sharp teeth or something, but Akimbot celebrates its time-tested weaponry.

Roshambot

Akimbot embraces a kind of rock-paper-scissors element to its weapon combat. Enemies will normally go down under machine gun fire, but foes with shields shrug off the bullets. When that happens, a quick swap to a rocket launcher is what you need to shatter their bubble (and confidence). Other enemies are comfortable shooting at you from long range, but less happy when you can slap back with a sniper rifle. On many occasions, I had to deal with all types of enemies at once.

Many of the battles consisted of me not favoring one weapon, but everything: Shoot the two robots nearby; swap and crack the shields of two others; swap to the sniper and headshot the guy in the background; clean up the remainder. As my health got chipped away in the fight, I quickly sniped the floating healing droid in the background to nearly instantly replenish some of my HP and went back to combat.

Once I got into the rhythm, the game flowed beautifully. Ratchet & Clank focuses on guns that can be silly, fun, and certainly useful in the right situations, and that might be the most ideal if it’s your thing. But if you’d like to experience that classic gameplay with more tried-and-true guns, Akimbot weaves that action into its gameplay with confidence.

Adding some color

That’s not to say there aren’t any far-flung guns or situations to be had in Akimbot. You can switch to powerful super weapons like the dual-wieldable Akimbos or the Acid Melter. Plus, there are things I didn’t experience in the demo that I wish I had. Like the robotic dinosaur. Yeah, that’s a bummer. There are also drivable vehicles like a tank and a spaceship. The demo I played featured a driving section with a car that could mow down enemies with rockets.

Akimbot certainly feels like a celebration of those PS2-era games, and if that’s in line with your interests, then you’re in luck. The game is officially out now for a pretty reasonable $19.99. If what I experienced is any indication, Akimbot is probably good for it.