On the surface, Akimbot appears to be a rollicking good time. You play as one of the galaxy’s greatest soldiers on a quest to save it, shootin’ and platformin’ your way to glory. Once you get your hands on it, though, the cracks in the robot plating begin to show. From average gameplay to so-so storytelling, Akimbot disappoints more than it thrills.
You’ll play as Exe, the aforementioned galaxy’s number one badass. He has four main guns for his journey across the stars: a standard assault rifle, a powerful sniper rifle, a heavy-hitting rocket launcher, and a quick-shooting minigun. Each has their use, but by the time I received the minigun I didn’t rely on the others much. It had a nice blend of power, speed, and precision, and could fire off a large amount of ammunition before overheating, making it an all-purpose choice.
Special weapons are available to purchase, like a laser rifle or dual-wielding pistols. The special weapons can be upgraded, and because currency is doled out so slowly, you’re better off sticking with one weapon and fully upgrading it compared to swapping between them. This is especially true because you can only swap out the special weapons at a shop, and you never know when the shop will appear in a chapter. Trust me – unexpectedly getting stuck with a so-so special weapon before a boss fight frustrates.
Mobster bots were a fun idea.
While they feel and play differently, all of the weapons lack the creative spark you’d find in a Ratchet & Clank title, the series Akimbot so clearly harkens to. There’s no zaniness or over-the-top fun to Exe’s weapons. You won’t come across a pixelizer or sheepinator or black hole storm. You’ll mostly use on the variations of the basic weapon while building up ammo for whichever special weapon you fancy (I mostly stuck with the akimbo pistols because, well, I’m playing AKIMBot after all). This is where Akimbot really loses personality. I can deal with average gunplay if there’s some overly fun element to hook me and develop the game’s personality. Instead, Akimbot’s leading bots give it a personality and, woo boy, I should have played the game on mute.
Akimbot starts with player character Exe cuffed and in the back of a mobster bot’s flying car. Floating bot Shipset – the ‘Clank’ of Akimbot – is imprisoned as well and tricks the driver into crashing, freeing the bots. And thus begins the insufferable journey of Shipset. Like an annoying, whiny kid brother who never shuts up, Shipset tags along with Exe the whole game and adds nothing to the journey.
From incessantly complaining about another bot being annoying (pot calling the kettle black) to lampshading the tedious quests to screeching in fear every other line, Shipset adds nothing of substance to Akimbot and makes it a grind to play. This could be tolerated if Exe was a standout leading man, but he’s a generic gruff tough guy.
Runnin’ and gunnin’.
Their quest isn’t very remarkable either. Exe and Shipset race across the galaxy – and even backwards in time, finding themselves gun to gun with dinosaur robots – fighting the forces of the lazily named Evilware. The galaxy’s big bad is after a maguffin to control the dino bot army and rule the galaxy. It’s a plot that’s as forgettable as it sounds.
Now, I won’t pretend the Ratchet & Clank games have the most original or engaging plots, but they do have excellent character work, especially in the rebooted series, that makes you want to follow the characters on whatever quest they’re on. Akimbot doesn’t do that – quite the opposite, in fact, as you’ll surely wish to vent Shipset out any and all airlocks by the time your journey ends.
Looks cooler than it is.
Old-school R&C also have great platforming, an area where Akimbot offers unremarkable gameplay and clunky controls. The camera would always jarringly cut behind Exe when wall-running, so instead of smoothly attaching to the wall, you’d have to reorient yourself while not losing momentum. Platforms are oddly spaced and sometimes oddly-shaped – hopping from projected globe to globe is fun until you realize you’re not confident where you can land and what part of the globe will lead you to falling off. Vehicle sections break up the monotony of the levels occasionally, but the cars and ships control so poorly they frustrated more than they excited.
Akimbot emulates action platformers of the PlayStation 2 era without shame. It blends third-person shooting with easy-to-grasp platforming. With a robot sidekick along for the ride, you’ll travel through time and across the galaxy in an attempt to save it. Unfortunately, that journey is riddled with annoying character work and mid-tier gameplay. You’re better off looking into a PS2 emulator if you want to experience an old-school action platformer.
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