Akka Arrh ( And here it is ! )

[TheHighlander]

tips for improvement
It would be helpful if the game and the leaderboard used consistent names (i.e. Restart Best === Classic).
Also, depending on your controller choice for the game, the menus should mention the correct buttons instead of "Y" (meaning the Y button on 360 controllers) for the online leaderboards. And setting the difficulty level is PgUp/PgDown is used for keyboard.

[TheHighlander]

tips for improvement
It would be helpful if the game and the leaderboard used consistent names (i.e. Restart Best === Classic).
Also, depending on your controller choice for the game, the menus should mention the correct buttons instead of "Y" (meaning the Y button on 360 controllers) for the online leaderboards. And setting the difficulty level is PgUp/PgDown is used for keyboard.

Oh and either a clearer tip during the tutorial that explains how I know my pods are being stolen. Or perhaps a visual clue that I need to switch screens. Right now I'm being robbed of pods and I don't even know about it.

[Deckard]

I find the most confusing thing about the game 1 / The high score tables which seem to be all over the place and you'd think they'd default to your position in the online scoreboards and 2/ Picking which mode and which level seems v complicated then suddenly I found a hard mode too along the way but bar that I still find it hard to get into the "zone" but its coming along....

[Misfit]

Edge review 8/10

Jeff Minter’s typically kaleidoscopic take on a lost Atari arcade game (a wider rollout of which was scrapped after test audiences in 1982 found it too difficult) punishes those with itchy trigger fingers. In that regard it’s deliberately counter-intuitive: as a fixed turret in the middle of a platform suspended in space, your instinct is to fire at will. Instead, you’re rewarded for precision and careful timing. A tap of the fire button drops a bomb on the surface; its shockwave ripples outward, destroying any enemies it touches, which in turn creates further shockwaves. As such, a single, well- placed bomb can create a sustained chain reaction that takes out new enemies as they spawn in without further input on the player’s part. Holding your fire is often key to a high score: the tally per enemy increases as the chain does, only resetting if you deploy another bomb. This being a Llamasoft game, the ultimate goal is to earn a Jesus And Mary Chain.
But there are also invaders and projectiles that are resistant to your bombs, requiring you to hold rather than tap that fire button to shoot bullets instead. (Though there are two-button control options for those who prefer them, this feels like the purer way to play, as if the turret needs to wind up for a split-second before firing.) And you can’t simply spray and pray, since these rounds are limited by the number of enemies defeated. Should you take a hit, one of the 16 pods you’ve been charged with protecting will be destroyed, while certain enemy variants will casually sidle up to the turret to steal them instead. If they reach you, you’ll need to squeeze the right trigger to ‘nip downstairs’ – accompanied by a zoom that feels like you’re being physically dragged into the screen – and fend them off before they can escape, a celebratory air horn greeting your triumphant return to the surface.
On paper, it might sound as abstruse as its title, but thanks to a masterful playable tutorial that doesn’t just show you the ropes but teaches you best practice, you’re eased into its offbeat rhythm before the challenge ratchets up. As ever with Llamasoft, there’s a degree of visual obfuscation – beyond the psychedelic palette and constant flashes (which can, for accessibility’s sake, be turned off), the camera is just tight enough to prevent you from seeing fast-moving enemy projectiles unless you’re constantly sweeping the turret around, keeping an eye on what’s just beyond the platform’s edge. Oscillating between tense and intense, it’s not unlike Missile Command meets Asteroids on fast-forward, with Minterian flourishes lending it an esoteric piquancy. The result, Llamasoft’s best game since Polybius,
is dazzling in every sense of the word.

Tips

You can continue from where you died, though it’s sometimes better to start from an earlier stage. Efficient play is rewarded: you’ll earn score bonuses for using fewer bombs, while unused bullets can carry over, with 100 restoring destroyed pods. Power-ups detonate on contact with your reticule without resetting your chain, while granting you abilities such as chain lightning or a ‘shooty cursor’: sweep the latter across enemies to wipe them out without using the fire butto

[PVB]

Oh and either a clearer tip during the tutorial that explains how I know my pods are being stolen. Or perhaps a visual clue that I need to switch screens. Right now I'm being robbed of pods and I don't even know about it.

I think that was explained in this or the other thread?

- Watch your ringpiece (the green ring that surrounds the cannon).
It'll start flashing orange (with "Achtung!" providing an audio warning) when some enemy is thinking of going downstairs.
It'll actively throb when something is actually downstairs!

- On level 9 make sure to shoot the spiky balls before they get close to you and roll downstairs.
You'll hear BINGO! when you shoot one.

Otherwise, they will go downstairs and consume pods, which is probably why you're dying on that level.

Furthermore, when the ringpiece flashes orange it also signals that you yourself can go downstairs if you want to.
It is thus possible to nip downstairs whilst the enemy is still thinking about it, and therefore be downstairs already waiting for them before they actually arrive.

[ESY]

I guess I get the criticisms, but if you have played llamasoft game, you know what you are signing up for. What a brilliant game. Thank you Jeff and Giles! It just instantly clicked for me. It has a lot of Space Giraffe dna. Your ears are often more important than your eyes. Zone quickly entered, and then, oh my!

[mb3018]

After my initial disappointment that it wasn't more Tempest or Space Giraffe which is always, I had a lot of fun with Akka Arrh. If they get to make more Atari classics then that sounds good.

[Deckard]

Are the scoreboards console or pc specific ? So my Switch high scores is only being compared with other switch owners ?

[Deckard]

After my initial disappointment that it wasn't more Tempest or Space Giraffe which is always, I had a lot of fun with Akka Arrh. If they get to make more Atari classics then that sounds good.

I would love to see a VR Marble Madness or Crystal Castles, pretty please with cherrys on top ? And I forgot they did Food Fight, such a good good under-rated game.

[Deckard]

Just had a few great games and level 30 something with 59 million so almost top 5 - starting to feel the play style a little more now but still find off the screen "swarmers" a little unfair as with no quick turret turn on a switch joypad and no idea when its busy which direction they are coming in from you've no chance sometimes.

This might help to-

https://www.naguide.com/akka-arrh-game-mechanics/

Ps I didn’t know no bombs was an option either …I always dropped one to start the level off not realising but on later levels some enemies can start it off….

[EricR442]

Repeat the question again with more specific dates and places and send a copy to me too, I'll see what we can do

Ok, I emailed Jeff the dates. I don't have your email address. I hope we can meet up!

- Eric

[gilesgoat]

Repeat the question again with more specific dates and places and send a copy to me too, I'll see what we can do

Ok, I emailed Jeff the dates. I don't have your email address. I hope we can meet up!

- Eric

Easy, the "business" one is no other than gilesgoat@llamasoft.co.uk

[g'daRn]

I've had to switch to two button controls (PS4) as I got fed up with losing my multiplier by accidentally fumbling out a bomb.
Other than that, game is still going well, and is certainly one of Llamsoft's best.

[alexmcchesney]

Delurking just to say that I think Akka Arrh is my favourite Llamasoft game. Better than Space Giraffe! Better, even, than Gridrunner++ Arse On Fire Special Edition! There's just something about the balance of chaotic blasting, strategy and ambiently-soundtracked moments of calm that is tickling my brain in very pleasant ways. (Though I'm still dying around the mid-30s. Any tips for dealing with those big swarms of enemy shots would be appreciated.)

[starshipcommand]

Bought this when it came out and have been playing it on and off since then. It's a fun game alright! Quite chilled out in the first 30 levels or so, but it can certainly get a bit hectic beyond that point.

Just completed it in pure mode, currently #6 in that leaderboard.

Tips:

- Two button mouse control is awesome. (Not actually tried any other method, though)
- You have autofire on your shots. Sounds obvious, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise this...
- The shooty cursor powerup is vital. It gives you so much extra firepower you can just blast through everything. Moving the mouse cursor over enemies when this is active and firing unleashes a huge amount of firepower in all directions - it doesn't even matter if this releases a load of spiky things 'cos you can shoot them too. Try your best to keep shooty cursor once you get it - if you get hit then you lose it and things get more difficult until you can pick it up again.
- On some levels you can rotate the bomb fields by moving the mouse left and right.