Gender Equality Takes a Weird Turn in Akiba's Trip - Preview

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It can sometimes be tough to demo a game with an open mind, and I found this particularly difficult with a game called Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed. Basically the premise is that the Akihabara district in Japan has been taken over by vampire-like demons and the only way to destroy these demons is to expose them to the sun's purifying rays. This is done by stripping them down to their underwear. It's hard not to think of this game as simply an excuse to show girls in their panties, but what I found on closer inspection was a game much more focused on humor and staying true to the source material than titillation.

First, let's get this out of the way: you do not just strip women. While standing around Akihabara you can take pictures with your phone's camera and any vampires in disguise will shimmer. Vampires are guys as often as they are women, so you'll be stripping quite a few guys down to their skivvies as well.

Xseed took this concept even further in their localization. The Japanese release gave sexy pictures of partially stripped bosses as rewards for completing certain objectives, but they only did this for the female bosses. Instead of taking these out (and pissing off fans who don't like censorship), Xseed has gone one better and added this feature for all of the male bosses as well, so anyone who wants to see a guy in a sexy half stripped pose while he daintily attempts to cover his nipples need look no further.

There are also quite a few systems to the action RPG side of this stripping game. Different stripping styles like tickling, drunken stripping, or telekinesis can be chosen and you can attack the vampire's pants, shirt, or head gear with different buttons. Later you'll be able to take their clothes off without ripping them and this allows you to wear their clothes for yourself.

Probably the most impressive thing about Akiba's Trip is just how much licensed material Xseed has been able to import from Japan. Akiba's Trip has a multitude of different true-to-life retailers from Akihabara that have allowed their stores to be put into the game. While this might seem like in-game advertising to some, I think that for those fans of Japanese culture that have yet to visit it's a nice addition that adds to the authenticity of the setting. Certain games and anime have also been licensed for advertisements which show up on billboards throughout Akihabara and during loading screens.

I can understand why someone would scoff at a game like Akiba's Trip, but what I saw showed that the developers and localization teams have both put a lot of thought and effort into this title. It's thankfully not as sexist as I thought it was going to be, and the commitment to licensed material to make Akihabara believable is commendable. I'm not 100% sure that it'll end up being a great action RPG, or have a compelling story, but I'm willing to give it a shot when it comes for PS3 and PS Vita this Summer.   

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