Asura's Wrath Review

Asura's Wrath is a difficult project to define.  In fact, I'm not so sure that I would qualify it as a video game at all as much as it is an interactive and heavily scripted video experience.  Most people who pick up a copy of this title will immediately draw game play comparisons to Quantic Dreams Studios' title Heavy Rain since Asura's Wrath is laden with quick time events, but stylistically the two endeavors couldn't be more different.  Asura's Wrath is best described as an episodic, interactive anime with interspersed action sequences, and even this comparison falls somewhat short of the mark. 

If this doesn't scream ANIME, I don't know what does.

Asura's Wrath follows the story of the demigod Asura who is one of the 8 demigod generals tasked with suppressing the spread of the impure gohma that are plaguing their homeworld.  However, things go awry when Asura's fellow generals betray him, frame him for the murder of their emperor, murder his wife, and kidnap his daughter.  Asura himself is killed and sent to purgatory only to be resurrected by the power of his own rage 15,000 years later.  Upon his awakening, Asura wages war against the remaining demigods who are harvesting human souls to irradicate the gohma, but by doing so pose a greater threat to the survival of the planet than the demonic creatures they seek to destroy. 

If there is any way this story could be more convoluted I would be interested to see how, but the way the plot unfolds is worthy of the praise any traditional anime would receive.  AW's progression is action focused, but it would be misleading to call this an action game.  I would also refrain from making too many comparisons to titles like Heavy Rain due to the fact that there are no diverging paths for the story line to follow based on in game choices.  The path Asura takes is strictly scripted, and the only thing the player has any influence over is how quickly each sequence is completed.  AW is broken down into literal episodes complete with mid action breaks and end credit previews of the coming action.  Each episode is a small part of a larger chapter which breaks the game into 3 chunks demonstrating the 3 phases of Asura's existence. 

Crazy action and absurd violence aren't necessarily bad things.

Make no mistake, the majority of this game revolves around the story being presented here, but there are portions of the game where you are in partial control of what is going on.  Quick time events are the most prevalent form of interaction, and players are thrown into short battle sequences.  There's not a lot of depth to AW's combat mechanics though.  Attacks are basically broken into light hits, heavy hits with a cool down counter, and a few charged power attacks.  Asura also has the ability to shoot energy from his mechanical fists, but you must remain still to do so.  Asura must finish each battle sequence before his own health depletes, but enemy characters don't typically have an energy or health bar.  Instead, every battle is completed once Asura lands enough blows to build his rage meter thereby unlocking "burst" mode.  This triggers a cinematic finishing move or another sequence of QTE events that are visually dazzling, but not very difficult to complete. 

Asura's Wrath may not be for every audience, and the $60 price tag may dissuade many gamers from buying what is essentially only 1/3 game, and 2/3 computer generated anime.  However, I wouldn't say that AW is completely without merit.  I played through the entire game in around 2 sittings, and walked away satisfied with how things played out.  The game doesn't hold much replay value since there aren't any collectibles or side quests to be found here, but individual chapters can be selected and played through to achieve a better rank at any time.  At any rate, Asura's Wrath warrants a rental at least to experience the craziness that ensues here, but doesn't provide enough real content to justify the full retail price mark.  At the very least, this game is a visual spectacle that is certain to please any anime fan, but the lack of any real strategical substance makes AW more of a novelty piece than a true action game.

Overall Score 6/10: (Rental Worthy)