Review: Asura’s Wrath

After saving the world by subduing the planet-sized Vlitra, his fellow demigods frame him for the murder of the Emperor, kill his wife, kidnap his daughter and then kill him.

You can kinda see where he’s coming from in Asura’s Wrath.

This Japanese video game from Capcom and Cyberconnect2 is an anime fan’s dream come true.

It is steeped in Japanese lore (some real, some not-so), it is visually anime-style through and through and there is a samurai-load of arguing, boasting and generally over-emoting in such high volume that the title of the game really needs to be ASURA’S WRATH!!!!!!! (Actually, looking at the box art, it kinda is.)

At it’s heart, Asura’s Wrath is a button-masher and will leave your thumb begging for a break before long.

During battle, you’re presented with an opponent – or a group of opponents – and you alternate between rapid-fire targeting with projectiles and a series of quick-time events (QTEs), in which you perform an action on your controller that matches what is displayed onscreen in order to execute a move.

In many games, QTEs are added as a sort of distraction to give you a break from the main action. In Asura’s Wrath, they are the bread and butter of the game. You are not only scored on hitting the right button, but on how well you time it, with a letter grade at the end of each round to rate your efforts.

There are also sections where your character is flying and must target multiple enemies at a time and avoid incoming missiles. These can give your tired digits a rest.

The levels play out like episodes from an anime, complete with credits appearing, recaps and “to be continued” freeze frames at the end of a section. This gives the game a nice structure and provides a natural flow to the action. The over-the-top presentation drives the story forward.

Asura is one of the Eight Guardian Generals tasked with controlling the Gohma – evil creatures in the forms of gorillas, elephants, turtles and other wildlife. Asura forces the main Gohma – Vlitra – back into the earth and is hailed as  a hero. But in visiting the Emperor, he is framed for his death and killed by the remining Generals.

After 12,000 years of being cast out, he returns to find his daughter Mithra as the forced Priestess to the now-renamed Seven Deities, who unilaterally kill mortals in order to fuel the powerful Brahmastra weapon that they plan to use against Vlitra when he reemerges from the ground.

Asura uses his rage to – one by one – track down the Deities and deal justice. During the battles, Asura might have two arms or he might have six, depending on his level of anger. Sometimes, he has no arms and must battle with feet alone.

The game is epic on a grand scale. I don’t think I’ve ever had to battle so many planet-sized enemies in one game.

Asura’s Wrath is a short game, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. Sure, it’s mostly a bunch of button hammering and there is a boatload of talking and cutscenes that sometimes make it seem that you’re actually watching an anime film, but that was OK in the context of the game itself.

The game itself even offered a little wink to the player about the extended chatting going on, offering “shut up” achievements when a character got a little longwinded. Another achievement - View of the Valley – is one that I’d never thought I’d earn (at least in a video game).

Anime fans and those looking for over-the-top action need to give this one a look.

Platform: PlayStation3/Xbox 360

Manufacturer: Capcom

Rating: Teen

Score: 8.5 chilies

Review Statement: An Xbox 360 retail copy of this game was provided by Capcom for the purpose of this review.