One thing is for sure, Asura is one angry dude, But who can blame him? His wife killed and his daughter kidnapped and put forward to a life of suffering. I know I'd be pissed.
Asura is one of the 8 Guardian Generals who are demi gods, they are trying to protect the realm of Shinkoku, from the threat of the Gohma, Things quickly change though as Asura is Framed with the death of the Emperor and the 8 Generals become the 7 Deitys, who use Asura's daughter, Mithra to harvest her power to make them much much stronger.

The game has different segments of gameplay, one moment you are flying through the air shooting Gohma and spaceships out of the sky and the next you are having much smaller scale battles on the floor with enemies. One thing is for sure though, The action in this game never lets up. Everything that is happening on the screen is amazing, and there is so much of it. The mass of different colours and explosions going off, and the art style of the game fit perfectly, There is a strange mix for this game, I got a Sci Fi and Buddist mix to it, and somehow they have nailed it. Anybody who is into any kind of anime will love this game.

The combat is quite simple, and there are very very large parts of the game which require you to input button commands, but this helps to build the story, and give us a epic boss fights. One thing that i did notice with Asura's Wrath is that enemy bosses do not have health meters, instead you have to build Asura's rage meter until you are prompted to push "RT" and Asura's flips his lid.
If you do not enjoy games where there are lots and lots of cutscenes, then unfortunately Asura's wrath is not for you. I spent many many hours of my time watching rather than playing this game, But with a story this deep I did not mind one bit.

One thing that I never really pick up on during my time with games is the music, Asura's Wrath's soundtrack is INCREDIBLE. The music fits in beautifully with what is happening on screen, and never feels out of place. One of my favourite things about this game is that they have actually tried to make it feel like a TV show, With story boards throughout the game giving more of an insight into the story.

Personally I would have liked it if the Gameplay segments were a bit longer, but overall this game is an incredible story, with some great characters, and I would highly recommend everybody to atleast give this a try as my words probably do not do service to how great this game truly is.


Pros:
Great Soundtrack
Amazing Story
Epic Boss Battles
Beautiful Graphics and Art Style

Cons:
Game length (Roughly 6 - 7 Hours)
Lots and lots of cutscenes may be a problem for some.
Lost feeling in my right arm after some intense button bashing.


Rating 8/10

Well all i can say is it took me off gears of war 3 and can not wait for more dlc.

You can say what you like about Capcom, yes it knows when it’s are onto a good thing and releases many versions and updates of the same game, but it’s also one of the few that sticks its neck out and tries something really different; ok so Dark Void was a mess and Lost Planet was a bit meh! but then Capcom also gave us Viewtiful Joe and Okami. Now it’s time to add another positive to that list, though to call this a game is pushing it at times.

This is Asura, a classic tale inspired by other fantasy and Japanese lore involving redemption, revenge and lots of fighting and shouting. The main protagonist is Asura and though a little lacking on the personality department, Asura has one thing going for him, his anger. Even before all the twists and turns of the plot he is a grumpy sod, grunting and barking away at his fellow deities. This guy makes the incredible hulk look like a valium popper, though with what happens in the story he has a lot to be pissed about, what with the other deities betraying him, setting him up as the assassin of the Emperor Strada, killing his wife and then using has daughter as a pawn for their great machinations.

The game starts off with a massive space battle and never lets up from that point, with the story unfolding before you at a ridiculous rate. The planet Gaea has been under turmoil for generations, with the land being infected by the vicious Gohma, affecting the planets animals and causing them to constantly attack the more peaceful human inhabitants, the Trastrium Civilization. These humans pray to the Eight Guardian Generals, who in turn gain power from these blessings and are in a constant battle to rid the Gohma from the lands. We join the story at the pinnacle of one of the last great battles, with all 8 Generals battling in space against the Vlitra, the supposed source of all Gohma. Even after they are victorious, the deities are fully aware that the Gohma will rise again and this is where all of the backstabbing starts.

Asura’s daughter is a prophet, able to pray and offer unrivalled powers to the deities; however Asura does not want her involved in these battles. Aware of the certain return of the Gohma and their lack of powers, the remaining seven deities decide to frame Asura for the death of the Emperor, cutting him off from all prayer and weakening him enough to kill him (or so they thought). Some 1200 years later and Asura is reborn, but to a decimated world where the deities (now called the Seven Deities) no longer respect the inhabitants of the world, instead causing them to willingly give their lives and Mantra when required to power their weaponry and start The Great Rebirth. Not happy with this Asura begins a quest that will take another 500 years to complete.

The way in which Asura is presented makes it hard to decide exactly what it is. Many games before take a well-known anime series like Naruto and Dragon Ball and create a mostly fighting tile, on the other hand you have titles like Dragons Lair, with you pretty much watching a film and occasionally pressing an action button. Asura’s Wrath manages to be both, creating a kind of interactive anime of amazing cut scenes interspersed with some extremely satisfying fighting or quick time events. The game feels like a huge box set series as the way it’s produced feels like a anime TV show, from credits, small breaks for adverts which then pick up the action from where you left, plenty of climaxes and even a “what’s on next episode” style attempt at the end of each show, just to keep you hooked in this great story.

The words quick time event (QTE) will often turn peoples stomach, knowing full well the poor attempts in other games in the past, but Asura’s Wrath nails it; for the majority of the game you will be watching this amazing story unfold on your TV screen, with your inputs appearing at vital moments. Each QTE action makes perfect sense in the action and battles and rather than a random press punches are still the usual buttons and movement still through the Left Stick, appearing when you would expect them as the action unfolds. A missed press will not end in death like in other titles, no; here it will not only build towards a perfect game score but also give you a small boost in your Burst Gauge.

It is not all QTE though as the game also has two other main areas of gameplay, with a Space Harrier style on rails shoot-em-up allowing the action to get fast and frantic with you highlighting enemies for a lock on, rapid firing and also dodging incoming attacks; this allows for huge and fantastic battles as Asura creates a path of destruction on his way to stop the Seven Deities. Asura’s Wrath also offer some slightly more normal fight scenes that are set in small arenas in which you will be set upon by a variety of Gohma or the Seven Deities followers and even though the controls are pretty basic they offer some of the most fun fighting mechanics I have used in a while. With just one punch button you can pull off simple combos, holding it down creates a rush move, sending even the largest of enemies into the air, allowing for a bit of juggling and a powerful finisher. Along with evades and jumps Asura also has a power move that overheats and requires charging every time it is used unless the Unlimited Mode gauge is active.

Both the fighting and on rail moments have similar goals, charging up the rage meter enough to pull off a Burst move, which unleashes all of his rage in one massive move, either defeating an enemy or blowing up a wall to progress the story. Even though the arenas are small, the battles that take place in them are anything but, pitting you against apse, rhino and even elephant infected Gohma, huge machine gun toting Buddha’s to some of the best boss battles I can remember.

The scripting is perfect and captures the continuous battles Asura faces and conveys his anger well from the numerous fights and scenarios he finds himself in, getting full of so much anger and rage he can be seen losing both arms more than once, but he still has a solid head and two legs to battle with; there are generally loads of moments in the game where you just can help smiling, its gets ridiculous at times but it’s always really entertaining.

There are plenty of extras to unlock and experience in the game with 3D character bios, illustration and artwork, movies and a Gauge menu, where you can change the attributes of Asura’s gauges during the game, giving you the option to decrease damage taken, fill the Unlimited Mode gauge quicker or change how fast you recover from being overheated.

This interactive anime is more than just a game, it’s an experience; even with the six odd hours of gameplay (which may seem tight), it’s perfectly balanced, with three main acts split into smaller episodes, almost like you are watching a movie trilogy or anime box set, but with plenty of interaction. Just like you wouldn’t watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy (unless on a marathon) over one day, this feels better spread out, either by episode or act and just like any decent film or series, there’ll always be the lure to go through it all over again after a few months or even years later.

The overall quality is astounding and makes Asura’s Wrath a top quality title, with constantly superb and original animation, marvellous artwork and a truly engrossing soundtrack, managing to mix familiar classical scores with a more feudal orchestral sound and some guitars thrown in for good measure. For all this high praise there is just one slight niggle, and that’s the save system; just make sure you complete a full episode otherwise you will find yourself going over old ground, a trap I fell into a few times.

Asura’s Wrath is an original take on the interactive game and works perfectly; you can look at it both ways, either as a fully playable anime or a bunch of huge cut scenes with some fighting in-between. It has one of the inanest stories ever told, offering something that I have never experienced before on a console game, if you want something new, this is a must.