Asura’s Wrath Review
Played on PlayStation 4 (base)
Developed by CyberConnect2
Released 21st February 2012
Back in 2007, when the game started development on the Unreal Engine 3, CyberConnect2 stated they wanted to make a game that could approach multiple audiences and the key to this was focusing on wrath and rage, it being an omnipresent emotion in the world. After a couple of ideas were consistently thrown around, CyberConnect2's approachable game unravelled to grow immense inspiration from Japanese animation such as Dragon Ball and Naruto, thus creating an experience that I believe is best suited for game-anime hybrid fans or gamers who, after countless years, have grown tired of all the FPS', RPGs, etc, and want a new, unique adventure.
Story
Asura's Wrath is nothing short of an interactive anime. In fact, I believe that this whole narrative would've been a better experience if it was an actual anime. This game follows Asura, a Guardian General who is a demi-god cyborg. As the events of the game, unfold, Asura fights against not only the pantheon of demi-gods who betrayed him and his family but also against the world-ending threat of the demonic race known as the Gohma. I haven't encountered many games that adapt Hindu mythology. Still, for what this game has done, it did it pretty well considering I was heavily invested, though I would like to point out that it follows God of War's footsteps way too much, to the point it becomes painstakingly obvious.
Regardless, this game is jam-packed with crazy moments after one another and it's clear this is designed to keep the player engaged for every 20-minute chapter as if it were an anime episode. The biggest gut punch, however, comes from the fact that the true ending is hidden behind a paywall, in the form of DLC. It's not like the main game ending is great either as it's cut too short, and the aftermath of the finale is not investigated as much as I desired. Another dampener for many is that the game weirdly enough has those "Next time on..." freezeframes that'd occur during anime episodes to indicate an ad break.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Asura's Wrath is shallow and acts as filler content in between cutscenes, yet they still manage to keep the player immersed in the ongoing action. During cutscenes, you may have one or two or an insane amount of QTEs (Quick Time Events) appear. QTEs in this game, fortunately, don't detract from the action ongoing in the cutscene and instead maintain an attentive but not oppressive presence. While the QTEs keep the flow of action going, they're all so unfulfilling. Yes, they keep your attention. Yes, they don't intrude on the scenes. However, they don't add flavour to the game, and they can become a nuisance quickly, depending on your tolerance to QTEs.
When you're not watching the game, you're playing it and, in this aspect, it turns into a brawler. The beat ‘em up gameplay is simplistic enough to get a grasp of it, but it's not so basic that it begins to feel unrewarding - this is further proven by the boss fights that test your small arsenal of combos to their upper limits. Despite the enemy variety being minimal, the brawling is impactful. However, your combat potential is extremely limited, restricting the player from indulging in some attacks that have become part of the foundation in newer beat ‘em ups, such as mid-air combos, etc.
In between the QTEs and fighting, the player will occasionally partake in these weird action sequences where you shoot at one specific point, repeatedly for about 5 minutes straight. These moments are visually amazing but very boring and repetitive as you hold the shoot button and manoeuvre the joystick to aim as if it were a modern interpretation of Space Invaders.
For all these 6 hours, you'll spend playing this game, the gameplay will become tedious, however, it's important to remember that the story is the highlight, and the gameplay acts as nothing but a bridge in between the story moments.
Bossfights
The boss fights were immensely cool. To make this section easier for myself, I'm only going to count the 7 Deities and any other narratively significant bosses (i.e., the final boss), as, well, bosses. They're all awesome. This is due to how they all raise the stakes and have the same intensity and wildness that anime fights with OP characters have. Unfortunately, they all do follow the same formula that becomes easy to see after the second boss: avoid a couple of attacks, pummel the boss until they're staggered, charge up your Burst, and win.
Regardless of this, I loved the bosses. Wyzen's planet-sized thumb moment was great, with the whole potential of the fight ruined by the annoying shooter mode. Yasha was lightning quick and beat you out of any spamming habits you built up. Augus was my favourite boss; the story significance, how well it worked with the character arc, and just how outrageously epic it was. Additionally, the fight was a great challenge, filled with rapid attacks and moves that needed learning otherwise the punishment would be too great. For these same reasons, Deus was my second favourite as he offered a challenge like no other that felt gratifying to conquer. Gohma Vlitra was an appealing boss fight, but it was too big of a drop in quality compared to the previous three boss fights.
Characters
The characters were decent. They didn't evoke any form of an emotional reaction out of me, but they didn't dampen the experience. Moreover, these characters are quite clearly anime archetypes. They may not have any basic stereotypes like the comic relief best friend or the pervert old guy, but they did consist of the universally used yet unique cliches such as the war-addicted ally and the beauty-obsessed psychopath. Hell, this game even has the two contrasting characters who initially hate each other before becoming besties at the end. Did this affect my opinion of the characters? No, instead they further cemented this story as anime-esc. What did affect my views on the characters, however, is the voice acting. It's done oddly in that the voice acting completely changes how the character is seen; Yasha in the English version is cool and mellow while Augus is abrasive and obnoxious, yet for some reason, these personas are flipped in the Japanese version.
Atmosphere
The atmosphere is very good. In every moment of the game, the visuals and audio work in tandem to create this image of power on the screen. The browns and greys shouldn't work but all they end up doing is making the oranges and reds pop out so much more while making the blues and whites more powerful. The soundtrack is orchestrally heavy, constantly being able to provide drama or tension in the scenes, while still being able to mix in its own identity of anime-type themes and music obtained from Hindu-related instruments. To play this game, I streamed it through PS Now, so to be able to experience this game well, a constant, healthy internet connection was needed. Even though PS Now doesn't exist anymore, its services and features are now part of the Premium tier of PS Plus.
Story - 7.5/10
Gameplay - 5/10
Bossfights - 8/10
Characters - 6/10
Atmosphere - 7.5/10
Mediocre
Asura's Wrath is definitely for the niche audiences of anime-loving gamers. This is evident as it provides a more than enjoyable story that is connected through sub-par gameplay moments that succeed in maintaining the adrenaline rush but fail to provide that rush itself.
